"Malcesine, Lake Garda - best town to be... " a Malcesine Travel Page by monkeydennis

The town of Malcesine with it's castle is a lovely place. Great to explore with all the cobbled streets, shops, restaurants and day to day life. It has a small harbour where private charters leave for the north of the lake and where the Lake ferries stop for passengers. The car ferry is half a mile further down the lake.
We found it was the perfect place for us to be as even though there are obviously lots of tourists it seemed a more authentic place to stay and less commercial than some of the other towns. Also the streets never seemed to get too busy, but it was only June for us. The fact that the cable car is there is a bonus and that there a few beaches further out of town. Lots of restaurants to choose from too. There is a central car park at €1.40 per hour but its closed on Saturday for the market. The only bad thing about the north of lake Garda is that most of the signs, menus cater for Germans. When I'm in Italy on holiday I want to see Italian... No - I don't want English in another country either, I'd rather struggle with my phrase book.

This was a life saver! Having a 6 year old and our hotel being up the hill and a 20 minute walk at night was do-able, but a bus is better.
basicall the tourist bust goes from the bus station on the hour down the lake to Cassone (10 mins) then turns round and goes back Malcesine and drops off at the Cable Car station at 20 past, then goes up the hill and back down the lake just past Navene then back to Malcesine on the hour. Sounds complicated but when you are there is all drops into place! And the best bit - its only €1 per adult each way - no matter how far you go.

Found that the cost of the ferries were not as good as we hoped. It cost €20 for 2 adults and a child to get across the Lake to Limone. We did a trip on the fast ferry to Sirmione and that cost nearly €70 for 2 adults and 1 child. Not worth it. Heck of a lot of money for an hour and a half each way on the ferry and only a few hours a Sirmione. Also there aren't many ferries that go the full length of the lake. Only 4 a day.