Italy’s northern lakes have long been host to the resorts of the rich and famous. While Lake Como may have more international fame, Lake Garda, Italy’s largest lake, also has plenty of charm and attracts thousands of European and international tourists every summer.
In recent years, the popularity of visiting thermal baths in Northern Italy has really taken off for international tourists. However, before I visited Lake Garda Thermal Baths (aka Parco Termale del Garda), I had low expectations and wasn’t sure what I would find.
It turns out I found paradise.
You can read my full account below.
My visit to Lake Garda Thermal Baths was a bit of a ‘stumble-upon’ rather than a planned adventure.
Basically, the Lake Garda area is known for lots of famous thermal baths, but this particular park hadn’t come across my radar during pre-trip research.
My travel companion, Dean, and I, had a vague idea that we’d like to go and visit a thermal bath, but because we had some other activities we had to do on this day (that involved tailors and suit measurements) we were not in the part of Lake Garda that’s most famous for its baths.
For this reason, we just typed ‘baths’ into Google Maps, and it told us to head up to the village of Cola, which wasn’t too far away, so off we went, not quite sure what we would find, but in agreement that ‘Parco Termale del Garda’ sounded promising.
In Cola, we got an obligatory drinking-cola-in-Cola photo, naturally.
Before entering the thermal park, we had to find parking. We got an inkling that the thermal park was going to be fairly large when we saw how enormous the parking area was. Turns out the park is a whole 13 acres.
Dean and I had a nice casual Italian lunch at the cafe opposite the entrance before we made our way through what looked like gates into a minature Disney land…
We paid entry and headed down the main pathway of the park. We were surrounded by lush green lawns and towering pine trees. It was very idyllic and much prettier than I had anticipated.
After a few minutes-walk through the parklands, we reached the edges of the baths area. We glimpsed the bath’s changing rooms and cafe glasshouse through the tree trunks and saw the main ‘lake’.
Plastic tables and chairs were nestled together in small groups. A variety of tanned, extremely pale (like me) and slightly sunburned families, couples and other clusters of people were dotted around the lake sunbathing on towels and lounge chairs.
The trees provided dappled shade and the well-kept lawns made a comfortable carpet on which people could lay their picnic blankets and damp towels out to dry or to lie on.
As we got close, we could hear children laughing, parents chatting and see that the walls of the lake were manmade, and landscaped features had been added around the lake’s perimeter, including caves, bridges and small hot tubs that were sitting perched within the lake.
Suddenly, huge jets shot water high into the air in the lake’s centre.
No-one seemed to bat an eyelid. It became instantly clear that this display was a regular occurence here.
Had we found utopia?
We found a spot to leave our clothes and disrobed into our bathers before sliding into the water. The lake floor was pebbled and it felt as though it may be partially natural, although it was hard to tell. The water was warm, around 33 degrees, and had travelled up from between 160 and 200 metres beneath the ground for our leisurely enjoyment.
We explored the grottos and tried out the hot tubs, which were higher temperatures than the rest of the lake, at around 39 degrees.
I thoroughly enjoyed this place / paradise / nirvana and loved that I had no idea it even existed shortly before we visited. I’d highly recommend it to anyone visiting the area, especially if they are in want of a relaxing afternoon or all ages friendly activity (that suits both children and older adults).
My top tips for a visitor would be:
- To consider a mid to late afternoon visit as you could then enjoy it in the sunshine and also after the sun sets, when it remains open but the baths get lit up at night.
- To bring along a picnic with some yummy Italian treats, as while they served meals and snacks at the cafe inside, it wasn’t cheap and there didn’t seem to be any sort of restriction on bringing your own food.
- To take a private vehicle there if you can, as the baths are not very accessible by public transport, so even if you can get there, it may restrict how long or when you can visit.
While these days there are thermal baths all around the world, Italians (Romans) basically invented the idea of thermal bathing for health and relaxation and so a visit to a natural or more ‘landscaped’ thermal bath on a trip to Italy is a great activity for any Italy trip.
Happy travels!