Lake Garda: A Castle Wedding, Hugo Spritzes, and a Town That Felt Like a Fairy Tale
The entire reason we went on this three-week European trip was a wedding.
My friend Hannah — someone I have known since 2010, when we did our Disney College Program together at Wilderness Lodge — was getting married. She is British. Her husband is Italian. And the wedding was going to be at a castle on Lake Garda.
She told me she was only inviting people she knew would actually show up.
I showed up.
Here is everything about the Lake Garda portion of the trip — how we got there, the wedding itself, and why I am now a Hugo spritz person for life.
Getting There: Last Morning in Verona, Then an Hour Along the Lake
We had a late checkout from the Moxy Verona, which meant we could leave our bags in the room, wander, shop, and get picked up at 4:00 PM without rushing. That kind of flexibility is worth building into your itinerary when you can.
We spent the morning doing some last-minute shopping. A few things worth knowing if you find yourself in Verona with time to spare:
Scout — a cool Italian outdoor and lifestyle store, PacSun meets Zumiez energy. Lots of brands you will recognize and some you will not. Fun place to browse.
OVS — a large Italian retailer that I would describe as fast fashion adjacent but higher quality. Wide range of men's, women's, and children's clothing. I got a dress, some shorts, and a matching top. We stopped into OVS a few times throughout Italy because each location had slightly different stock, which I appreciated. Worth knowing about if you want to do some practical shopping.
The Birkenstock store — I found a style called the Kumba that I am fairly certain is not sold in the US. I bought them. I have no regrets. If you are a Birkenstock person, check the European store for styles you cannot get at home.
We grabbed lunch at a spot recommended by the cashier at Scout — continuing the theme from the last episode of asking people what they actually know rather than just consulting a map. It was a solid meal, nothing remarkable, exactly what we needed before getting in the car.
Our private transfer picked us up at 4:00 PM. The drive is about an hour, mostly along the lake, with the Dolomites all around you. It is genuinely beautiful. It is also narrow roads with tourists who do not know how to drive on them, which meant our driver had to slam on the brakes more than once. I napped through part of it and woke up to the braking, which is a specific kind of jarring. We made it.
If you are driving yourself to Malcesine or anywhere along the shore of Lake Garda, know what you are getting into with those roads. A private transfer is a good call if you can swing it — not just for the comfort, but because the roads genuinely require someone who knows them.
Arriving in Malcesine
Malcesine is a small town on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, at the foot of Monte Baldo. It is a little touristy — more German and Italian spoken than English, which was a genuinely refreshing change of pace compared to the more tourist-saturated stops on the trip.
We checked in and had a view of the lake and the harbor from our room. I have been posting videos of it on TikTok and people are obsessed, which tracks. It was that kind of view.
The Hugo Spritz — A Discovery I Did Not Know I Needed
After we settled in, we met up with Hannah and her friends at a bar right below where we were staying.
Hannah ordered a drink. I looked at it and said: "What is that? It looks delicious."
She did not quite know the name of it in that moment but described it as best she could. It was a Hugo spritz.
For anyone who has not had one — and if you have not, please fix that immediately — a Hugo spritz is prosecco, elderflower liqueur (typically St-Germain), soda water, mint, and lime. It is light, floral, not too sweet, and the mint makes it feel refreshing even when it is warm outside.
I used to be an Aperol spritz girl. Aperol is great but its bitter, and sometimes you don’t want bitter. The Hugo is the answer to that. I ordered them for the rest of the trip and have since bought a bottle of St-Germain specifically to make them at home.
Every region of Italy seems to have its own spritz, but the Hugo is the one I would put in front of anyone. If you see it on a menu, order it. If you see that a bar has St-Germain, they can almost certainly make one for you.
We also had salads that evening — which sounds unremarkable until you realize it was the first real vegetables we had eaten in days. My stomach had been bothering me for a stretch of the trip, and this was genuinely the turning point. Eat your vegetables, even in Italy.
After dinner we got gelato, wandered the harbor a little, and called it an early night. The town had live music playing outside, we had the window open, and it was one of those evenings that just felt completely right.
Wedding Day
We woke up and wandered the town properly for the first time — realized it was significantly bigger than we had clocked on arrival. Cappuccino and pastries from a local bakery for breakfast, then headed to the castle at 1:30 for a 2:00 PM ceremony.
The setting: a castle. On a cliff. Lake Garda and the Dolomites visible behind everything. There is not much more to say about that except that it was exactly what you are imagining.
The ceremony was fully bilingual — every word said in English and then again in Italian, since the bride is British, the groom is Italian, and a wedding is also a legal document. It was longer than a standard ceremony as a result, but the setting made that easy to absorb. And the weather, which we had been worried about, cooperated completely. Some cloud coverage kept things cool, and it did not rain.
After the ceremony we had a 30-minute walk along the lake to the reception — a paved path, beautiful houses and bars on one side, the lake right there. A perfect interlude.
At the reception, Prosecco was waiting. Hors d'oeuvres were being passed. And then, out on the water, we saw the bride and groom arriving by boat.
Because of course they did.
The food was exceptional. The lasagna was one of the best things I ate in all of Italy — I could have had seconds. There was pizza, plenty of wine, and instead of a traditional wedding cake they had a spread of different desserts, which I respected enormously.
Brian and I were the only Americans at the wedding. One guest from British Columbia (practically the same region, given we are from the Seattle area), her Australian husband, and everyone else was British or Italian — with a few other countries represented. It was a deeply international wedding, which made complete sense. Hannah and I met working at Walt Disney World, one of the most international workplaces that exists. It was very fitting that her wedding reflected that.
It was a beautiful night. I was exhausted by the end of it.
Last Morning: Grapevines and Tour Groups
The guests above us were extremely loud — the night before the wedding and again the next morning. We were up around 7:00 AM because of it.
Which turned out to be a gift.
We found a small terrace covered by grapevines, had coffee and croissants, and watched the town wake up before the tour groups arrived. Malcesine is a tourist destination, and once the day-trippers show up, the character of the place shifts. Being out early — quietly, without the crowds — was one of the nicest moments of the whole Lake Garda stay.
We wandered, came back, packed up, took a nap, and had our transfer back to Verona at 4:00 PM to catch the train to Rome.
Final Thoughts on Lake Garda
I went to Lake Garda for a wedding. I left wanting to go back as a destination in its own right.
Malcesine specifically had a quality I did not expect — it felt unhurried in a way that the bigger Italian cities on this trip did not. Yes, there are tourists. But the dominant languages were German and Italian, the town has real character beyond the tourist infrastructure, and the setting — lake, mountains, castle, harbor — is genuinely hard to beat.
A few things before you go:
The Hugo spritz is mandatory. Order one immediately upon arrival.
Get up early. The town before the tour groups is a different experience than the town after.
The roads require a confident driver. If you are not used to narrow roads with unpredictable traffic, a private transfer is worth the cost.
Lake Garda is a great base for the Dolomites. If hiking or mountain activities are your thing, the area has a lot to offer beyond the lake itself.
Malcesine skews German and Italian rather than English-speaking. This is a feature, not a bug.
Why Work with a Travel Advisor for Lake Garda
Lake Garda is not a destination most people think to add to an Italy itinerary — it tends to get overlooked in favor of Venice, Florence, and Rome. But it is one of the most beautiful places in the country and works well as either a standalone destination or a stop within a larger Northern Italy trip.
Itinerary integration: Fitting Lake Garda into a broader Italy itinerary — alongside Venice, Verona, and Rome — requires knowing how the logistics actually connect. Train routes, private transfers, and timing all need to work together.
Accommodation: Malcesine and the surrounding towns have a wide range of options, from lake-view boutique hotels to larger properties. Knowing which one fits your travel style and budget is where an advisor makes a difference.
Activity planning: Wine tours, boat trips on the lake, Dolomites hiking, day trips to other towns along the shore — there is a lot here and it helps to have someone who knows what is worth your time.
Wedding travel: If you are attending a destination wedding at Lake Garda or anywhere in Italy, I can help you build the trip around it so you are not just there for the event but actually experiencing the destination.
