Sentiero del Ventrar — Attraction in Malcesine

Summary: It's free and saves you like EUR22 per person for cable car up, but not maintained and road up is indeed challenging.

Details: so I read the reviews about the road up to this free parking place and honestly had the feeling: " okay - how difficult can it be? - surely it is fine". I do have to admit that the reviews are accurate! It indeed is a narrow windy road with blind spots. To help you if you are yet to do this: there are TWO ways to reach the parking place: via San Valentino (town) and via shop "Malga Prà Alpesina". The first option takes twice the time BUT the odds that you cross other traffic are in your favour. And this is exactly what you need to know: that the road is not wide and is windy is perfectly fine. The challenge presents itself once there is crossing traffic, as most likely someone has to back up on the road to make room. Luckily, we had this situation only once. If you drive slowly, carefully, and always thing about "where do I need to go in case there is crossing traffic" , you should be fine.

Other things to know: we visited mid October and did not have winter tyres. However, we did see that the road was cleared from snow and that the temperature was 5 degrees. Winter tyres after summer are therefore strongly recommended.

The parking place does contain some putholes and has space for about 12-15 cars. It is possible to go down a bit and park there.

If you want to avoid other traffic as much as possible, take a timeslot while it is light outside (really, you do NOT want to this when it is dark) and a bit...

This trail is absolutely stunning. Starts with a fairly narrow path along steep cliffs and eventually opens up on a beautiful ridge overlooking sparkling Lake Garda with Malcesine and all the other villages below. Elevation gain and terrain itself on the trail are easy, but there are narrow parts where the trail is quite narrow and some will definitely find it unnerving. I wouldn't take a dog or young kid here and if you are afraid of heights, take a different path. There are steel cables you can hold onto at these points. I went in December and recommend crampons for parts by the cliff where there was some ice due to being in the shadow of the mountain. You should bring a 4WD car and your A-game (or snow chains) if you are going to drive to the parking spot because the road is not maintained in the winter and it WILL be covered in ice; otherwise, you may find a spot before the ice to park and then walk a few miles along the road to the trailhead. There was not a soul in sight so don't get...

Very good alternative to the cable car if you don't mind the additional 40 minute hike to the summit station (which, depending on the route you take, is very scenic). Do not listen to reviewers claiming that the road to the car park is somehow dangerous or scary. It is narrow and steep, but if you have a normal car it is doable without any problems. Don't expect too much speed, though, as you may have to stop often at narrow spots to allow oncoming traffic to pass. The travel time estimated by Google is pretty realistic. Note that the point where the road to the car park branches off from the SP-3 is mapped incorrectly in Google Maps. It is 50 - 100m further north than Google thinks, so if you approach from the north you need to turn earlier than Google...