Camping Bella Italia, Lake Garda, Italy – Family Holiday Review

Summary

We visited Camping Bella Italia for a week 22-29 May 2024 (partially in the UK May half-term). We had a fantastic family holiday. If you are thinking about a holiday here there are a few things to consider. It is in a fantastic location right on the lake, and walkable to a beautiful town Pescheria. It has family friendly pools, a splash pad, kids club/shows/mini disco, play areas, sports areas, inflatables and four restaurants on site. We thought it was a fantastic base for exploring the local area. Some may be put off that it is a busy site. Most of the accommodation is close together with little amenity space (more information below). It was also very busy around the pools and hard to get a sunbed. As we have two young children we were never going to sit on sunbeds so this did not matter to us. We went on four day trips: we cycled/took the ferry to Lazise and Sirmione, Gardaland themepark (small Peppa Pig Land), and Verona for sightseeing and the children’s museum! We had a car-free holiday, and it is a short transfer from Verona airport. Overall, yes we would definitely recommend as long as you don’t mind a busy site – read below for the full review, and alternative sites if you like the sound of the area but not this site specifically! We loved it and went for a week but wish we had had more time!

When I research and choose holidays, I love to find relatively budget family holidays with lots to see and do. We are a Bristol (UK) based family of four with a 5 year old and nearly 3 year old. The last two years we have been to Cambrils Park, Spain and Domaine Les Ormes, France, which you can also read our reviews on.

Flights and Transfer

We flew from Bristol to Verona with Jet2 which was £1087 for four seats, with two checked-in bags in May 2024.

Verona airport is 30 minutes transfer to Camping Bella Italia. We used Luca who was recommended as a reliable taxi service and we were happy with his colleagues – they were friendly and had booster seats for the children. You can Whatsapp Luca on +39 347 091 4177. It was €70 each way.

Alternatively, you could fly in/out of Bergamo Milan or Venice airports with Ryanair which are both around an hour transfer. Public transport options are also available for transfers.

Accommodation

Camping Bella Italia is a resort that has a number of accommodation options and providers. There are bungalows, mobile homes and apartments. There is also Hotel Bella Italia on site, which has use of the communal facilities, plus an exclusive swimming pool. There are touring and camping pitches.

At the time of our visit, providers on site include Eurocamp/Homair, Hu Open Air, Roan, Suncamp Holidays, Happy Camp, Gustocamp, Bella Italia direct, Rent-a-Tent, Victoria, Albratross, Estivotravel and Gebetsroither and European Camping Group. Some accommodation can be booked as a package with Jet2.

Mobile Homes

We stayed in a Hu Open Air “Smart Plus”, which was a good quality, modern mobile home. It was €964 for 7 nights 22-29 May 2024. We liked the accommodation itself, and it had good privacy, but we had mixed feelings about the location as it was quite far away from the facilities, but then again it was quiet!

The majority of mobile homes on this site are located in very close proximity to each other. Unless you are lucky and get one that faces onto a play area or green space, there is very little amenity space around them. You can park your cars next to the mobile homes. Most have deck areas which is generally your only amenity space, but you will likely have mutual overlooking with other mobile homes next to you and opposite you. You cannot pick where your mobile home is going to be on site, so if you book a mobile home you should be comfortable with being quite close to other people. If you are looking at a mobile home, I liked the look of the Homair/Eurocamp accommodation that has a comfy L-shaped sofa on the deck.

As long as you are comfortable with being close to neighbours, even some of the quite basic mobile homes looked nice. There are mixed reviews of Camping Bella Italia online, and the accommodation is often mentioned as a negative. I can imagine if you have stayed at other parcs with quite generous amenity space and then go to Camping Bella Italia without knowing what to expect, you might be disappointed!

Bungalows

Having seen the accommodation in person, if we were booking again, we would probably choose a bungalow. They look quite basic inside, but they have much bigger grassed areas around them. If you get one on an edge/corner you might have a lot of green space around you. If you get a middle one, you might not have as much green space, but you still have more than the mobile homes. They are car-free zones and seem a nice space for children to play. The downside is they may be more basic than some other accommodation options, and you do not have a decking area. Outside they all have a white plastic table, chairs and sun loungers. We did really like having our deck area to sit out on, so it depends on your preferences. Bungalows also located close to the pool areas, and not too far a walk to the lake.

Other Accommodation

There are also apartments, the hotel (which has its own pool which looked like a good pool for young kids!), glamping and touring/camping pitches. We did not get to see all of these, but it is worth knowing your options so you can check them all out before deciding.

Tips!

Before booking accommodation, ask the provider for a map of where their accommodation is located on site. In my opinion near the lake or pools would be best. We went with Hu Open Air, but they do not have a huge amount accommodation on the site so we were at the back of the site, and it was not an option to move anywhere else on the site. Whereas had we gone with another bigger provider, we may have had some flexibility with where we were. You can make requests for where you would like your accommodation to be at check-in, but it depends on the availability when you arrive. Some accommodation is sunnier, and some shadier so depending on what time of year you go either could be a pro or a con depending on preference.

If you have time before check-in, take a look around the site and if you can see accommodation that is empty with your provider, you can try and request it at check-in! This applies to any holiday like this with Eurocamp or similar.

Site Map

What to expect at Camping Bella Italia

The Lake

Camping Bella Italia is right on the edge of Lake Garda, and there is a lovely boardwalk out to the lake and we loved the view. You can hire pedalos and do other water sports nearby. The small beach area next to the lake is stoney, but when it was hot lots of people were still sat out along the lake front. There are ducks and swans to feed.

Swimming

There are a number of pools, with various slides, a paddling pool and one with lane swimming. Our two love any pool, but the slides/water play equipment is not great for young ones. There are two similar looking water play equipment with slides that I had liked the look of when booking, but they both had a large bucket of water that periodically fills up and drenches the entire thing which put our two off. If only one didn’t have the big bucket I am sure they would have enjoyed it. There is a splash pad which was great fun! Swimming hats only required in the lane swimming pool.

We went swimming a couple of times during our stay in the afternoons and sunbeds were always full. I have heard people have to queue for them in the morning which I would find stressful! As we have two small children when we are at the pool we are in the pool with them, so it did not matter too much to us. However, if you have older children and like to have guaranteed sunbeds, this may not be the resort for you. When we visited Cambrils Park in Spain last year there were always some available.

Restaurants/Food

There are four restaurants and some takeaways. Our favourite was the pizzeria Locanda which had a play area next to it perfect for kids to play whilst waiting for food. Our second favourite was Corte Riga. The others were fine, but not as good quality food in our opinion. You can also walk to Peschiera which has lots of options.

There is a good sized supermarket on site and a bakery inside. We enjoyed morning pastries! There is a Lidl 1.8km away from the site, but we mostly ate out or had a BBQ with food from the on-site supermarket.

Entertainment

Download the Bella Italia app to find out what’s on. There was a mini disco every night when we went, and a show on some of the nights. There is a kids club and some other activities such as football school, archery and watergym. We did not try the kids club, but my 5 year old loved the mini disco and the Brazilian dance show we saw was very entertaining. There was live music in the evening at the bar/takeaway and we loved the atmosphere!

Other facilities

There is an inflatable play area (Bel Park Junior) and a small amusement park (Bel Park), and trampolines (with harnesses) open at set times including evenings. There are various play areas around the site and sports facilities.

Public Transport

There is a land train from Camping Bella Italia into Peschiera, check when you arrive for times (usually goes every hour). You can hire bicycles on-site or various locations nearby. We hired from Garda South Cycling just outside of the resort. It cost us €80 for 2 adult bikes and a childrens trailer for 2 days. There is a bus stop on the main road outside which can take you close to Peschiera train station, Gardaland and Verona. Taxis are not easy to get unless pre-booked. Trains from Peschiera take you to Verona, Venice, etc. It is totally do-able as a car-free visit! The ferry is a great option for exploring other places around the lake.

Other resorts around Lake Garda

If you like the idea of staying in this area, but Camping Bella Italia does not sound right for your family, we also considered Del Garda Village and Camping and Altomincio.

Del Garda is on the other side of Peschiera, and looks more spacious. I was swayed by the number of facilities and location of Camping Bella Italia over this site. From a friend’s visit, it sounds like a quieter option close by.

Altomincio from the photographs I thought looked better than Camping Bella Italia, but it is situated inland so you would need a car. We went for Camping Bella Italia as we loved the idea of being right next to the lake and having a car-free holiday.

If you book with Eurocamp as a result of our recommendations, I would really appreciate if you click through my affiliate link before booking as it means I would get a small amount of commission.

Day Trips

Sirmione

We cycled to Castello Scaligero di Sirmione which is a 13th century castle with beautiful architecture and views! We had a potter and went for lunch.

It is around a 10km cycle. The cycle was not particularly picturesque direction. On the way we cycled along the lake for as far as we could, and then joined the main road which has cycle paths quite a lot of the way. On the way back we stuck to the road as it was more direct. As you get into Sirmione itself there are not cycle paths the whole way, but I am not a hugely confident cyclist and I found it fine. The cycle is very flat. You can hire e-bikes but you may want to reserve in advance as there were none available when we went to hire bikes.

There is an option to get a ferry to/from Sirmione from Peschiera. Some ferries allow bikes and others do not, so check your route on their website. We cycled both directions for this day trip. Cycle route on map below.

Lazise

We cycled one way to Lazise which is about 12km, and got the ferry back which was great fun for the kids. In Lazise there is a nice play area near Castello Scaligero di Lazise. We again had a wander around, lunch and play here but we had some rain this day so we headed back on the ferry to avoid cycling in the rain. Another very pretty town to visit! The bike ride here is much more scenic compared to Sirmione. Once you get through Pescheira you cycle along a path next to the lake the whole way! As with Sirmione, there are ferries to/from here but you need to check if you can take bikes. Alternatively you could go by ferry to both Lazise and Sirmione. Cycle route on map below.

Gardaland

Gardaland is a great theme park only 13 minutes on the bus (or you could cycle – we cycled past on our way to Lazise!). It has a Peppa Pig Land, but it is much smaller than Paulton’s with 3 rides, and a meet and greet. There were lots of other areas and rides – you could easily spend a full day here. It was a great day out, but entry is quite expensive. Make sure you buy in advance as I left it until the day we were going and it was more expensive. Ticket costs generally: Adult (Age 10+) €44, Child (Under 10) €39, Children under 90cm are free.

Verona

We booked tickets on Trainline and visited Verona for the day. Once we arrived, we took the bus up to near Juliet’s balcony to do some sightseeing. We saw this, the collosseum from the outside and took in some of the sights before our children got fed up! We then took another bus to Verona’s Childrens Museum. This was amazing with lots of science, explorative and water play! This needs to be booked in advance.

Costs

I personally find it really helpful to see a breakdown of what people have spent when I research holidays so I have shared this below. These prices are from May 2024, half of the week was in the UK’s May half term.

• Flights Bristol – Verona with Jet2, 4 seats and 2 check-in bags £1087
• Accommodation 7 nights Hu Open Air “Smart Plus” €964
• Airport Transfers €140
• Bike Hire (Two bikes and children’s trailer) for 2 days €80
• Gardaland €159
• Holiday Insurance £31
• Children’s Museum Verona €33
• Bus to Gardaland €5 (children were free on all buses)
• Other Buses to the train station and in Verona €15
• Train to Verona £41, Return £15
• Ferry Lazise to Pescheira €13 + bikes approx €7
• Food was around €50 per meal eating out, and some groceries. I would estimate €500 eating out and €100 groceries. We could have saved money on eating more at our accommodation.

Total estimated: £2,820

Tips

• Join the Facebook Group “Bella Italia Camping Resort” to ask questions and find out information, it is really helpful.
• Check your passports are in date, and take your EHIC cards to take with you!
• We went for a week but we really felt that was not long enough. I think 10 days would be ideal.
• If we had had more time we might have visited Venice by train, taken the ferry to Malcesine and gone up the cable car, and visited the thermal baths. There is also an aquarium and other theme parks/a water park close to Gardaland which may be worth a visit.

Map

Thank you for Reading!

I hope this review helps you decide whether you would like to visit! We had a really great time at Lake Garda, I just wish we had had a bit longer! Check out our holiday reel here. See our other holiday itineraries if you are looking for other ideas! We loved both Cambrils Park in Spain, and Domaine Les Ormes in Brittany in previous years. If you do book a Eurocamp holiday I would really appreciate if you use my affiliate link!