Lake Garda is in Northern Italy. The lake is the largest in Italy, with the closest large town being Verona.
The Northern end of the lake is surrounded by spectacular mountains , which drive the thermal winds that blow between April and October. There are two main winds to be aware of:
- The Peler wind blows from the North as cooler air drops down from the mountains and the warmer air of the lake rises. The wind starts at dawn, dying down by mid morning.
- The Ora wind blows from the South in the afternoon as the mountains warm and continues to the evening.
We went there in June 2025 and had a very nice time. We stayed at the Hotel Capo Reamol, which has an on-site watersports centre Planet Allsports.
In a nutshell
Pros:
- Beautiful location with spectacular mountain scenery
- Incredibly convenient location, you can get from hotel room to launching in no time
- Wind is fairly reliable, the Ora is more reliable in early summer and the Peler in autumn
- Well equipped watersports centre offers equipment hire, storage, lessons and safety cover
- The early morning wind offers the opportunity for pre-breakfast winging and a rest before the afternoon wind arrives
- Hotel is comfortable, staff are friendly and the food is good
- 2 hour flight from UK to Verona and 1 hour time difference
- Lots of beautiful sights to see so it is more than “just” a watersports holiday
- Italian food!
Cons:
- The Lake Garda area is very busy and touristy, if you want to go sightseeing, go early
- Depending upon the precise wind direction you can get some wind shadow and dead patches to watch for
- Capo Reamol is not as windy as further North in Torbole
- The lake can get quite bumpy so it is not perfect for beginners
Where is it ?
Hotel Capo Reamol is a few miles south of Riva Del Garda and Torbole (which is the main watersports hub).Verona airport is about 90 minutes drive. Easyjet and BA both fly to Verona from the UK. It is about a 2 hour flight. There are flights from other European countries but many European visitors (in particular Germans) can easily drive.
April to October are the windy months, the lake water is fairly cold in Spring but on average will be around 21 degrees C in the main summer months.
We stayed at the Hotel Capo Reamol. The hotel is comfortable, the staff friendly and the food good. The rooms are quite small but comfortable enough, we had a Peler room which gave us a nice private balcony looking out over the lake. The hotel runs a shuttle bus into the beautiful village of Limone, so we mixed up having dinner at the hotel with some dinners there. You can walk back in 30 minutes or so (with a Gelato preferably).
The watersports centre is run as a separate operation but it is on the same site on the ground floor of the hotel. For early morning sessions I was getting up at 7.15 and on the water by 7.30 then having breakfast at 9.30.
Costs
Flights and hotel are the main costs, I will leave you to explore those at your leisure. We flew Easyjet and they provide a good basic service in my view. One especially good feature is Easyjet’s sporting equipment (windsurf board) option. This allows you to pack up to 32 kg and meant I took everything I needed.
The Planet Allsports watersports centre has its own charges listed on their website. I had my own gear but I also took advantage of the extensive range of rental options to try some other boards (as I am thinking about a new one). My costs were:
- €78 to store my board, wings, wet suit and other gear for 6 days (€13 Euro per day)
- €67 to hire a board for half a day in order to try the Duotone skybrid (€95 half day equipment charge less 30% as I used my foils and wing)
- €84 to hire a KT Wing Drifter board for the day (€119 daily charge less 30%)
What did I take
The Easyjet 32kg checked windsurfer bag allowance meant I could take everything I needed in a Manera 5′ Wing Bag with wheels which allowed me to take:
- A Gong Hipe Cruzader inflatable board
- Duotone Unit SLS 5.5 m Wing
- Duotone Unit 4.0 m Wing
- Slingshot Phantasm Foil setup with mast, fuselage, G1000 front wing and 430 stabiliser
- Light wetsuit and booties
- Harness
- Impact vest and helmet
- Bags for wings
Rigging and Launching
The Planet Allsports centre is at the ground floor level of the hotel.
You are allocated a storage space for your gear. They ask that you take the foil from the mast and the mast from the board in order to fit everything in. I left my board inflated and it fitted in the locker fine.
Outside is a decking area covered in astro-turf where you can set up your board and leave it between sessions. They also have inflators for wings. One especially nice feature is a wing and sail shed for guests where you can leave your wing out of the wind between sessions. It is also out of the way of boards, fins and foils. There are hooks in the shed for hanging and drying deflated wings after you are done.
Launching really cannot get any easier than this. There is a small ramp leading directly into the deep water of the lake. Walk a few metres to the ramp, walk a few steps down it (take care as it can be a bit slippery), push off and you are away. Returning to shore is equally simple.
On the Water
As mentioned earlier there is a morning wind and an afternoon wind. Both of these are cross shore winds at Capo Reamol.
- The Peler morning wind from the North starts blowing at dawn. The watersports centre opens at 7.00 am so get up, get out and have fun (it starts to die away from 9.00 am). While I was there this wind was stronger and more consistent across the whole lake (around 20 knots). However the Peler didn’t show up at all on three of the days we were there.
- The Ora wind from the south starts from around 1.00 PM and continues to evening. This came every day while we were there at around 15 knots. In this wind the local conditions are windier near to the shore and the wind drops off upwind and about 300m to 400m from shore. Unless you are absolutely confident of nailing the gybe and staying on foil be prepared to flog back if you go much further than this (yes this is from personal experience!)
The lake is long and given its position, both winds cause more swell and chop than I was expecting at Capo Reamol. This made riding my narrow (21 inch) Cruzader board a bit trickier than I am used to. I had the same problem with the Duotone Skybrid that I rented, but it wasn’t an issue at all when I rented the more conventional shape Wing Drifter. If I was thinking of going again I would either take my own conventional board or rent one of theirs.
Based on my experience the wind at Capo Reamol is not as strong as further North in Torbole, certainly not in the Ora wind. I had a friend from my home lake staying in Torbole for several of the days we were there and he consistently reported more than 5 knots stronger wind there than we were getting. I can anecdotally confirm this as one day we took a ferry up to Torbole and as we left around 1.00 pm the wind there was considerably stronger than what I found at Capo Reamol once we were back. That said there was enough wind to have enjoyable sessions every day, in the Peler wind there was no drop off in wind across the lake so long runs were fine. In the afternoon wind I spent more time practising gybes in order to stay in the stronger winds a few hundred metres from shore.
I took a light summer wetsuit for June and that was fine as the lake water is a pleasant 21 degrees.
Other water users
The hotel is not huge but many of the people there are either windsurfing or winging. It never felt crowded and I never felt like I was dodging other sailors. There are also kite surfers though these will be launching from boats, it is worth keeping an eye out for beginners here and avoiding going too close down wind of them.
There are lots of other yachts, dinghies and other craft out on the lake too, normal collision awareness and rules apply.
The other main traffic to be aware of are the frequent public ferries that circulate the lake. They move surprisingly fast and generally are intent on keeping to their timetable. It is best to keep clear unless you want to hear repeated blasts on their horns. On the more fun side the ones that come close to Capo Reamol cause enough wake for a little surfing if you pass close enough behind them.
Weather
Planet Allsports provide weather information here. Note that they rely more on pressure information for the winds on the lake. Unfortunately Windguru, Windfinder and other conventional apps do not provide accurate forecasts for the thermal, terrain driven winds. In the whole time I was there Windguru was forecasting just a few knots of wind whereas we had plenty of wind for foiling.
Other Activities
One of the attractions of Lake Garda was amazing scenery and lovely little towns. This offered the opportunity to mix some wing foiling with some more conventional tourist activities that my non winger wife could also enjoy.
Given the way that the wind works in Garda I had thought I would foil early, then go and do a tourist trip, then foil again in the afternoon. Because it gets so busy by around 11:00 we didn’t do this in the end as we wanted to get to things early. On the days I did go out first thing we just chilled at the hotel until the afternoon wind came.
Since the Peler wind failed to materialise on 3 of our days, this meant I only skipped one wingable day to do something else. The tourist things we especially enjoyed were:
- Exploring the back streets of Limone, a really beautiful little village (go early before the crowds)
- The photo history and citrus museum at Castille De Limone
- Taking the public ferries for a trip on the lake to Torbole and Riva Del Garda
- Taking the cable car up Monto Baldo (again get there early before the queues get too bad)
- The walkway North from the hotel which my wife especially enjoyed early morning
As a bonus from eating in the village we also loved walking back to the hotel alongside the lake in the evening after dinner. The crowds have gone and the lake is peaceful and tranquil.
In conclusion
We both enjoyed the holiday in Lake Garda, combining as it did, Wingfoiling with the opportunity to do some sightseeing. We enjoyed the spectacular scenery, lovely climate and Italian food and wine. If you want to experience Winging in a unique setting with the opportunity to explore some beautiful surroundings then it should be on your list of possible places.
- Lake Garda is beautiful and spectacular and has long been a place I wanted to visit. I was not disappointed.
- The hotel was comfortable and the food was good
- The location of the hotel right by the edge of the lake is wonderfully convenient
- Winging before breakfast, 15 minutes after the alarm went was a great thrill
- The wind was reliable in the afternoon and came in the morning for 4 out of 7 days
- It’s a beautiful place, but it’s very crowded and there are many other beautiful places in the world that I have not yet been.
- The wind at Capo Reamol has wind shadow around 300 to 400 metres out. If I was to come again I think the wind in Torbole is cleaner and stronger
- For a dedicated wingfoiling holiday I think there are better options (e.g. Egypt)