Medieval Mantova to Romantic Verona

We really enjoyed the rides from Brunico to Bressanone, Bolzano to Trento and Borghetto to Villa Sagramoso, mainly along smooth, peaceful, riverside cycle paths. We also loved exploring the ancient cities of Trento and Verona and of course all the wonderful food and wine! Joining together the "Orchards & Vineyards" and "Medieval Mantova to Romantic Verona" holidays worked really well for us, and it was fascinating to see how the character of the countryside, food and people changed gradually from Austrian to Italian as we moved south.

Restaurant recommendations (and warnings): Our 'stand out' meal was at Al Vicoli in Trento - superb food, wine and a great atmosphere. We also enjoyed the Ristorante La Cantina at the Hotel Faccioli in Borghetto, Ristorante Locanda Vecchia Custoza Sas in Custoza, and the Trattoria Dal Pansa near Lake Garda. We also liked the Antica Osteria Leoncino Rosso in Mantova and especially the wonderful Antica Osteria "al Duomo" near the cathedral in Verona. Neither of these is very fancy, but both seemed very Italian and good value. We struggled to find restaurants in Bolzano, especially on a Sunday evening when virtually everything is closed. Hopfen & Co is NOT recommended. The Agriturismo Relais Villa Sagramoso Sacchetti is a fantastic place to stay, but not on a Wednesday when the two most convenient restaurants are closed. Note that the Trattoria da Guido is not working at present, and it seems you have to make a reservation to get into Trattoria Biondani.

I found that this trip got better as we went along.  Montava was interesting medieval town which has a 'faded glory' to it.  But everything else was amazing.  Only one small point, it would have been good to have a few more instructions for the return trip to our accommodation from Verona, as after a big day sight seeing we struggled a bit to remember the return route!

We really enjoyed this holiday. We had an extra night in Mantua and that enabled us to see most of the major sights in the town as well as doing the route to Rivalta. We had a guided tour round the Palazzo d'Arco, fortunately in English, which was a memorable experience. We visited some very good restaurants there, Salco Grasso, La Cucina, and our favourite, Il Cigno.

At Borghetto we decided to sample the famous tortellini in Valeggio. The meal (trio of pasta dishes) personally served by Nadia at La Borsa was an experience not to be missed. 

We had two extra nights at the Villa Sacchetto Sagramoto, a real treat. Rather than cycling into Verona we took a taxi from the hotel. A bus is available too, but for that an early start is required. On another day we cycled back to lake Garda to see Lazise, rather busy even at the end of September, and our last ride was into the Valpolicella area, and back along the canal to Bussolengo. We ate at Da Guido on three evenings (we liked it a lot!). You can walk there (and also to Jonathan's Pizzeria) along the canal path. We didn't need to use a torch.

Absolutely a great trip. We would both do the trip over again. The quality of the bikes was superb as was the quality of the accomodations and the scenery was spectacular.

We really enjoyed cycling round the Sigurta gardens and thought that was the only way to see such a vast area. We had a lovely meal in 'Antica Locanda al Porta' Settimo. The walk back to Villa Sagramoso Sacchetti in the dark on the road was a challenge and a good torch would have made it safer. 

Arriving at the Villa Sagramoso Sacchetti after a long hot cycle ride was like arriving in heaven. Such a special place, yet you felt as though you we’re staying with a friend. The highlight of a consistent excellent holiday. Who would have thought cycling in Italy could be so good.

We really enjoyed this holiday. We chose electric bikes as we aren’t regular cyclists and were very impressed with them. Everything went like clockwork. The hotels were charming and very well placed and the cycle routes well planned and easy to follow. The scenery is stunning; we saw tortoises, beavers, and cycled alongside herons and egrets. We decided to go by train and thanks to the detailed itinerary put together for us, we stopped off in Turin, then continued to Milan and Mantua. After our cycling, we added on a break in Verona, then a train to Munich to see our son, and back to London via Paris. All our tickets and seat reservations were organised by Inntravel and everything was timed and organised to perfection. It was a real adventure and we want to do it all over again.

More information needed about lake trip in Mantova. A good 10 Km cycle from the hotel so we just missed morning trip and information about pm trips there was inaccurate (on the ferry company website).

Sigurta gardens lovely and the restaurant Locanda Vecchia Custoza a real treat, for food, wine and the view.

Excellent holiday, well planned and routes were straightforward to follow and varied in scenery.

A good mix of places and hotels to stay.

Good quality bikes, with comfortable seats!

We really enjoyed our trip, the variety of scenery was amazing. However it was dampened by the weather.

This holiday exceeded our expectations in terms of its diversity,character, cycling experience and helpfulness of all involved including the Inntravel staff!

We do think however that FOGG insurance were very poor/unresponsive. They were unobtainable and never rang back when  messages were left. It does Inntravel no favours to be associated with them.

this was an excellent holiday. We stayed an extra night in Verona at the Relais le Torre apartment before the Inntravel itinerary which was excellent, well located and highly recommended. The cycling holiday was up there as one of the best we’ve done. The cycling was on good tracks and the quality of bikes was excellent. One of our group hired an electric bike which transformed her enjoyment of the holiday and will be a must do from now on. Specific recommendations for meals would be lunch at Trattoria Ai Colli Storici on day 3 in Custoza- our favourite lunch of the whole trip. Pizzeria Jonathan in Sal Vito al Mantico was great value and the best opportunity for pizza during the week. During our stay in Borghetto we walked into Valeggio Sul Mincio and had a lovely meal at Bue D’Oro.

One of the most memorable things for us was a boat ride with nuns! We had cycled to Grazie and we assume because of the party of nuns going out onto the lake that there were tours (as main season had finished) and we were able to get spaces on one of the boats and learn and see what happens when a plant starts to take over. The lotus flower plant is smothering large parts of the lakes but it is an amazing specimen and we did see one flower (late in the season to find them). The boats ran into some of the plants and the nuns grabbing leaves to make cloaks and hats was fun and their banter with one another made a delightfully happy start to our visit to the area.

Eating in Mantova (definitely a town to go back to).  Book supper at any time of the year.  We were there in mid/late September and the Osteria on the same road as the Casa Poli were very busy or not able to just walk into and get a table. We had lunch on day of arrival at Retro Bottega on via Giovanni Battista Spagnoli which first introduced us to the local moustarde with the fruits to accompany the dried meats and cheeses. We also used for evening meals the Antica Osteria al Ranari which is a wonderful local slow movement Osteria and on two occasions we ate at Lo Scalco Grasso which was superb and introduced us to excellent local wines and their own Limencello. The latter two eateries were an easy walk from the Casa Poli. We used the restaurant at the Albero each evening in Borghetto and the food was excellent (Sylvia’s pasta particularly). Good service and again, good use of local traditional dishes. We bought panini in Peschiera del Garda and had a great picnic sitting quietly on the lakeside rather than the zoo of a town which was swarming with other visitors. Pizzeria Jonathan was a real winner in San Vito.  

We all thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the holiday, helped by perfect weather. Well done Inntravel.

Our personal highlight was arriving at Sagramoso after a full day's cycling and being personally welcomed to the magnificent villa, followed by a refreshing swim in their beautiful pool.

We loved cycling along the River Mincio. We had a delightful lunch at the Trattoria Colli Ai Storici in Custoza. And we loved spending a day by the pool at Villa Sagramoso Sacchetti.

What a difference the electric bikes made, no concerns about the distance we would cover or the steepness of any hills. It was particularly good not to arrive at the next hotel looking red faced and exhausted!