LAGO DI GARDA WINDSURFING: MEDITERRANEAN TRAVEL

INTRODUCTION: LAGO DI GARDA WINDSURFING: MEDITERRANEAN TRAVEL

Mediterranean climate

LAGO DI GARDA WINDSURFING: MEDITERRANEAN TRAVEL When thinking about the Alps, you don’t normally think about the Mediterranean or a Mediterranean climate but if you visit Lago di Garda this is exactly what you get. Lago di Garda is located in northern Italy in the foothills of the Alps. It’s about 70 miles west of Venice and about 70 miles east of Milan, roughly halfway between both cities. The lake is almost completely surrounded by mountains and its waters are glacier-fed from these same hills. However, Lago di Garda is also blessed with a Mediterranean climate that makes it a beautiful place to visit year-round.

Although not directly on the Mediterranean (it lies about 70 miles from the coast), it still benefits from the regulating effect of the Mediterranean Sea, helping to keep the winters mild and the summers hot. (Meanwhile, to find out more about the Mediterranean, check out our post on Mediterranean Lifestyle and Travel for helpful travel ideas.).

Mediterranean Countryside

In fact when looking at the countryside surrounding the lake, and in particular towards the south end of the lake and its eastern shore, it would be easy to imagine yourself on the Mediterranean coast. The distinctive architecture of the towns and villages, the extensive farmland, olive groves, and vineyards all give the impression that you are on the Mediterranean Sea and not in the Alps. However, if you have never swam in Lago di Garda, you should know that the warm climate illusion is quickly shattered the moment you stick your toes in the water. The lake is glacier-fed, very deep, and ice-cold. This is not for the faint of heart!

Windsurfing and Kitesurfing

 Still, if you are looking at doing water sports, and in particular windsurfing and kite surfing, this is an ideal playground. Anyone who has windsurfed on the Mediterranean in the summer will tell you that the conditions tend to be better in the off-season, either in the spring or fall. It’s still possible to windsurf in the summer but there is a reason that people flock to the Mediterranean coast in the summertime and it’s not to lie down on the beach to get sand blown into your face by strong winds!! The conditions in the summer are generally far calmer and less windy and are better for just lying on the beach, baking in the hot sun, with the occasional swim to cool off. 

Lago di Garda

On Lago di Garda this is completely different. From its northernmost shore down to the south, the lake extends about 32 miles. For ⅔ of its length, the lake is only about 2 to 3 miles wide, with the northern end of the lake being almost completely surrounded by mountains. This physical combination of the shape of the lake and the mountains around it forming a natural wind tunnel, helps to create dependable and ideal winds every day, perfect for windsurfing and kite surfing. 

Campione

I had heard about this windsurfing “Mecca” from friends and decided to make my way down there to try this out myself. I drove south from Germany, through Austria until I reached the Lago di Garda. I camped out on the west shore of the lake in a small town called Campione. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived, but what I found was a fair-sized community of surfers all camping in the same location and all there for the same reason. I had windsurfed before in inland lakes in southern Germany and France, and usually this involved driving long distances to get to a lake, rigging up the equipment, and then waiting patiently to see if there would be wind or not. Forecasts were notoriously inaccurate so it was quite often a crap-shoot if you were going to be able to windsurf or not. And quite often I ended up driving the long way back home with nothing to show for my time and effort.

Thermal Wind

When talking to the windsurfers at Campione, this was a different story. They told me that the wind came at the same time every day and it blew from the same direction. The explanation was that the sun would rise in the morning, it would hit the tops of the mountains first, which would heat the air at the higher altitudes which would then slowly rise. This rising air would draw air from lower altitudes which would rise and warm up, and in turn draw in more air from lower altitudes, and so on. In the end, you would have a conveyor belt of air moving up the mountains at the north end of the lake drawing air from the south. And this happened at around the same time every day which was around 1pm. So everybody in the wind surfing community would spend the mornings leisurely going about their business, maybe go shopping at the local grocery shop, or grab breakfast at one of the restaurants. Some people would go jogging and others would go for hikes or bike rides. 

“Vento”

But around noon, everyone would start rigging their sails and get ready. Some would even get their equipment in the water and just sit on their boards with wet suits half zipped up and wait. At first, this seemed comical since there was absolutely no wind, and under normal circumstances, I would have just chalked up this day as being a wash. But around 1pm you would hear people calling out from different places, “Vento” and sure as heck the wind started to blow, coming from the south. It started slowly but quickly gained strength and within a span of about 10 minutes you would have perfect windsurfing conditions.

Predictable Wind

People were scrambling to get their wet suits zipped up and others were rushing to get their boards out on the water. And laughter, excitement, and shouts of glee everywhere. From this point you had the rest of the afternoon to windsurf until eventually, the wind finally died down. This wasn’t a one-off either. It happened every day, around the same time, and it was fantastic. And this phenomenon was not only happening in Campione but played out along virtually the entire length of the lake. Also, depending on your skill level, you could pick from various locations along the shore, where the wind would blow at certain specific strengths. So if you were a novice you could seek out areas where the wind was a little weaker, or you could move up the shore a 200m or 300 m and the wind could be as much as two or three times stronger and be perfect for more advanced surfers. Here, everyone got what they wanted.

I had also heard that there was a similar thermal wind that blew in the mornings with the wind blowing in the opposite direction. However, according to the other surfers, this wind tended to be weaker and less dependable, and in the week that I stayed in Campione, we never saw that morning thermal wind even once. But that’s OK, the afternoon thermal wind was perfect. I stayed for a week and windsurfed my little heart out. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: LAGO DI GARDA WINDSURFING: MEDITERRANEAN TRAVEL

If you are planning a summer vacation to northern Italy to spend time on the Mediterranean, and are looking for excellent windsurfing and kite surfing conditions then this is the place that you may want to consider. Even if the windsurfing conditions are poor or non-existent on the Mediterranean coast itself, the conditions are almost always ideal on Lago di Garda. In the end, Lago di Garda may just be the “Mediterranean experience” that you are looking for.