Hi, you can easily get to Malcesine by car in time to take the cable car up to Monte Baldo, and there are some lovely walks up there. Information on times and ticket prices is at

www.funiviamalcesine.com

There are two car ferries on the lake; one from Malcesine to Limone and the other from Torri del Benaco to Toscolano/Maderno.

You don't say which month you plan to visit which could have some bearing on how busy the traffic is on the lake roads and if you want to drive. If you don't want to use your car then you could take a bus from Verona to Malcesine. The timetable is on

www.apt.vr.it/pdf/62-64.pdf

The largest beach on the lake is at Riva although most places have a beach area.

One other thing worth mentioning - you said that you will be in Verona for a long weekend. If you have the whole of the Monday then that would be the best time to take a day trip to the lake. The monuments, museums etc in Verona are closed on Mondays until early afternoon.

thanks!

do you know how long it would take to drive to malcesine? i realise i competely left out the fact that we're going this saturday, in 2 days time!! unforunately leaving on sun so can't go on a weekday. Also, where could i get ferry information? It seems an idea to drive to malcesine, take the ferry to limone and then drive back to verona from there?

Hi, it should take around an hour or so to get from Verona to Malcesine, but on a Saturday in August the traffic could be extremely busy!

The ferry timetable is at

www.navigazionelaghi.it

The road on the western shore of the lake south of Limone has lots of tunnels, so the views aren't as good as on the eastern shore.