Sirmione on Lake Garda Rejects a Visitor Cap and Tries 31 Pedestrian-Only Days Instead

Sirmione sits at the end of a thin peninsula pushing into the south of Lake Garda. One road goes in. About 8,000 people live there, and the town reports more than 1.3 million overnight stays a year, before you count the day visitors who come by car, bus and boat from Verona, Brescia and the rest of the lake.

On the 1 May weekend in 2025, more than 40,000 extra cars came in compared with the year before. The town talked about an entry fee for day visitors and compulsory booking on peak days. It didn't do either. In March 2026 it set out a plan to manage the flow instead.

The Rocca Scaligera from the water. Swallowtail battlements, a square keep, walls standing straight out of the lake, a little harbour hidden behind them. The castle is the gate to the old town. Walk through it, and you're on the peninsula.

What changed this year

No cap, and no ticket to enter the town. Instead the plan set 31 pedestrian-only days, from 14:00 to 19:00, on peak weekends and public holidays. Tour coaches now have to book a slot at the Monte Baldo car park. Street stewards worked 105 days, up from 38 in 2025. And the town added parking for residents.

Cars were already limited. The historic centre is a camera-controlled ZTL, a limited traffic zone, from the Grotte di Catullo to the edge of town. You need a permit registered in advance by number plate. Hotel guests park at a designated car park and are shuttled in. The summer ZTL runs until October 13. Driving in without a permit gets you a fine by post.

What it costs

Parking in high season cost €3.50 an hour, or €28 a day, at Monte Baldo, and €4 an hour at Piazzale Europa. The Scaliger Castle costs €10 for adults over 25, €2 for 18 to 25-year-olds, and nothing for under-18s or on the first Sunday of the month. It's closed on Mondays. The Grotte di Catullo, the ruins of a vast Roman villa at the tip of the peninsula, also cost €10. A combined ticket with the Roman villa at Desenzano costs €20 and lasts a week.

The best plan is the boat. Ferries run from Desenzano, Peschiera and other lake towns to the Sirmione pier, and you skip the road entirely. Come on a weekday after mid-October, when the ZTL eases and the crowds thin. The lake is still warm enough to look at, and the castle walls glow in the late light.