An honest starting point
Gardone Riviera is a lakeside town on the Brescia shore, just north of Salò, on the softest and greenest stretch of that side of the lake. It has hotels, gardens and a waterfront — what it does not have, as far as our own checking goes, is a boat company based in the town. The shore is covered from Salò, by taxi boats that work lake-wide, and by the Sirmione tours that already include Gardone as a stop.
We would rather write that down than dress up a page. It changes nothing about what you can do here; it only changes where the boat comes from.
What that looks like in practice
From Salò, a few minutes down the shore, there are two working harbours, Porto Sirena and Porto Barbarano, with published trips of 30 minutes to 4 hours plus restaurant runs across the gulf. One of the companies there is the official transport partner for Isola del Garda.
From Sirmione, the standard tour that reaches this shore is the island plus Gardone Riviera, about 3 hours on the water. Sirmione’s published prices run from 100 EUR for the 25-minute peninsula circuit to 1,300 EUR for a full 8-hour day, with one company charging a flat 180 EUR per hour.
By water taxi, which is transport rather than a tour: set south-basin routes run 10 EUR to 35 EUR per person and a private taxi boat starts from 100 EUR. Scheduled ferries also call along this shore, on a main timetable of 16 May to 4 October with the Desenzano-Sirmione-Riva line running from March.
Season, weather and who decides
The lake season is April to October. You are in the calmer southern half here, with the wind turning northerly to southerly around midday and thunderstorms possible on summer afternoons. Skippers are professional captains and the weather call is theirs; the lake norm is free cancellation 24 to 48 hours ahead, with a refund or a reschedule when a day cannot run.
Next along the shore: boat tour from Salò. Straight offshore: Sirmione to Isola del Garda. For moving rather than touring: the water taxi. The whole lake is on the Lake Garda page; boats elsewhere on boat charters. Request availability with your date, your group and where you are staying, and we will bring the boat to you.