Easy and panoramic ring route at Lake Garda: Busatte Tempesta path

Famous walk with stunning views from the Busatte Park at Torbole

Text and Photo

Angela Trawoeger

Creator, photographer and content manager

Due to landslides, the Busatte – Tempesta trail has been closed indefinitely.
Last update: November 6, 2023

The Busatte-Tempesta path at Lake Garda is one of the most famous and visited walks in the North Lake Garda. The trail is easy, very scenic and passes through dense Mediterranean vegetation.

Along the route you will find stair-ladders with a total of 400 steps which help to get you over the steepest of the shoulders.

Map and GPS Track

Details

• Technical characteristics

  • Starting point
    Torbole: Busatte Park
  • Endpoint
    Torbole: Busatte Park
  • Route
    Busatte Park – Busatte Tempesta Path – forest road – Busatte Tempesta Path – Busatte Park
  • Starting height
    205m
  • Highest point
    274m
  • Altitude – ascent/descent
    303m/347m
  • Distance
    7,3 km
  • Duration
    2,5 hrs

• Difficulty

  • Difficulty
    easy
  • Technical difficulty (1 to 5)
    2
  • Physical training (1 to 5)
    2
  • CAI (Italian Alpine Club) difficulty scale
    T: turistic*
    *Mountain signs and Italian Alpine Club difficulty scale

• Scenic appeal

  • Experience (1 to 5)
    5
  • Landscape (1 to 5)
    5

• Type of route

  • Round tour
  • Panoramic route
  • Suitable for families and children
  • Insider tip

• Best time of year

  • All year over
    without snow

Partner

Points of interest along this walking trail

Definitely the panoramic views, the wide Mediterranean flora and the landslide from the most recent Ice Age. Along this route you will find signs telling you about the flora, fauna and geology of this area.

Description of the ring route Busatte-Tempesta

From the carpark at the Busatte Park, walk south crossing the park and take the pain which goes up on the left between the BMX slopes and the adventure park.

You go gently uphill for about 20 minutes, going past the landslide to the first stair-ladder of 116 steps built to get you across “Salt della Cavra”.

Carry on on an easy path until the second set of stairs to cross the “Corno di Bò”, this is the longest ladder with 238 steps.

Along the path  between the first and second ladders, you will find a route going uphill on the left: this is how you head back if doing this as a ring route.

Ahead of you now is the last part of the walk and the last stair-ladder with only 33 steps which brings you to a crossing with the forest road.

Here you turn left and follow the forest road which goes gently uphill for about 1km and brings you to another viewpoint on a curve in the road.

Here you start going downhill on an easy rough road, until you reach the fork in the road with the Busatte-Tempesta steps path signed to the left and to the right the “Sentiero dei Paloni” (Paloni path).

Take the left hand path which will quickly bring you back to the initial path between the first and second ladders.

Turning north, you go back up the first ladder (Salt della Cavra) to get back to the Busatte Park from where you started.

Variant

• Between the first and second stair-ladders, you can take a shortcut on the left using the forest road first uphill and then downhill and thus you do the second and third ladders ascending rather than descending.
• If, after the three ladders you don’t want to do anymore ascents, you can descend on the forest road for about 1.5km until you get to Tempesta on the Via Gardesana road and get back to Torbole by bus. From the bus stop in Torbole, the Busatte Park is a 1.5km walk uphill to get back to the carpark.
  More info here: Busatte-Tempesta one-way route
• Here, instead, you will find another route, always a ring route, but of medium difficulty starting from Torbole which descends from Busatte to Tempesta and return to Torbole by the “Sentiero dei Paloni”.

Our suggestions

• This path is very busy even in low season so start early in the morning or come during the week if possible.
• In the short winter months, the ladders are in shade until late morning
• In the longer summer months, the ladders are in full sunlight all day and get very hot so start in the early morning.
• Bring something to drink, there are no fountains along this route or bars or restaurants.

The route in winter

Thanks to its low elevation, you can do this walk all year round.

Places to eat and refreshment points

At the start of the walk in Torbole.

Partner

How to get to the start point of the itinerary

You will find the Busatte Park in Torbole sul Garda.

Carpark

At the Busatte Park.

Public Transport

• From Verona:ATV bus number 163/164 and 483/484, changing at Garda.
• From Torbole or Riva del Garda: ATV bus number 483/484

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