Lazise discovery guide

For the harbour, which is the set piece: a small basin enclosed by a curving quay, pastel houses around it and the castle above. It is the shore's most recognisable view and it takes about ninety seconds to walk into.

For the Dogana Veneta — a long, plain, high-roofed hall built for work rather than display. Galleys were assembled under that roof and it later stored sulphur for gunpowder, which is a more interesting history than most decorated buildings can offer.

And because the centre is flat, walled and largely pedestrianised, which makes it one of the easier towns on the lake to spend an hour in without a car, and among the more accessible.

May, June and September are the pleasant months — warm enough for the lake, without the August load.

Early morning or evening for the harbour at any time of year. Sunset over the basin with the castle behind is the classic, and the reason people stay for dinner.

Winter is quiet, and the walled centre is at its most legible without the crowds — though many lakefront businesses close.

If you have two hours

Walk the harbour first, then the quay to the Dogana and San Nicolò, then out through one of the three gates to see the walls from the landward side — which is the only way to understand that the town is still enclosed.

If you want what others miss

Almost everyone stays on the harbour front. The streets behind it are the actual town, and they are where the shops that are not bars still are.

If you are here in summer

Come at either end of the day. Between about eleven and five in July and August the harbour is genuinely crowded, and the town is a couple of hundred metres across.

Lazise is a small town carrying very large visitor numbers, concentrated on a harbour a couple of hundred metres across. Coming outside the middle of the day, or outside July and August, changes the experience completely and eases a real pressure.

Arrive by ferry or bus. Parking is the town's worst problem, and the lake ferries land you at the harbour itself.

The castle is a private home. Photograph it from the public side and do not attempt to enter the grounds.

The medieval walls have houses built against them and gardens behind. Treat them as part of a lived-in town rather than a monument.

Buying from the town's own shops rather than only the harbour-front bars spreads spending that is otherwise concentrated in about three streets.