Monte Baldo

Monte Baldo is the ridge that runs the length of Lake Garda's eastern shore, rising to 2,218 metres straight out of the water. From Malcesine a cable car with rotating cabins climbs to 1,760 metres in about ten minutes.

The ascent is one of the sharpest changes of world available anywhere in Italy: olives and lemons at the bottom, alpine pasture and snow patches at the top, in the time it takes to drink a coffee.

Botanists have called it the garden of Europe, and the name is earned. The ridge escaped the full weight of the ice ages, so plants that were scoured off the rest of the Alps survived here -- including species that grow nowhere else.

This is a protected botanical area with endemic species, some of which grow nowhere else on earth. Keep strictly to the paths, and do not pick anything -- the mountain's reputation was built on plants that a few careless seasons could remove.

The summit is alpine terrain reachable by anyone with a cable car ticket, which is precisely the risk. Do not start a ridge walk in beach clothing; check the forecast; and turn back if cloud comes in.

Take all litter down with you. Waste at the top station is carried out by cable car.

The malghe on the ridge are working summer farms. Close gates, keep dogs under control, and buy their cheese if you pass one.

Coming up early spreads the load on a cable car that is a genuine bottleneck in August.

The cable car from Malcesine runs in two stages to about 1,760 metres. Expect roughly 25 euros return; it operates from spring to autumn and again for the winter ski season, with breaks between.

Book ahead or arrive early in summer -- queues at the lower station can run to an hour or more in August.

Allow half a day for the cable car and a walk at the top; a full day for a ridge route.

The top station and its terrace are accessible, so the summit view is available without walking. The ridge paths are proper mountain trails: rough, exposed and unsuitable for anyone unequipped.

It is much colder at the top. People arrive from the beach in shorts every day and regret it -- bring a jacket whatever the shore temperature.

Bicycles can be carried up, and the descent by mountain bike is popular and demanding.