Isola Polvese 6.0 km

Easy hike on the pleasant island Isola Polvese, suited for children. On the island you will find olive groves, oak woodland, reedland, a castello, lawns, a small beach, a bar-restaurant and other facilities to enjoy a nice day out. The island is not permanently inhabited, but is a scientific park and managed sustainably. The day we were there it seemed popular for school trips.
You arrive to the island from San Feliciano (by the way, do not forget to visit Oasi Naturalistica La Valle when you are there with an abundance of birds and a large chance of observing beavers). The schedule can be found by googling ‘traghetti Polvese’.
After leaving the boat you walk down a pier and then a lane towards the bar-restaurant. From here, you turn north-east on a lane lined by poplars towards the eastern point of the island. Here there is a big lawn for pick nicking or playing, and there are also canoes to rent. Walking along the shore you arrive on the small beach (see waypoint) where you will find some sand and reed umbrellas to give it a bit of a tropical feel. From here a path takes you on the northern side of the island to the northwestern point of the island. This part of the island is covered in woodland. The path here is shaded by the trees. At the northwestern point you can climb some stairs to a viewpoint and after that you follow the path on the southern side back towards the ferry dock. Here, you will find reedlands and wet habitats. Just before you arrive to the castello, you turn left to approach the castello from above (see waypoint). After having given the castello a look, you continue back towards the restaurant. Just before the restaurant you turn left to make another inland looping on the island. This loop takes you through century old olive groves, past a farmstead (where you could also stay the night), and up to the highest point of the island. We saw two snakes here (one of them I later determined to be the green whip snake, or ‘geelgroene toornslang’ in Dutch) on the stone wall lining the path. They were basking in the sun and disappeared in small holes as soon we passed. The inland loop ends at the bar-restaurant where you can buy another drink waiting for the boat to take you back.
There are little maps displayed on some places on the island (I included one photo of such a map with this track), so you can also easily choose another hike.