Family Kayaking at Lake Idro — Renting from the Kiosk in Lemprato
Written on August 16th, 2026 by Marco
At Lake Idro kayaking has stopped being just my solo workout: thanks to the rental at the kiosk on Lemprato beach it has become the thing we do together as a family, with no boat to own, no roof rack and no logistics.
Before: Ten Kilometres at Dawn, Alone
For years my idea of kayaking on Lake Idro was a private affair. Up early, on the water while the lake is still a mirror, and off I went: about ten kilometres of steady paddling along the shore, an empty head, the sound of the blade entering the water and little else. It was the part of the day when the lake was mine.
Ten kilometres is my honest number — a full lap of the lake is a little over twenty and I rarely do it. It is a wonderful workout and I still do it, but it has one flaw: it cannot be shared. You come back to shore with a good story and nobody who lived it with you.
What Changed: the Kiosk in Lemprato
What changed things is a trivial thing: rental. On the beach at Lemprato, a hamlet of Idro, Kiosko Idro — the beach bar at Via Lungo Lago Italia 16 — rents kayaks right there on the spot. You hire the boat and get your coffee within the same square metre of beach.
Put like that it sounds minor, but for a family it changes everything. Owning a kayak means a garage, a roof rack, ten minutes of straps and knots before and after every outing and — above all — owning only one. Renting means arriving at the beach with nothing but towels, and getting everybody on the water at the same moment. Nobody is left watching from the shore.
On Ferragosto, the 15th of August and Italy’s great midsummer holiday, that is exactly what we did.
How the Lake Changes When You Paddle as a Family
The first thing you notice is that distance stops mattering. My ten kilometres become two, maybe three, and it is not a sacrifice: it is simply a different activity. You stop. You land on a pebble beach you would never reach on foot. You swim, which for a child is half the fun. You turn back because somebody is hungry.
And then there is something we take for granted here, which is the real reason family kayaking works so well on Lake Idro: engines on the lake are capped at 9.9 HP. That does not mean you meet nobody — there are boats out there, mostly the fishermen’s — but it does mean they are all slow little boats. No speedboats, no water skiing, no wake hitting you while you have a child on board. The water is clean — this is one of the cleanest lakes in Italy — and at 368 metres above sea level, with the mountains of the Valle Sabbia all around, the scenery is the one in the photo above.
Ferragosto on the Water — the Video
Practical Tips for a Day of Kayaking in Lemprato
Go in the morning
This is the most important rule, and it matters most with children. Lake Idro has a reliable thermal wind, the Ander, which normally picks up in the middle of the day: it is the reason this lake is famous for windsurfing and kitesurfing, and it is exactly what you do not want with a child on a kayak. From dawn until mid-morning the water is calm and flat. Leave the afternoon to the windsurfers.
What you actually need
Not much: swimwear, a light t-shirt (you burn more than you expect out on the water), sunscreen, a bottle of water and water shoes for landing on the pebble beaches. Bring your own buoyancy aid for the children — we had ours — and make them wear it at all times, even those who swim well.
You do not need to know how to paddle
The rental kayaks are singles with a cockpit, but they are wide, recreational and extremely stable: capsizing one takes real effort. There is no technique to learn, you simply set off. And with small children you do not even need a second boat: they sit in the cockpit in front of the parent, who paddles for both.
Stay along the shore
With a family there is no reason to cut across the middle of the lake. Following the shoreline you see far more, you are always a minute away from somewhere to land, and if the wind picks up earlier than expected you are already sheltered.
That Is Really the Point
I will keep doing my outings at dawn, because nothing replaces that silence. But if I had to name the best day of kayaking of this summer on Lake Idro, it would not be one of those: it would be Ferragosto. Barely three kilometres, two stops, a swim and an ice cream on the way back.
If the sporting side interests you, I wrote about the solo outings in Exploring Lake Idro by Kayak. If you are after another outdoor idea for a family day, the bike path from Idro to Anfo and Ponte Caffaro is flat and child-friendly, and in a life at Lake Idro I explain why I never left. For general tourist information about the area the reference is Visit Brescia.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can you rent a kayak at Lake Idro? The place we use is Kiosko Idro, the beach bar on Lemprato beach, a hamlet of Idro (Via Lungo Lago Italia 16), where you rent on the spot during the summer months. There are other rental points along the shores, particularly around Idro, Crone and Anfo.
Is kayaking at Lake Idro suitable for children? Yes, and it is one of the best places in northern Italy for it: engines on Lake Idro are capped at 9.9 HP, so you only meet slow little boats — mostly the fishermen’s — and there are no speedboats or wakes. With a buoyancy aid, a stable recreational kayak and a morning outing on calm water, it is a relaxed activity even for small children, who sit in the cockpit in front of the parent.
What time of day is best for family kayaking? The morning, roughly before 11am. The Ander thermal wind usually picks up in the middle of the day and ruffles the water: excellent for windsurfing and kitesurfing, much less so for a relaxed paddle with children.
How long is a typical family outing? One to two hours, covering two or three kilometres in total, stops and swims included. It is a completely different scale from a sporting outing: alone, training, I cover about ten kilometres along the shore.
Do you need experience to rent a kayak? No. Recreational rental kayaks are designed for people who have never paddled: they are wide, stable and very hard to capsize, and they require no particular technique. The basic instructions you get when you rent are enough.
