Edge of the village
Dene House Guest House
A 4-star Gold AA-rated guest house a few minutes from the bay, in a stone house that has taken guests for well over a decade. Quiet, with birdsong, and a breakfast cooked to order.
Bowness is the older half of the pair: a lakeside village that was taking visitors long before the railway reached Windermere up the hill. Its guest houses sit on the lanes climbing away from the bay, which means most are a few minutes' walk from the water, the restaurants and — usefully — from Bowness Pier 1, one of our three main tour departure points.
Quick Facts
It is simply this: your tour pickup is a walk rather than a journey. Bowness Pier 1 is one of our three main departure points, and from most of the guest houses on these lanes it is a few minutes downhill. No taxi, no parking, no early drive up to the station. Guests staying here have the easiest tour mornings of anyone in the national park.
The other advantage is the evening. Bowness takes an enormous amount of day traffic and then, some time after five, hands itself back to the people staying in it.
Listed roughly by position rather than ranking — every one of these is independently run, and the character varies a great deal more than the star ratings suggest.
Edge of the village
A 4-star Gold AA-rated guest house a few minutes from the bay, in a stone house that has taken guests for well over a decade. Quiet, with birdsong, and a breakfast cooked to order.
Above the bay
Consistently among the highest-rated in Bowness, and well regarded for its views over the lake.
Bowness
A small, well-run independent close to the village centre, and a regular in the top few on the review sites.
Bowness
A long-established village guest house, popular with couples and within easy walking distance of the bay.
Bowness
Traditional and comfortable, and one of the better-regarded views among the village guest houses.
Between Windermere and Bowness
An award-winning guest house positioned midway between the two centres — a walk to either.
Bowness
A 4-star guest house with garden views, a short walk from the village and the piers.
South of the village
A Victorian house on the Newby Bridge road, quieter than the village centre and close to the lake shore.
Bowness
A well-established village B&B, strongly reviewed for breakfast and welcome.
Bowness
A traditional Lakeland cottage guest house on the lanes above the bay, well placed for both the village and the walk up Brant Fell.
Brant Fell rises from the top of the village and is a short, honest climb to a full-length view of Windermere — the best free hour in Bowness, and most visitors never do it.
On parking: the village car parks fill by mid-morning through the season, and the supermarket and retail car parks are customer-only, camera-monitored and do issue fines. If your guest house has a space, treat it as the whole answer and leave the car there.
Bowness is the eastern shore. Across the water — reached by the car ferry a couple of miles south — lies the quiet western side, and beyond it Hill Top at Near Sawrey and Hawkshead. It is well worth a day, and crossing early avoids the August queue.
The grand sweep: ten lakes, the high passes between them, and an Ullswater Steamers cruise exclusive to this tour. If a celebration stay deserves one great day out, this is it.
See dates & bookCollected at the door, your party only, the day shaped to you — literary landscapes, hidden valleys, or simply the most beautiful roads we know. Well-behaved dogs are welcome aboard in our vehicle crates.
Enquire about a private dayDove Cottage at Grasmere — entry included as standard — and the valleys that made the poems, with Dora's Field carpeted gold in daffodil season. The right literary day for this most Georgian of addresses.
See dates & bookAcross the lake to Hill Top and Near Sawrey, with our illustration-matching walk through the village lanes — back for a long lakeside lunch.
See dates & bookThe afternoon version crosses the lake by boat rather than by road — worth choosing if you'd like the crossing itself to be part of the day.
See dates & bookA slow hall morning, then eight lakes and their valleys at a seven-seat pace — the most civilised way to spend a Lakeland afternoon.
See dates & bookThe same eight lakes as the afternoon tour, run the opposite way round in the morning — ideal if you'd rather keep your afternoon free for the lawns.
See dates & bookA full literary day east to Haworth — the Parsonage, the cobbled village, and the moors that gave Wuthering Heights its weather, newly magnetic with the recent film. Oxenholme pickup available.
See dates & bookInto the Dales for Grassington's "Darrowby", the Wensleydale Creamery, Kilnsey Crag and Bolton Abbey — filming locations brought to life around you with live scene technology.
See dates & bookIf you would rather not work to a departure time, a private day collects directly from your guest house and runs entirely to your own plans. Well-behaved dogs are welcome aboard, travelling safely in the crates our vehicles carry.
Not sure which route suits your plans, or want a day built entirely from scratch — a family reunion, a wedding anniversary, scattering ashes somewhere that mattered? Tell us what you have in mind and we'll design a day around it — see our guide to celebrating a special occasion for ideas, or get in touch directly.
Bowness Pier 1, which is one of our three main departure points and minutes on foot from most Bowness guest houses. Windermere station and Ambleside library are the others.
No — Bowness is the lakeside village; Windermere is the town about a mile and a half uphill, built around the railway station.
Braithwaite Fold or Glebe Road. Avoid the supermarket and retail car parks — they are customer-only, camera-monitored and do issue fines. If your guest house has parking, use it.
Walk up Brant Fell from the top of the village — a short climb to a view down the whole length of the lake.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by any guest house or bed and breakfast listed. Small businesses change hands — please check current details directly before booking.