The Lakeside Hotel sits on the shore at the southern tip of Windermere, a former seventeenth-century coaching inn grown into a spa hotel with oak panelling, real fires and an uninterrupted view up the lake. This is the quiet end: no queues, no crowds on the promenade, and the cruise pier and a working steam railway effectively next door.
Quick Facts
This end of the lake exists in its modern form because of the railway. The line up the Leven valley brought visitors to Lakeside, where they transferred straight onto a steamer for Bowness and Ambleside — a joined-up journey that was the making of Lakeland tourism. A stretch of that railway still runs steam services from beside the hotel, and the boats still leave from the pier alongside.
Do the combination on your first full day: steam train down the valley and back, then the boat up the lake. It is the original Lake District day out and it still works.
The fell above the southern end of the lake gives one of the best views in the district for one of the shortest climbs — a car park high up the hill and then about twenty minutes to the top, from where the whole length of Windermere lies below you with the Coniston and Langdale fells beyond. It is the single best value walk in this guide.
Fell Foot, the National Trust park at the lake's southern tip, has lawns to the water, boat hire and one of the better swimming spots on Windermere. And the West Windermere Way passes the hotel — part of the Miles without Stiles network, level and well surfaced, which makes an easy after-dinner stroll along the shore.
Our scheduled tours depart Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library — around half an hour north up the lake road. Oxenholme, for our full-day tours, is a similar run east. Private days collect at the door.
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 & bookFrom the southern end a private day saves the drive north entirely — we collect at the door and shape the route around your party. Well-behaved dogs are welcome aboard, travelling safely in our vehicle crates.
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.
On the shore at the southern tip of Windermere near Newby Bridge, about 15 minutes from M6 junction 36.
Yes — Windermere Lake Cruises run the full length of the lake from the pier beside the hotel to Bowness and Ambleside.
The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway, a preserved section of the old branch line, running steam services up the Leven valley from beside the hotel.
Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library, around half an hour north. On private tours we can usually collect you at the hotel.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Lakeside Hotel & Spa.