The Lake District is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Cumbria, in the north-west corner of England: a knot of lakes and high fells holding England's highest mountain, the cottage where Wordsworth wrote and the farmhouse Beatrix Potter bought with her first royalties. Cruising Windermere from Bowness is on the United Kingdom page; this page covers the other lakes, the fell walks from family hills to Scafell Pike, and the culture and food of Grasmere and Near Sawrey.
Each entry says how to get there without a car, because parking is the recurring problem: Catbells has no car park at all, Howtown is reached only by boat or on foot, and the National Trust asks walkers to come back another day when the Wasdale car park is full. Stagecoach buses 555, 599, 508 and the Honister Rambler 77 cover most of this page, with more journeys from late March to 1 November.
Sail a Victorian steamer to Howtown and walk back along Ullswater
Glenridding and Howtown, Ullswater
Half a day: 35 minutes by boat, 7 miles on footNo booking needed
Take a boat to Howtown and walk 7 miles back along the lakeshore, with no need to race the last boat.
What it is
Ullswater 'Steamers' has run boats on Ullswater for more than 160 years, and two of its fleet are Victorian: Lady of the Lake, launched in 1877 and believed to be the oldest working passenger boat in the UK, and Raven, from 1889. The classic day pairs a boat with a walk.
How to do it
Sail from Glenridding pier to Howtown, 35 minutes, then walk the 7 miles (11 km) back to Glenridding on the lakeshore section of the Ullswater Way, so you never have to race the last boat. Howtown has no car park and is reached by boat or on foot; Glenridding pier has a pay and display car park. In 2026 a single to Howtown cost £12.75 for adults. Without a car, Stagecoach bus 508 runs daily from Penrith station through Pooley Bridge to Glenridding.
Cross Derwentwater by launch and climb a 451-metre fell Wainwright called a family fell, for the view over the lake to Keswick.
What it is
Catbells rises to only 451 metres on the western shore of Derwentwater, yet the view over the lake to Keswick makes it one of the most popular fells in the Lake District; Wainwright called it a family fell.
How to do it
From the Keswick boat landings, past Theatre by the Lake, the Keswick Launch crosses to Hawes End, the main jetty for the climb, or to High Brandelhow for a route through National Trust woodland. Pay at the Keswick office, or on board by card at the other jetties. From late March to early November the Honister Rambler 77/77A bus from Keswick also stops at Catbells.
Good to know
The catch is parking: there is no car park at its foot, and Visit Keswick asks walkers to come by boat or bus. The launch closes in December and January and runs fewer boats in November, February and early March.
Time needed
Half a day with the boat
Best time
Mid-March to November, when the launch runs its full timetable
Climb Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain, from Wasdale Head
Wasdale Head
About 5 hours up and downFree
Stand on England's highest summit, a war memorial climbed by around 250,000 people a year, by its most direct route.
What it is
At 978 metres, Scafell Pike is England's highest mountain and a war memorial, and around 250,000 people climb it each year.
How to do it
The most direct way up is the National Trust's Hollow Stones route from its Lake Head car park, next to the Wasdale campsite: allow about five hours up and down on steep, rocky ground with some scrambling. Maps and compasses can be borrowed at the car park, which is pay and display, free for members; the Trust asks you to come back another day if it is full.
Good to know
Two places decide the day. At about 300 metres you cross Lingmell Gill, which can rise fast enough after rain to be impassable on the way back. Higher up, photograph the path junction above Lingmell col, at 777 metres, because in mist the summit plateau is easy to leave in the wrong direction.
Time needed
About 5 hours up and down
Best time
A clear day after dry weather, when Lingmell Gill is low
Cross Striding Edge to Helvellyn, if you have the experience
Glenridding
5 to 6 hoursFree
Scramble the crest of Striding Edge or follow the paths beside it to the summit of the Lake District's classic ridge walk.
What it is
Helvellyn, 950 metres, is the classic ridge walk in the Lake District, and Striding Edge is the reason. You can scramble along the crest or take the paths beside it, safer for beginners; either way a steep rock face waits below the summit.
How to do it
Start in Glenridding, on the lane signposted for Helvellyn opposite the Glenridding Hotel, and climb past the farm to Hole-in-the-Wall, the gap in a field wall where the ridge begins. Allow 5 to 6 hours for about 7.5 miles (12 km). From December to April the National Park's Weatherline reports daily conditions from the summit. Park in Glenridding or take the 508 bus.
Good to know
Do not treat Swirral Edge as the easy way down: it is badly eroded and has seen many fatalities, so return the way you came or take the longer route via Whiteside Bank and Raise.
Tour Dove Cottage, the Grasmere home where Wordsworth wrote
Town End, Grasmere
2 hoursBook ahead
Step inside the cottage where Wordsworth wrote 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud' while his sister Dorothy kept her journal.
What it is
William Wordsworth lived in Dove Cottage from 1799 to 1808 with his sister Dorothy, and it was here that he wrote much of the poetry he is remembered for, from 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud' to the 'Ode: Intimations of Immortality', while she kept her Grasmere journal. Wordsworth Grasmere has brought the cottage back to life; the site also has a museum and the Garden-Orchard he called 'the loveliest spot man hath ever found'.
How to do it
Short introductory tours start every 40 minutes, the last at 15:20, and the ticket also covers the museum and the garden and works as an annual pass. The site opens Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00; book online to secure your tour. Buses 555 and 599 stop at the Dove Cottage stop, just metres away.
Buy Sarah Nelson's gingerbread next to Wordsworth's grave
Church Cottage, Grasmere
30 minutes, with the churchyardNo booking needed
Buy gingerbread still baked daily to an 1854 secret recipe, in a former village school beside the churchyard where Wordsworth lies.
What it is
Grasmere Gingerbread was invented in 1854 by Sarah Nelson, a Victorian cook who baked it in Church Cottage, a small former village school built in 1630 beside St Oswald's churchyard, and first sold it from a table outside her front door. Her husband Wilfred dug the graves in the churchyard next door. The gingerbread is a spicy, chewy cross between a biscuit and a cake, still baked every day in the same cottage to her secret recipe, which she kept in a local bank vault.
How to do it
The shop opens daily from 9:15 to 17:30, closing at 17:00 from 2 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. Before or after, walk into St Oswald's churchyard, where William Wordsworth and his family are buried. The 555 and 599 buses stop in the village.
Good to know
It shuts on Good Friday and from 24 to 26 December.
Time needed
30 minutes, with the churchyard
Best time
Any day from 9:15; closed on Good Friday and 24 to 26 December
Book a slot at Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse
Near Sawrey
1 to 2 hoursTimed entry
Match Beatrix Potter's illustrations to the rooms of the farmhouse she bought with the proceeds of Peter Rabbit.
What it is
Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top, a 17th-century farmhouse in Near Sawrey, in 1905 with the proceeds of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and the house and the countryside around it inspired many of the books that followed; inside, you can match her illustrations to the rooms. The National Trust keeps it filled with her belongings, which keeps numbers small.
How to do it
Everyone, members included, must book a 30-minute arrival slot, and new slots are released every Thursday for the following two weeks. Without a car, cross Windermere on the ferry from Ferry Nab at Bowness and follow the signed 2-mile path to Far Sawrey and Hill Top, or park in Hawkshead and take the 525 bus, which runs from late March.
Good to know
Afternoons after 14:30 are quieter. The car park holds only 30 cars, so do not arrive before your slot.
Ride the La'al Ratty from the coast to the foot of the Scafells
Ravenglass to Dalegarth for Boot
Half a day: 40 minutes each way plus a walkBook ahead
Ride a 15-inch gauge railway 7 miles from the coast up Eskdale, in sight of the Scafell range, in its 150th year.
What it is
The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, known locally as the La'al Ratty, is a 15-inch gauge line that runs 7 miles from Ravenglass, the only coastal village in the Lake District National Park, up Eskdale to Dalegarth for Boot, in sight of the Scafell range. It first hauled iron ore and has carried passengers since 1876, so 2026 is its 150th year.
How to do it
A single journey takes about 40 minutes; in 2026 an adult return cost £26, and a seat in the Pullman observation carriage is a small extra. The seven stops on the way are request halts where you pay the guard in cash for a single. Cumbrian Coast line trains stop at Ravenglass station, next door.
Good to know
At Dalegarth, walk to Stanley Ghyll waterfall or into Boot for Eskdale Mill; at Ravenglass, the Roman bath house is a ten-minute walk.
Climb the quarrymen's path on the Honister via ferrata
Honister Pass
1.5 to 3 hours on the Classic routeBook ahead
Clip onto iron rungs and cables on the quarrymen's old path, and on the Xtreme cross a wire bridge over a void.
What it is
Honister Slate Mine, at the top of Honister Pass between Borrowdale and Buttermere, runs the UK's first via ferrata on the path its quarrymen once took up Honister Crag: iron rungs, ladders and cables, clipped to a fixed line with a guide all the way. The Classic takes 1.5 to 3 hours. The Xtreme, 2.5 to 3 hours, climbs the face of Fleetwith Pike, crosses the wire Burma Bridge over a void and finishes up a sky ladder to the 2,000-foot summit.
How to do it
Arrive 30 minutes early to kit up, in strong boots with waterproofs and gloves. Day parking costs £5, and the Honister Rambler 77/77A from Keswick stops at the mine.
Good to know
Both are open from age 10, with under-16s climbing alongside an adult, and need a minimum height of 1.3 metres. It runs in any weather.
Stand inside a ring of 38 stones probably raised about 4,500 years ago, with Helvellyn and High Seat behind.
What it is
Castlerigg is a ring of 38 standing stones on a plateau east of Keswick, with Helvellyn and High Seat behind it, probably raised about 4,500 years ago in the late Neolithic. English Heritage points out the wide gap on the north side, probably the original entrance, two low mounds just inside it, and a rectangle of ten stones that early archaeologists called the Sanctuary and dug in 1882, finding nothing. The tallest stone and a fallen partner may have framed the midwinter sunrise. Coleridge visited in November 1799 and wrote that 'the Keswickians have been playing tricks with the stones', and 13 were indeed moved or re-erected between about 1794 and 1848.
How to do it
Entry is free at any reasonable time in daylight. Parking at the site is limited, so walk from Keswick, about 30 minutes.
Circle a lake on an easy, level path with high fells on every side and a tunnel cut through the rock.
What it is
Buttermere is the lake for an easy, level walk with high fells on every side. The National Trust's lakeshore path circles it for 4.5 miles (7 km), passing a tunnel cut through the rock in the 19th century by a Manchester mill owner. The most popular view looks down the lake to Fleetwith Pike, beside Haystacks, Wainwright's best fell top of all.
How to do it
Allow three hours. With children, go anticlockwise from the village: you start in sheltered woods, and the tunnel comes on the way back. The National Trust car park in the village is pay and display, free for members, and the Honister Rambler 77 stops here.
Good to know
The path has one short stretch on the road and one rock step where you may need your hands. From April to the end of June a short stretch on the north edge closes for nesting sandpipers, with a waymarked alternative.
Half a day Bowness to Ambleside and backNo booking needed
Hop between Windermere's piers all day, with lunch in Ambleside and a historic steamer down to Lakeside.
What it is
Windermere Lake Cruises sails every day from four piers: Ambleside (Waterhead) at the north end, Bowness, Brockhole and Lakeside in the south. The two routes worth knowing are the Red Cruise north to Ambleside, about 30 to 35 minutes each way, and the Yellow Cruise south to Lakeside on one of the historic steamers, about 40 minutes.
How to do it
Most boats leave from Bowness. A Freedom of the Lake ticket lets you hop on and off all day, which suits a loop with lunch in Ambleside and a return via Lakeside. Arriving by train, get off at Windermere station and walk down through the town to the pier at Bowness.
Good to know
At Lakeside, the steam railway station is a minute's walk from the pier.
Avanti West Coast trains between London Euston and Scotland stop at Oxenholme Lake District, about two and a half hours from Euston, where a branch line runs to Windermere, and at Penrith for Keswick and Ullswater. Manchester Airport has an hourly direct train to Oxenholme. From Penrith station, buses X4 and X5 run to Keswick and the 508 to Glenridding on Ullswater. National Express coaches run from London Victoria to Kendal, Windermere, Keswick and Penrith.
Getting around
Stagecoach runs the routes that matter: the 555 from Kendal through Windermere, Ambleside and Grasmere to Keswick, every day; the open-top 599 from Bowness and Windermere to Grasmere; the 508 from Penrith to Glenridding; and the Honister Rambler 77/77A, a loop from Keswick past Catbells, Honister and Buttermere, daily from 23 March to 1 November in 2026. Boats link the piers on Windermere, Derwentwater and Ullswater. Wasdale has no such link: drive, or take the coast line to Seascale and a taxi.
How many days
In must30's view, four days without a car: one around Keswick for Catbells and Castlerigg, one on the Honister Rambler for Honister and Buttermere, one in Grasmere and Near Sawrey for Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter, and one on Ullswater. Add a day for Scafell Pike or Helvellyn if you are fit and the forecast is clear, and one on the west coast for the Ravenglass railway.
When to go
Late March to early November is the main season: the seasonal buses run, the Keswick Launch keeps its full timetable and Dove Cottage opens every day in July and August. Winter is quieter but short on daylight; the Keswick Launch stops in December and January, and the high fells become winter mountaineering ground, which is why the National Park's Weatherline reports conditions from the summit of Helvellyn every day from December to April.
Where to base yourself
Keswick is the best base without a car, with the 555, the X4 and X5, the Honister Rambler, the Keswick Launch and Castlerigg within walking distance. Ambleside and Grasmere sit in the middle of the park on the 555 and 599, close to Dove Cottage and the Windermere boats. Windermere and Bowness have the railway station and the most beds. Glenridding suits Helvellyn and Ullswater, and Wasdale Head, with its inn and National Trust campsite, is the base for Scafell Pike.
Questions travellers ask
Can you visit the Lake District without a car?
Yes, for most of it. Take the train to Windermere or Penrith, then Stagecoach buses: the 555 links Windermere, Grasmere and Keswick, the 508 runs to Ullswater and the Honister Rambler 77 loops round Catbells, Honister and Buttermere. Wasdale, for Scafell Pike, is the exception and needs a car or a taxi from Seascale.
Is Catbells a good walk for beginners?
It is the classic first fell: only 451 metres high, and Wainwright called it a family fell. The climb is short but steep in places, so wear proper shoes. There is no car park at its foot, so take the Keswick Launch to Hawes End or the 77 bus.
Do you need to book Hill Top?
Yes. Everyone, National Trust members included, must book a 30-minute arrival slot, and new slots are released every Thursday for the next two weeks. Afternoons after 14:30 are usually quieter, and the car park only holds 30 cars.
How long does it take to climb Scafell Pike?
The National Trust gives about five hours up and down for its Hollow Stones route from Lake Head car park in Wasdale, the shortest way to the top. It is steep and rocky, and navigation on the summit plateau is hard in mist, so go on a clear day with a map and compass.
.jpg){kind=link}
