Windermere Lake Cruise Review

Windermere Lake Cruise
Bowness to Lakeside

28 December 2014

www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk

Reviewed by Cathy Porteus

There is both indoor and outdoor seating on the boats. It was a cold clear day when we took our trip, so we initially sat outside. Some of the seats were wet, I think this was one of the first trips of the day so it seemed like they hadn’t been dried from the overnight frost / dew. After 10 minutes or so, we were cold so went to sit inside. It was quite comfortable inside and definitely warmer. However I then wasn’t able to hear the tour, as although there were speakers inside, either some weren’t working or else they weren’t turned up enough. I could only catch some of the words and most of the time couldn’t understand what was being said, which was a shame.

There are refreshments available on the boat with a small bar area which sold hot and cold drinks, including some alcoholic ones. There were also crisps and chocolate available. The boat had toilets too, although I don’t think any of the boats had disabled toilets.

We went on the Yellow Tour, which took us from Bowness to Lakeside and back. We chose to start at Bowness as it is central for the 3 available boat trips: Yellow, Blue (islands tour) and Red (Bowness to Ambleside). At Lakeside, there are 3 tourist attractions: the aquarium, steam train rides and the Motor Museum, which is a short complementary bus ride away. The boat’s arrival and departure times tied in nicely with a visit to one or other of these attractions. We went to the Motor Museum and returned about an hour and a half later. We then only had to wait for a few minutes before catching the boat back to Bowness. If you are planning to visit the other attractions, there are combined tickets available for the boat trip and for each attraction. I’d check on their website to ensure they are open as although the boats run every day except Christmas day, the other attractions have varied opening times.

On the way back we sat inside for the whole journey. This time I sat at the front and could hear the tour clearly as the driver was right next to us and he was the one talking. It wasn’t a hugely detailed lot of information but was interesting, detailing some of the stories about lakeside buildings and the history of some of the islands. If you are looking for a detailed history, then this probably wouldn’t be enough but could be a good starting point and it was enough for us to feel we had learnt something without being over-faced with facts.

Parking is available at the 3 main departure points: Bowness, Lakeside and Ambleside, full details are available on the Windermere Lake Cruises website. We were able to park for free at Bowness, as on street parking to the side of the lake is free from November to Good Friday. Otherwise there are plenty of long stay car parks, which are fairly expensive. It is cheaper to park at Lakeside, if staying all day. Alternatively there are buses that arrive at Bowness too.

We enjoyed taking the boat trip, as part of a lovely day out at Windermere. Although it was cold, the mountains looked absolutely stunning with frost at the top. There was plenty of time to take photos from the boat or from the shore. The staff on the boat were friendly and efficient but it would have been nice to have the opportunity to ask questions, although this might be impractical given the number of passengers and size of the boat. The boats we went on had about 60 passengers on but I heard staff saying that others on the same day had over 100, so it was a popular pastime on the Sunday that we visited.

Rating: 4/5

Tickets cost (Yellow Cruise): £6.30 (child), £10.50 (adult) and £30 (family: 2 adults, 3 children). For prices of other Windermere cruises click here.

For more information or to book tickets visit www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk.