Visiting the Lake District

How the Lakes fit together

The Lake District is England's largest National Park and, for many, its most beautiful corner — a compact mountain landscape in Cumbria, in the north-west of England, packing the country's highest fells and its biggest and best-loved lakes into an area you can drive across in under two hours. It's where Wordsworth wrote, where Beatrix Potter farmed and where modern fell-walking was born, and in 2017 it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its landscape, farming and cultural legacy.

A quick point of confusion worth clearing up: "Cumbria" and "the Lake District" aren't the same thing. Cumbria is the wider county; the Lake District National Park is the protected mountain core within it (Cumbria also includes coast, the Eden Valley and part of the Pennines). And is it free to visit? The landscape itself is — there's no entry fee to the Park, the fells and most lake shores are free to roam and walk. What you pay for is parking, attractions, boat trips and where you stay, and in peak season those add up (see costs below).

This page is the orientation guide: where it is and how to get here, how to choose your base, the walking, sample itineraries, getting around, when to come and what it costs. Where we have a full in-depth guide to a town or village, it's linked through.

Where is the Lake District, and how to get there

The Lake District sits in north-west England, in the county of Cumbria, roughly between the M6 motorway to the east and the Cumbrian coast to the west. The main gateway towns and cities around its edge are Kendal (south-east), Penrith (north-east), Carlisle (north) and, just outside Cumbria, Lancaster (south) — none of them in the Park, but all useful arrival points.

• By car: the M6 runs down the eastern edge — Junction 36 for the south (Windermere, Ambleside), Junction 40 (Penrith) for the north (Keswick, Ullswater). It's about 1.5 hours from Manchester, 4–5 from London.
• By train: the West Coast Main Line stops at Oxenholme, Penrith and Carlisle. From Oxenholme a branch line runs to Windermere — the only railway station inside the National Park, and the easiest car-free way in.
• Car-free once you're here: a decent bus network (notably the 555 along the central spine and seasonal open-top routes) plus the Windermere lake cruises mean you can have a good Lakes trip without a car, especially based around Windermere, Bowness and Ambleside.

Choosing your base — where to stay

This is the big question for most trips, and the good news is that you can't really go wrong — they're all within about an hour of each other. Here's an honest, even-handed steer across the sixteen towns and villages we cover in depth (the smaller villages — Coniston, Hawkshead, Glenridding, Patterdale, Pooley Bridge, Braithwaite, Portinscale and the Borrowdale cluster of Grange, Rosthwaite, Stonethwaite and Seatoller — are quieter than the big touring bases):

In short: choose Keswick if walking the northern fells is the main event; Windermere if you're coming by train or it's a first visit; Bowness if you want to be on the lakefront in the thick of it; Ambleside for a central, walkable base with good food; Grasmere for a quieter, prettier village steeped in Wordsworth; Glenridding if Helvellyn, Striding Edge and the Ullswater steamers are the draw; tiny Patterdale next door for St Sunday Crag and the Coast to Coast; Pooley Bridge at the lake's foot for the steamers, the camping and an easy run from Penrith; and Braithwaite just west of Keswick for the Coledale Horseshoe on a quiet, good-value doorstep; and tiny Portinscale on the Derwentwater shore a mile from Keswick for Lingholm, the marinas and the Catbells doorstep; and Grange-in-Borrowdale in the heart of Borrowdale for the famous double bridge, Castle Crag and the River Derwent; and, further up that valley, central Rosthwaite for pubs, beds and easy walks, quiet Stonethwaite up its own side valley, and Seatoller at the foot of Honister for the high fells.

The valleys have guides of their own now: Borrowdale (Derwentwater to Honister, and the four villages along it), Little Langdale (Slater Bridge, Cathedral Cave and the tarn) and Kentmere (the Horseshoe, and the honest answer on parking), with Honister Pass for the road between Borrowdale and Buttermere. Plenty of other excellent bases we don't yet have a full guide for are worth knowing as you plan — Buttermere, Ennerdale and Wasdale (the dramatic, quieter western valleys). In-depth guides to more places are on the way.

Whatever your style — first-timer, family, a luxury lakeshore hotel or a budget hostel, car or no car — there's a base to fit; the comparison above is the quickest way to narrow it down.

The walking — our speciality

This is where we can help more than any general travel guide: in-depth guides to around 330 fells — every Wainwright, the Outlying Fells and the bonus Birkett tops — each with maps, parking, bus options and safety notes, plus route guides with free GPX downloads. Best of all, we score every Wainwright against the live mountain forecast, so you can pick the right hill for the day rather than guessing — no other Lakes guide has this:

Match the day you want to the right walk:

Whatever you pick: waterproofs always, and check the live conditions and the official mountain forecast before any high fell day.

How long do you need? Sample itineraries

Is three days enough? Yes — three days is plenty for a first, satisfying taste; five lets you slow down and reach more corners. Pick a length and a corner below — every stop links to our full guide:

Mix and match by weather — keep the high fells for the clear days and the lakes, towns and valleys for the dreich ones.

See it on the map

It helps to picture the Park as a wheel of valleys radiating from a high central core — and here it is drawn: every base coloured by its quarter, the gateway towns and stations around the edge, the main lakes, and four fells you'll hear about constantly. Tap any pin for the short version and the link to its guide. Honestly, which part is best? The north and west for the most dramatic, quieter fell country; the south and central for the lakes, the boats, the easiest access and the most to do — most first-time visitors start south and central.

• North bases
• East bases
• South & central bases
• Gateway towns
• Lakes
• ▲Named fells

Filtering the table above by region filters these pins too.

An interactive map showing every base coloured by region, the gateway towns and stations around the edge of the Park, the main lakes and four famous fells. Every base is also listed, with its region, in the comparison table above.

Getting around

The honest short version: a car is the most flexible way to reach the quieter valleys, but the central Lakes work genuinely well car-free — and parking is the biggest daily hassle in summer.

When to visit & the weather

Be honest with yourself: the Lake District is beautiful and genuinely wet — its mountains wring the rain out of Atlantic weather, which is exactly why it's so green and the becks so dramatic. Late spring and early autumn (May–June, September) are often the sweet spot: long days, lighter crowds, decent odds of fair weather. July and August are warmest and busiest; winter brings short days, snow on the tops and the wettest months, but also the quietest valleys.

Whatever the season, pack proper waterproofs and have a wet-weather plan — and for any fell day, check our live conditions and the official mountain forecast before you go.

Costs & practical good-to-knows

• Is it expensive? It can be, especially in peak season — accommodation, eating out and parking are the big costs in the honeypot towns. But the landscape is free, and a B&B or hostel, self-catering and visiting off-season keep a trip very affordable.
• Parking is mostly pay-and-display and fills early on fine days; assume you'll pay and arrive early, or go car-free by train and bus.
• National Trust looks after huge swathes of the Park and many properties (Hill Top, Wray Castle, Allan Bank and more) — members park free at many NT car parks, which can pay for itself over a week.
• Dogs are very welcome across the Lakes — most pubs and many cafes, the lake shores and the open fell — just keep them under control around livestock and ground-nesting birds.
• Scenic pubs are a Lakeland institution: there are wonderful inns by the water and under the fells across the Park — ask locally or look to the valleys (Borrowdale, Langdale, Buttermere) for the classic walkers' pubs.

The lakes, tarns & waterfalls

The Lakes are named for their lakes — sixteen or seventeen main waters, from England's largest at Windermere to its deepest at Wast Water, and the one body of water that's actually a lake, Bassenthwaite (the rest are "waters", "meres" or "tarns"). See our full guide to the lakes and waters — how many there are, what they're called, which you can swim in and boat on, and an in-depth guide to each — and our Lake District waterfalls guide, which rounds up the best 'forces' with a map.