Windermere Lake Cruises

Overall rating

4.33

About

Windermere Lake Cruises provides scenic cruises on Lake Windermere - England's largest natural lake. There are a number of cruises to choose from ranging in length from 45 minutes to over 3 hours and depart from our main piers at Ambleside (Waterhead), Bowness, Brockhole - LakeDistrict Visitor Centre and Lakeside. As well as stunning views from the heated inner decks or outer viewing decks, a basic commentary will point out areas of interest along the lakeshore. We operate three different types of vessels including historic 'steamers' that have been in operation for over 80 years, modern sightseeing launches and smaller traditional wooden cruises. Bowness Pier is our main hub of the operation with more boats, cruises and options for passengers. Our boats operate all year round although our most accessible vessels called 'steamers' only operate during our peak season ( Easter - end of October). All of our cruises let you get off at each stop and return on a later sailing and we also provide great value combined tickets with local lakeshore attractions such as Lakeland Motor Museum, Lakes Aquarium and Lakeside & Haverthwaite Steam Railway.

Reviews

Overall rating

4.33

(6 reviews)

Overall rating breakdown

5 3
4 2
3 0
2 1
1 0

Access (avg.)

3.75

Parking (avg.)

2.16

Toilets (avg.)

2.58

Staff (avg.)

4.66

finnberrys

Mar 2026

MV Swift - wheelchair accessible lake cruise

We bought tickets for the red cruise, which MV Swift was running on. This went between Bowness and Ambleside. You could also get off at Brockholes but we didn't bother as most things there are closed out of season. We thoroughly enjoyed the boat trip and found the vessel easy to board and get around. In theory, you should be able to get to the outside seating area but it was quite cold so I didn't bother. We could see plenty from indoors and were happy to be on the lake.

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holls_x

Jun 2024

Lovely boat trip

We booked onto a “red cruise” as this is the most accessible and was from Bowness to Ambleside. Different cruises have different accessibility and details of these can be found on their website. Staff were very polite and we were able to sit either inside or on the outside on the front or back of the boat. Tea, coffee, and snacks are also served on board.

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angelonwheels

Aug 2018

Windermere Cruise

I found the ramp very steep to get on & off the 'cruise' boat (I would call it a boat trip NOT a cruise) although the staff were helpful & there was nowhere to position my wheelchair without being in someones way. I use a standard manual wheelchair & this place is really for walkers (& dogs) & maybe power chairs! We got off in Bowness & struggled to find somewhere to eat that was accessible - everywhere is up or down really steep hills. We parked in Lakeside & struggled to get into any of the cafes - the choice of food was very limited. There was an accessible toilet there but it was hidden behind the gents toilet.

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Disabled Access Information Provided by Windermere Lake Cruises

Disabled Access at Windermere Lake Cruises

We operate a number of different cruises on different vessels. Our most accessible vessels are 'steamers' that operate during the peak season of Easter to end of October. They operate on the Yellow Cruise (Bowness ↔ Lakeside |round trip - 90mins) and Red Cruise (Bowness ↔ Ambleside | round trip - 70 mins) or you can combine these half lake cruises to do a full circuit of the lake, although this takes over 3 hours. The 'steamers' have a flat level gangway from the pier to the boat and can easily be accessed by wheelchair or with sticks. Sadly these historic ships have toilets down a steep set of stairs although every pier has a RADAR toilet within a few metres. Our smaller vessels (modern launches and traditional launches) have a few steps down to get on board meaning their access is restricted.

Disabled access

Accessible parking at Windermere Lake Cruises

There are a number of blue badge car parking spaces close to our Bowness and Ambleside (Waterhead) piers. These are operated by South Lakes District Council. At our Lakeside Pier, we own a large car park that has a number of convenient spaces for anyone with a blue badge.

Dedicated on-site parking

On-site accessible parking bays are available within 50 metres of the entrance.

Toilets features at Windermere Lake Cruises

Accessible toilet

A designated accessible toilet designed for wheelchair users and others with visible and non-visible accessibility requirements is available within the main public areas.