Is Windermere a nice place for a holiday?

[Literallynoidea]

Just that really. Always wanted to go to the Lake District and wondered if the village of Windermere itself was a good place to stay

Thank you

Hopeful bump

Windermere (not lake Windermere) is beautiful and well worth a visit, but it does get very busy. Bowness on Windermere has some good places to stay and eat. My kids enjoyed it.

I love love love the Lakes, but I'd stay anywhere except Windermere or Bowness. Very busy and sometimes known as the Blackpool of the Lakes.

My favourite is the Langdale valley, but that's quite remote. Ambleside is also busy, but in a quieter way and has shops and pubs. Keswick is a larger Lakeland town with good facilities and more how the Lakes should be IMO.

It depends what you are looking for, let us know and we can be a bit more useful

Windermere, yes. Ambleside, yes. Bowness, no.

I loved Bowness. I think it depends on what sort of holiday you are after.

As pp, it’s lovely but very busy, especially if the weather is good but rarely quiet even in bad weather. Ambleside is lovely and we love Kirkby Lonsdale.

Windermere Lake is lovely BUT

Bowness and Ambleside are both very busy with tourists during peak times so personally I would avoid both unless you like to be surrounded by crowds

If you want to appreciate the scenary and solitude then choose one of the other lakes that is slightly further from the M1

Go further in to the lakes. It gets even more beautiful. Ambleside and Keswick are much nicer towns than Bowness.

My sister lives in the lakes, and Is teasing us by sending pictures of her daily walks.

It’s lovely, just very busy at peak times. We went on a weekend last summer (when restrictions were reduced but still there) and it was so busy we didn’t get out of the car and came home!

Grasmere (Shhhh)

We went to Bowness on Windermere in autumn when restrictions were eased. We chose there as we have no car and needed to take the train from London. I asked on here about it and was told by so many people that it was crowded and there were much nicer places to stay. Well we loved it. We had great weather, beautiful walks, boat trips, etc. It did not feel crowded to me as I am used to London! We planned to go back with the kids this Easter but cancelled due to covid restrictions.

The lakes is expensive for car parking. Something I didn't realise until I went so just a head's up. Try and stay somewhere with car parking included.

We had our caravan. The big site was a disappointment. Small sites were friendly.
We had a good time, but next year went further north to Borders, and as far as Kelso and Hawick, I enjoyed the history of that area much more.

An earlier year we did The Wall from the East. Very dramatic and informative.

Could be hard work with children. Weather cannot be relied upon.

As others have said, it depends very much what you are looking for. If you want isolated peace and quiet then no, you won't find that in the immediate vicinity of Windermere. It is probably the busiest place in the Lake District. But then of course there is a reason why it's so popular - it's a beautiful place! Plus it is quite easily accessible by road or rail, there's a wide range of places to stay and eat, and quite a lot of attractions close by. If it is your first time in the Lakes it isn't a bad place to start - as long as you are not expecting it to be quiet.
But to be honest I don't think it will be quiet in any of the popular tourist destinations this year. I live a bit off the normal tourist trail but last summer our usually fairly quiet area was packed out with visitors. I'm expecting this year to be the same or busier.

@Serin that's where my sister lives. Lucky bugger! Parking is better if you are in the NT

I live in the Lake District so visit all of these places weekly.

Yes bowness can be busy on a hot day but ‘lakes busy’ not like ‘London busy’ not at all.

Keswick is a lovely place. A nice shopping area and loads of walks.

Penrith is a nice town. Kendal too.

Whinlatter is great for signposted walks and trail biking etc.

There’s a lot of fancy restaurants dotted around the lakes.

Maybe even visit the historical city of Carlisle if you want to go a bit further north.

I love Grasmere and Ambleside..maybe Grasmere a tiny bit more. Windermere is nice for a day trip and a boat ride on the lake

@Serin

Grasmere (Shhhh)

Worth it for the gingerbread alone!

The only holiday I had there it rained heavily the whole time.
Everywhere indoors was busy, we were living in London at the time.
Although the scenery was nice I prefer the highlands.
Overall I much prefer Northumbria or the borders ( both much quieter)

Oh yes, you have to go properly equipped for rain and get on and do your outdoor things regardless of the weather, indoor attractions are few, expensive and very busy when it's wet. As DS2 says,it wouldn't be called the Lake District without the rain.

@endlesssnow

The only holiday I had there it rained heavily the whole time. Everywhere indoors was busy, we were living in London at the time. Although the scenery was nice I prefer the highlands. Overall I much prefer Northumbria or the borders ( both much quieter)

Yeah - that can happen. All those lakes are full of water for a reason ... but when the sun shines it's amazing. You just have to roll the dice and hope for the best. Two years ago we went for a week in early August and had lovely weather, apart from one morning when it poured. Our friends, who went to the exact same place two weeks later, had an absolute wash-out. Poured with rain every single day - in August. The Lakes is a gamble.

Thanks all. We have older children so quite like the idea of being in a town rather than somewhere more secluded, so they can go out without us eg to buy an ice cream.

I just wasn't sure if it was a nice town to be in or not. Blackpool doesn't sound great!

My DH and I stayed in Bowness and Windermere when we first Met. It's very busy and much prefer the North Lakes now. Keswick is a great area for walks and a lovely town, restaurants.