Top Windermere Day Trips

Hike the winding trails and scenic paths of Langdale on this small-group tour. Let your guide lead the way—and leave paper maps behind—as you explore the Lake District’s most stunning scenery at a relaxed and unhurried pace. With no planning or navigation skills needed, meet fellow adventure seekers, learn about local flora and fauna, and snap hillside pictures. This tour requires a minimum of two participants to run.

Visit the Beatrix Potter house and some of the Lake District’s prettiest locations on an afternoon tour from Windermere. After a scenic Lake Windermere cruise, travel through idyllic countryside to Hill Top, the Beatrix Potter home where the beloved children’s author lived during the early 1900s. See the garden and rooms left as she would have known them and learn about her life here. Finish with a visit to the quaint village of Hawkshead, where poet William Wordsworth attended school; and Tarn Hows, one of Lakeland’s most gorgeous spots.

Avoid narrow roads, tricky navigation, and trying to fit the Lake District’s vast scenery into a short visit on this full-day small-group tour from Windermere. Travel by comfortable minivan with a guide who handles the driving and storytelling as you explore mountain passes, waterfalls, stone circles, and up to ten of the region’s most scenic lakes, including Buttermere. The route also takes in villages such as Grasmere and includes free time in Keswick.

See the worlds of ‘Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Jane Eyer’ brought to life on a 8.5-hour small-group tour around Yorkshire. Departing from Windermere, all-inclusive transportation makes it possible to visit numerous locations, which would otherwise be difficult to reach on your own in one day. Explore the hometown of the Bronte sisters and the sights that inspired their iconic novels, including moorland landscapes and their childhood school.

See the best of the Lake District in a short amount of time on a guided sightseeing tour with an efficient route. Travel between key viewpoints, lakes, and villages without the need to self-navigate, and cover areas that are difficult to reach independently. The itinerary includes multiple lakes, heritage villages, and a stop at Castlerigg Stone Circle, along with time in Grasmere.

Enjoy a seamless introduction to the Lake District and discover its scenic highlights on this half-day driving tour. Over the course of your tour, see numerous lakes (including Lake Windermere—the largest in the area); visit the Neolithic Castlerigg Stone Circle; discover the photogenic Ashness Bridge; chart the Kirkstone Pass; and much more. As you go, learn all about the region and its history from your guide’s commentary.

Spend a day at Hadrian’s Wall, a site that was once the northern frontier of the Roman Empire. With a guide, you’ll travel north from Windermere, through the Lake District towards the region known as the Debateable Lands. After a stop at Lanercost Priory, you’ll spend most of your day at Hadrian’s Wall, discovering the ruins and beauty spots that abound. A stop at the Roman Army Museum and a visit to the Vindolanda fort is also included.

Witness the grandeur of the Lake District’s mountains and western fells on this full-day tour from Windermere. Follow a route first traced by the Romans over the Wrynose and Hardknott Passes, two of Britain’s steepest, and pass by Hardknott Roman Fort. Explore Muncaster Castle, enjoy lunch, and admire spectacular views of Wastwater before returning to Windermere.

Make the most of limited time in the Lake District with this full-day tour to help you tick off picturesque villages, lakes, waterfalls, and mountain views. Instead of having to focus on driving, enjoy the luxury of having a private driver to take you between sites. Along the way, stop for scenic strolls and photo opportunities, including Kirkstone Mountain Pass, Castlerigg Stone Circle, Keswick, and Aira Force waterfall.

Soak up the splendour of England’s largest lake, Windermere, on a scenic self-guided audio tour of the Lake District. • Find out how Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth are connected to the area and take it some of its famous sites • Hear from producer Martin Wilson, the owner and producer of Lake District Drives • Do it all in 3 hour or linger at stops along the way with complete control over when you start and finish • Get unlimited use before your booking date and after it • Use the virtual tour option at home Once you’ve booked, you’ll receive a ticket with instructions and a unique code listed under “Before You Go”. Then simply install the VoiceMap app and enter your code. The app displays directions to the starting point, and when you’re in the right place, just tap start. The app has automatic GPS playback, with turn-by-turn directions. It also works offline.

This is a great pick for first-time visitors to the Lake District. Save hours researching and planning your own itinerary, and enjoy the luxury of a private tour where the full schedule is planned out for you. Visit quaint villages, nature spots, and rural locations such as Grasmere, Hawkshead, Tarn Hows, and Blea Tarn with a chance to stop off for photos whenever you like.

This private sailing experience offers an intimate alternative to crowded group tours. Enjoy a skippered yacht exclusively for your group of up to four people. Choose to get involved and learn to drive the boat or relax and enjoy the spectacular scenery along Lake Windermere. Your sailing experience is tailored to your skill level and preferences, discussed with your skipper before setting sail from Storrs Hall Hotel.

With this half-day tour, enjoy getting a shortcut to places in the Lake District linked to the world-renowned author and illustrator, Beatrix Potter. Instead of doing your own research, a guide takes you to Potter’s former home—Hill Top–with admission included to save you time waiting in ticket lines. The trip also visits a selection of other top locations linked the author’s stories and characters.

Spend a day in James Herriot country, the Yorkshire Dales, on the trail of the “All Creatures Great and Small” TV series that was much beloved in the UK. In a small group capped at six people, you’ll visit filming locations such as the Drover’s Arms pub and Darrowby village, plus Helen’s family farm, surrounded by the fields, sheep, and dry-stone walls of the Yorkshire Dales. Round-trip transport is included from different Lake District locations.

Gain a unique perspective of the Lake District on a winter tour, which collects and drops at a choice of convenient meeting points. Take advantage of a comprehensive sightseeing itinerary to tick off several scenic landmarks in just a day, including 10 different lakes, two waterfalls, and the Castlerigg Circle. Numbers are capped at seven travelers for an intimate feel and great interaction with your knowledgeable guide.

Discover the dramatic limestone valleys and emerald countryside of the Yorkshire Dales National Park on an 8-hour tour from Windermere. Travel with ease from the Lake District and visit the quaint towns of Hardraw and Wensleydale, famed for its cheese, and Bolton Castle, in which Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned. See, too, Aysgarth Falls and the lovely English village of Dent.

Beatrix Potter's characters and illustrations have shaped childhood for generations. Discover the places and landscapes that inspired them on this private tour with a knowledgeable driver/guide. You'll see Wray Castle where she stayed as a young adult, her gallery in Hawkshead, Hill Top, the house she bought with the money from her first few books, and more. Entrance fees are at your own expense.

Other operators run a ten-lakes tour. None of them put you on the water. This is the only ten-lakes tour in the National Park that includes a genuine hour-long cruise on Ullswater — pre-booked, included, no extra cost on the day — aboard a steamer sailing this lake since 1859. While other tours drive past and point, you'll feel the lake from its surface, Place Fell rising sheer from the shore, the whole basin opening out around you. The same depth applies elsewhere: at Honister, your guide explains the centuries of industry carved into that cliff face, not just a photo of the mine. At Buttermere, widely considered the most beautifully proportioned lake in the district, you'll understand why it's been celebrated since the earliest days of Lake District tourism. With only seven guests aboard, every question gets answered properly, across four mountain passes and ten lakes most visitors never see in a single trip.

Most Brontë tours show you the parsonage and call it a day. This one walks you through the village, the church, and the graveyard, putting you back in Haworth as it actually was in the 1840s — over 40,000 burials in a few acres, a contaminated water supply, an average age of death of 25. Once you understand that, the novels stop reading like vague Gothic atmosphere and start reading as the stark reality of the lives the sisters lived. Few other tours go this deep. You’ll stop to look out across the valley the sisters walked, the same sweeping moorland that fed directly into everything they wrote, not just somewhere pretty to take a photo. And because it’s just you, your driver, and your own storyteller for the whole day, the conversation runs the entire way out and the entire way back: the landscape, the family, literature in general, and whichever novel means the most to you. It’s less a tour with stops bolted together than a genuinely shared day spent talking about books you love.

This is a perfect pick for nature lovers. Save time organizing car hire and instead, enjoy a full-day private tour that takes you to 10 lakes in a day. No need to worry about navigating— a private driver takes care of that, so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the beautiful views. Highlights include Lake Windermere, the Kirkstone Pass, Ullswater Lake, the Castlerigg Stone Circle, Buttermere Lake, and Lake Grasmere.

Step into the 1930s world of the hit Channel 5 / Masterpiece PBS show "All Creatures Great & Small". On this tour you will spend a remarkable day visiting film locations you will instantly recognise from the show as you pass through the astonishingly beautiful Yorkshire Dales countryside. Follow in the footsteps of James, Siegfried, Tristan, Helen and Mrs Hall as you stroll through Darrowby village, past the Vet's Surgery and the Greengrocers to the Drover's Arms. Wave to Mrs Pomphrey and Tricki Woo as you pass by their mansion. You pass over the narrow bridge where James always encounters another vehicle, on your way to Helen's family farm set in the stunning Yorkshire Dales scenery, dotted with sheep and friendly cattle. You will visit these and other locations in a comfy, air-conditioned minivan accompanied by an experienced driver and an expert guide. This tour is exclusive to your group and we can collect you from your hotel in the Windermere area, so it is your day!

This full day takes you to Great Britain's Lake District, a mountainous region in northwest England known for its picturesque lakes and dense forests. Visit lakes, waterfalls, and small villages with breaks for walks, shopping, snacks, and even gingerbread along the way. This is an ideal tour for first time visitors or those who want an overview of the District in one day.

This Lake District Village Tour offers a relaxed journey through some of the region’s most characterful villages, combined with a scenic drive through the fells, lakes, and valleys that connect them. Each stop provides time to explore independently, wander through village streets, visit cafés or shops, and enjoy the distinctive character of the surrounding landscape. The tour is unaccompanied and designed for independent exploration rather than guided walking. Along the way, a clear recorded commentary highlights key viewpoints, local history, and the landscapes unfolding around you, providing context in a consistent and easy to hear format. Your driver is always happy to offer practical assistance if required, creating a balanced experience that combines independence with thoughtful support.