Windermere Lake Cruises
England's biggest lake from the deck of a proper boat, with red, yellow and green routes so you can pick a 45-minute hop or a full lake cruise. Combo tickets pair it with the aquarium or the steam railway.
Windermere Jetty Museum
Windermere & Bowness, Cumbria
Windermere Jetty is Lakeland Arts' boat museum on Rayrigg Road, and its trick is the wet dock: the collection of steam launches, motorboats and yachts sits in water under cover, so children see boats floating and not beached in a hall. It is a proper indoor day when the weather turns, which on Windermere it will.
Entry is twelve pounds an adult, nine for a student, six for a child aged 15 and under, and free for under-5s. Family tickets are twenty pounds for one adult with up to three children and thirty for two adults with up to three. There is a lakeshore cafe serving until 3pm, a gift shop, bike racks and accessible parking.
The heritage boat trips are extra, at 16.50 an adult and 8 a child aged 5 to 15 for half an hour, and they are the part everyone remembers. Under-5s ride free. A family of four is looking at roughly 79 all in once the trip goes on top of entry, which is a lot, and worth it if the weather holds.
Parking flips between two systems. From 18 July to 30 August it is 5 pounds for two hours up to 12 for the day; the rest of the year you get four hours free if you spend 5 pounds on site. Winter opening is Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, so Mondays are out from 2 November to 27 March.
Know before you go
- The boat trip is not included. Thirty minutes on a heritage launch costs 16.50 an adult and 8 for a child aged 5 to 15, on top of entry, so a family of four is looking at roughly 79 all in. Under-5s ride free.
- Parking flips between two systems. From 18 July to 30 August it is 5 pounds for two hours rising to 12 for the day; the rest of the year you get four hours free if you spend 5 pounds in the cafe or museum.
- It shuts on Mondays from 2 November to 27 March and closes an hour earlier in winter, which catches people out in half term.
- The cafe stops serving at 3pm, earlier than the museum shuts. Feed everyone before the last gallery.
Seasonal: Daily late March to 1 November, shorter in winter. Check before travelling.
Looking for more museums & science near Windermere & Bowness?
Also in Windermere & Bowness
Brockhole on Windermere
The national park's visitor centre with treetop nets, archery, mini golf, boat hire and a big adventure playground running down to the lake shore. Free to wander; the activities are pay-as-you-go.
The World of Beatrix Potter
Peter Rabbit's world recreated in walk-through scenes, ending in the garden with Mr McGregor's vegetables. Squarely for the under-8s; it is small, sweet and unashamed of it.
Orrest Head
The classic first family fell: a short climb from Windermere village to a proper summit with the whole lake and the high fells laid out below. A surfaced accessible path now runs all the way up, though it is still a real 120-metre climb, not a stroll.
Holehird Gardens
Ten acres of fellside garden looking down over Windermere, run by the Lakeland Horticultural Society: terraces, a walled garden, glasshouses and children's trails. No fixed entry price and children go free.