The Lake District is one of the most popular corners of the country, and at busy times that popularity shows on the roads and in the car parks. The good news is that a little know-how takes the stress out of it, and that for much of a trip you may not need the car at all. This is a practical guide to parking when you arrive, and to the buses, boats and trains that make getting around the Lakes far easier than first-timers expect.
Parking: arrive early, or think ahead
There is no pretending parking in the honeypots is easy. In the busiest spots, Bowness, Ambleside, Keswick and Grasmere among them, the car parks fill early on fine days and weekends, and circling for a space is nobody’s idea of a holiday. The simplest fix is to arrive early, ideally before mid-morning, and to have a second choice in mind if your first is full. Where park-and-ride services run, they are well worth using: you leave the car on the edge of the action and let a bus carry you in, paying at the machine on the day, which spares you both the search and the squeeze of the town-centre car parks. It is also worth carrying a card and some change, as payment methods vary from one car park to the next.
You can get here without a car
Plenty of visitors are surprised to learn they can reach the Lakes by train. The West Coast main line, linking London, the Midlands, Manchester and Scotland, runs along the eastern edge of the national park, with a branch line that delivers you right into Windermere. Arrive that way and you step off close to the lake, the cruises and the bus network, with no motorway crawl and no parking to worry about at all. For a holiday spent largely around one valley or lake, it can be the most relaxing way to come.
Buses, and the value of a rover ticket
Once you are here, the bus is your friend. A surprisingly good network links the main towns and many of the trailheads, so you can ride out to the start of a walk and back without touching the car, or hop between villages for the day. If you plan to use the buses more than once, look into a multi-day rover ticket, which usually works out far better value than paying fare by fare, and turns the bus into a hop-on, hop-off way of seeing the area. Sitting up top while someone else tackles the narrow lanes is no hardship, either.
Take to the water
Some of the most enjoyable travelling in the Lakes is done by boat. Regular cruises run the length of Windermere, Ullswater, Coniston and Derwentwater, and they are far more than a sightseeing trip: step off at a pier partway along and you can walk a stretch of shore before sailing back, turning a simple crossing into the best part of the day. On Windermere the car and passenger ferry shortcuts across the lake, opening up the quieter western shore and saving a long drive around. It is travel and attraction rolled into one.
Two wheels and guided tours
For a greener way to cover ground, e-bikes have made the hills far less daunting, and hire is increasingly easy to find around the main centres, letting you reach quiet corners under your own steam. If you would rather leave the navigating to someone else, the area’s guided minibus tours are a stress-free way to take in a great deal of scenery in a day, with a driver who knows the narrow roads and the best places to stop. Both let you enjoy the views without a white-knuckle grip on the wheel.
If you do drive, take the lanes gently
When you do use the car, remember that many of the Lake District’s roads are narrow, winding and edged with stone walls, with passing places rather than room for two. Take them slowly, use the passing places to let others by, and never block one by parking in it, and you will find local drivers far more relaxed for it. The high mountain passes, Hardknott and Wrynose among them, are spectacular but steep and tight, and best left to confident drivers in good weather, so there is no shame in taking the longer valley road instead.
The easiest plan: stay somewhere central
The single best thing you can do to avoid car-park stress is to stay somewhere well placed for what you want to do, ideally within walking distance of a village and on a bus route or near a lake pier. Get that right and the car can stay put for days at a time. Browse our places to stay and choose a base that puts shops, walks and transport on the doorstep, so getting around is the least of your holiday worries.