Hotels in Lake District

Choosing a base in the Lake District matters more than in most destinations, because the road network is slow and the valleys are separated by high passes. A twenty-mile journey on the map can take an hour. Decide what you want to do first, then pick the town, rather than the other way round.

Windermere and Bowness suit first-timers, anyone arriving by train, and families who want cruises, cafes and attractions within walking distance. It has the largest hotel stock in the park and the highest average prices, with nightly rates commonly running well above £200 in peak season. Ambleside is the walkers' choice, small enough to cross in ten minutes and surrounded by serious fells, with a good spread of inns and guest houses at moderate prices.

Couples looking for quiet tend to head for Grasmere, Elterwater or the Ullswater shore, where country-house hotels and small boutique properties dominate and dinner is usually part of the appeal. Keswick is the best all-rounder for value: a working market town with a wide range of B&Bs, guest houses and mid-range hotels, typically cheaper than Windermere for comparable quality, and with Derwentwater and Borrowdale on the doorstep.

Families often do better slightly outside the honeypots, where parking is free and rooms are larger. If you want genuine remoteness, the inns at Wasdale Head, Buttermere and Elterwater put you at the foot of the big hills, but they have few rooms and book out a long way ahead.

On timing: book six to nine months out for July, August, bank holidays and half-terms, when the best-value rooms disappear first. Two-night minimum stays over weekends are standard across the park and near-universal in summer. Rates soften considerably from November to March, excluding Christmas and New Year, and midweek stays in spring and autumn offer the best combination of price and quiet. Check whether parking is included, because in Windermere, Ambleside and Keswick it frequently is not.