Ullswater

Hotels around Ullswater range from grand lakeside establishments with private jetties and fell views to simple, walker-friendly inns in Glenridding and Patterdale that have been putting up guests for well over a century. Because the lake is long and narrow, where you base yourself matters: staying near Glenridding puts you at the hub for steamers and the walk up Helvellyn, while a room near Pooley Bridge suits those wanting easier access to Penrith and the quieter northern reaches of the lake. Many of the larger hotels have spa facilities, restaurants open to non-residents, and direct lake access, making them a good option if you want comfort after a day on the fells rather than a full self-catering setup.

Booking ahead is strongly advised for anything close to the water, particularly around Glenridding and Patterdale, where rooms are limited and demand is high throughout the summer and during half-term weeks. Prices tend to rise for anything with a lake view or private mooring, but there are also smaller family-run guesthouses and B&Bs tucked into the villages that offer a more affordable, low-key base. Whichever end of the lake you choose, distances are short enough that you can comfortably reach Aira Force, the steamer piers and the start of most fell walks within twenty minutes or so, and the Ullswater Steamers themselves are a genuinely useful way of getting between villages rather than just a tourist trip.

The lake itself is the main event, but the villages and fells around its shore give you plenty of reasons to stay more than a day.

• Ullswater Steamers — Working boats since 1855, when they moved ore, mail and workers between the old Greenside lead mine at Glenridding and Pooley Bridge. Today the fleet of Victorian and Edwardian-style vessels runs regular services the length of the lake, calling at Glenridding, Howtown and Pooley Bridge, and it's still one of the best ways to see Ullswater without lacing up boots.
• Aira Force — A National Trust waterfall on the lake's northern shore where Aira Beck drops around 20 metres through a narrow, wooded ravine, crossed by a Victorian stone bridge. It sits within Gowbarrow Park, whose lakeside meadows are where Wordsworth is said to have seen the daffodils that inspired his best-known poem.
• Glenridding — The largest village on the lake, at its southern tip, with a small marina, cafés, an outdoor gear shop and the terminus for most of the steamer services. It's also the standard starting point for walks up Helvellyn.
• Patterdale — A quieter hamlet just south of Glenridding, tucked beneath the fells at the head of the valley, with a scattering of guesthouses and one of the area's oldest coaching inns.
• Helvellyn and Striding Edge — England's third-highest mountain rises directly above Glenridding. The classic route up via Striding Edge is a Grade 1 scramble along a narrow, exposed arête — not for beginners, but one of the most celebrated ridge walks in the country, with a gentler path also available for those wanting the summit without the scramble.
• The Ullswater Way — A waymarked, roughly 20-mile circular walking route around the entire lake, taking in wooded shoreline, farmland and fell paths. Most visitors break it into shorter sections, using the steamers to shortcut back to their starting point rather than tackling the whole loop in one go.
• Howtown — A tiny hamlet on the quieter eastern shore, reachable by steamer or on foot, and the starting point for one of the best short stretches of the Ullswater Way, along the fellside above the water to Patterdale.

The Traveller's Rest in Glenridding is the classic walkers' pub, on the southern shore with views towards Helvellyn and a menu built around hearty British food — pies, fish and chips, sticky toffee pudding — best earned after a day on the fells. The Ullswater Inn, also in Glenridding, serves home-cooked pub food with lake and fell views from its terrace. Patterdale's old coaching inns offer a quieter alternative, while cafés around the Glenridding steamer pier and at Aira Force National Trust car park are useful for a stop between walks. For something more formal, the lakeside hotels around Glenridding and further along the shore run restaurants open to non-residents, generally requiring a booking in peak season.

Ullswater's valleys and fellsides offer some of the best camping and glamping in the Lake District, from simple grassy fields with lake glimpses to fully-equipped glamping pods with views up towards Helvellyn. As with the rest of England, wild camping is not legally permitted here without the landowner's explicit permission — the informal tolerance found in parts of Scotland doesn't apply, and rangers do move people on from unauthorised pitches, particularly near the more popular fells. Stick to licensed campsites and you'll find plenty of choice, many family-run, dotted between Glenridding, Patterdale, Pooley Bridge and the quieter Martindale valley on the lake's eastern side.

The terrain here is proper Lake District: steep, rocky, and quick to turn wet underfoot, so a decent pitch on level, well-drained ground matters more than it might elsewhere. Sites closer to the lake shore tend to be busiest and book up fastest in summer, while those further up the valleys towards Helvellyn and Fairfield offer a quieter, more remote feel at the cost of a longer walk to the pub. Weather can change fast even in summer, and conditions on the higher fells should never be judged by what's happening down at lake level.

May to September is the most reliable stretch for camping, with long daylight hours useful for late arrivals after a day's walking, though committed campers do come here year-round and winter pitches with clear, cold nights can be spectacular if you're properly equipped. For anyone wanting the Ullswater scenery without the full camping kit, glamping options — pods, safari tents, shepherd's huts — have multiplied around the lake in recent years, giving a comfortable base with your own kitchen or wood burner, often with fell or water views, and are usually a safer bet for a first visit to the area than turning up with a tent and hoping for good weather.