Ambleside for a week without a car
Two fells from the door, buses for the rest.
One base: Ambleside. You unpack once.
- Nights
- 4
- Best in
- Spring, Summer, Autumn
- Works without a car
- First-time hill walkers
- Families
Ambleside is the one base in this guide’s Lake District itineraries that needs no car for the whole week rather than one day trip out of it. Windermere station is under eight kilometres away, and two bus routes between them run often enough that the drive most visitors budget for the Lakes simply isn’t necessary here.
Who this suits
Anyone without a second driver, or without a car at all, and first-time visitors who want two fell days without the logistics of driving out to a trailhead and finding space to park at it. Both walks are rated easy to moderate. Loughrigg is a gentle introduction with no single dramatic summit to aim for, and Wansfell is steeper but short, so this suits families with older children as well as anyone doing their first Lakeland fells. A week paced around a timetable rather than a car also forces a slower rhythm than driving between trailheads would, which suits people who want an excuse to linger at each place rather than rush between fells.
What this trip skips
This itinerary doesn’t reach Coniston, Langdale or the central fells, which is where Ambleside’s bus-only limits show. The 599’s open-top service only runs from Easter to November, so a winter version of this week loses some flexibility and leans more on the year-round 555, which runs the full length of the Lakes from Lancaster to Keswick regardless of season. Anyone wanting the Old Man of Coniston or a Langdale round from an Ambleside base should budget for a car, or accept a longer day built entirely around the bus timetable rather than a departure time of their own choosing.
Day by day
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Day 1
Arrive by bus, settle in
The 555 Lakeslink and the seasonal 599 open-top bus both run from Windermere station straight to Ambleside, so the week starts without needing a car at any point. The evening is easily filled with a short walk past Bridge House, the tiny seventeenth-century building straddling Stock Ghyll on the main street, now a National Trust shop.
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Day 2
Loughrigg Fell, tarns and a wide view
The easiest way up Loughrigg starts from White Moss Common on the Grasmere road, a longer walk-in from Ambleside along the river rather than a start from town itself, but still no car required. A level terrace above Rydal Water gives way to a short climb of around 210 metres to a wide, undulating top scattered with small tarns and views out to the Coniston fells.
If it is coming down sideways: The criss-crossing paths on Loughrigg's summit are confusing in mist, so save this one for a clear day and swap the order with Wansfell if the cloud is down.
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Day 3
Wansfell Pike, straight from the high street
This is the one walk here that starts literally at the Barclays Bank on the main street, up a steep flight of restored stone steps beside Stock Ghyll to a rock platform with Windermere laid out below for almost its whole length. The return by Troutbeck and Skelghyll Wood turns a short, hard climb into a half-day circuit.
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Day 4
A bus day, or a free one
The same 555 and 599 services that brought you in reach Grasmere, Windermere and Coniston for anyone who wants a change of scene without a fell attached, and there's no penalty for spending the day doing nothing at all instead.
Where to stay for this trip
All within a short drive of Ambleside, so the day plans above still work.
Bowness-on-Windermere, near Windermere, Cumbria
Low House
Sleeps 14 · 8 beds
- Hot tub
- Wood burner
- No dogs
