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Current Service Status: amber
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Freedom Of The Lake & Motor Museum

A day out on Windermere with a visit to the Lakeland Motor Museum

Combine both attractions in one day or visit both within 5 days of each other on this discounted, combined ticket.

Your ticket includes:

Launch exploring Lake Windermere

Have the freedom to explore all of Lake Windermere by boat. This Freedom of the Lake ticket is valid for 24 hours unlimited travel on all of our cruises including:

Red Cruise (Bowness Brockhole Ambleside Bowness)

Yellow Cruise (Bowness Lakeside)*

Islands Cruise (Bowness Windermere Jetty - Museum Bowness)

Yellow motor inline museum optimised

A visit to the Lakeland Motor Museum (within 5 days of your cruise) - home to a collection of over 30,000 cars, motorcycles, scooters, cycles and auto memorabilia. Please make your own way to the museum.

Highlights include a Campbell Bluebird exhibition, a World War tribute and an Isle of Man TT display.

There's something for the whole family with a riverside cafe, giftshop and local heritage and period shopping displays.
Find out more on their website.

Standard Ticket Prices (valid from Monday 4th November 2024 until Friday 4th April 2025)

  • Prices below are return fares
  • Book your tickets by selecting a date in the 'Book Your Cruise' box below.
Adults Children Families
£31.50£16.70£86.00

Additional Information

  • Travelling only from Bowness? We also offer a combined yellow cruise ticket (Bowness Lakeside) and entry to the Lakeland Motor Museum.
  • *Yellow Cruise does not operate Monday to Friday in January.
Lakeland Motor Museum

Lakeland Motor Museum

30,000 exhibits of motoring, motorcycling and much more.

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Book Your Cruise

Select a date to view prices and sailing times.

  • Child prices are valid for children aged 5-15 years. Children under 5 travel free.
  • Family tickets are valid for 2 adults and up to 3 children.

Timetable

Your Journey

Our 'Freedom of the Lake' ticket is valid on all our scheduled sailings (includes red, yellow and islands cruises) for a period of 24 hours. We are unable to show all the timetable options for this ticket in this one page, please see our cruises page to see all of the sailings.

Additional Information

Service Status

amber

Warning Image

🍃 WINDY WEATHER - Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 December (page updated -21/12/25 9:40am)

Strong winds are forecast for this weekend. As a precaution, we have suspended all cruise and self-drive bookings.
Winds are getting stronger this afternoon, so services are closing earlier today - see details below.

Please keep checking back as weather conditions can change.

Today's Service Status

🔴 RED CRUISE Bowness → Brockhole → Ambleside Waterhead → Bowness

⚠️ Services OK this morning
Last boat Bowness → Ambleside at 14:15
Last boat Ambleside → Bowness at 14:30

🟡 YELLOW CRUISEBowness ↔ Lakeside

⚠️ Services OK this morning
Last boat Bowness → Lakeside at 14:00
Last boat Lakeside → Bowness at 13:05

🔵 ISLANDS CRUISE

Bowness → W'Mere Jetty Museum → Bowness

✔️ Services OK
🚤 MOTOR BOAT HIRE
Bowness Beach only

⚠️ Just turn up today. 1 hour bookings only.
Last hire is 13:00 →
14:00

🕑: We are now running to our off-peak season timetable (autumn/winter/spring).

Route Map

Load Map

Access & Facilities

♿ Disabled Access

Four different types of vessels operate our services with varying accessibility.

  • ♿ MV Swift - (marked with a green wheelchair icon on our timetables): our most accessible vessel - step-free access from pier to indoor/outdoor seating & accessible toilet
  • ♿ 'Steamers' MV Swan/Teal - (marked with black wheelchair icon on our timetables) - step-free access from pier to indoor/outdoor seating. Toilets down steep steps.
  • ❌ 'Steamer' Tern & modern launches like Miss Cumbria/Miss Lakeland - are not recommended for customers with limited mobility
  • ❌ Traditional wooden launches like Queen of the Lake - are not recommended for customers with limited mobility

Please visit our Accessibility section for more information.

Wheelchair users are strongly advised to call us to confirm which vessel is operating on which service, particularly in poor weather conditions. As on rare occasions, the vessels operating each route can change.


Upgrade This Cruise

Did you know that you can make more of your cruise by upgrading it? Why not combine your cruise with a trip to two local attractions? You can view all of our cruise and two attraction tickets here.

Freedom of the Lake, Steam Train & Motor Museum

Freedom of the Lake, Steam Train & Motor Museum

Spend a day exploring the lake and visit two local attractions | ⚓ Unlimited boats + 🚂 Steam Train + 🚗 Museum 🕑 5 hours +

Upgrade Book Now
Annual Pass

Annual Pass

Unlimited cruising for a whole year. | ⚓ Valid on any daytime cruise every day except Christmas Day 📆 364 days

Upgrade