New daily sailings introduced, thanks to upturn in winter visitors

For the first time in more than ten years, Windermere Lake Cruises has increased the number of its daily winter sailings – thanks to a significant upturn in passengers during the traditionally quieter months.

The company has just swapped over to its winter timetable, but has made substantial changes for the new winter season (which runs until Easter 2016). That includes two additional daily sailings between Bowness and Ambleside, as well as an extra daily ‘Islands Cruise’, which is a scenic circular route around the lake.

There are currently 1.4 million passenger journeys on Windermere Lake Cruises each year and the move follows an annual upward trend in passengers over the winter months.

The increase is partly down to day trippers and overnight visitors from this country.

There has also been substantial growth in international groups visiting Windermere and the Lake District, with particular interest from Chinese visitors in search of snow-capped mountains and scenic winter landscapes.

Operations Director at Windermere Lake Cruises, John Woodburn, says, “Going back 10 or 15 years, there were very few tourists during the winter months, but more recently, this has all changed and there is a lot more demand to explore Windermere from one of our vessels. More frequent services will create extra room on board, making the journeys more comfortable and giving people greater choice about when to travel.”

Windermere Lake Cruises run every day of the year except Christmas Day.

• You can download a full copy of our winter timetable here.