Kotel Windermere

About this stay

Kotel Windermere is a 4-star hotel in Windermere, England, rated 4.5 out of 5 across 168 guest reviews.

Staying in Windermere? Kotel Windermere offers dependable 4-star quality and puts central Windermere and central England within easy reach.

Book Kotel Windermere through app.impt.io at the same live rate you would find anywhere else, with free cancellation on most rooms. Every completed booking funds one verified tonne of carbon removal — paid from the standard commission the hotel already covers, never added to your bill.

What kind of hotel Kotel Windermere is

Kotel sits on Lake Road in Windermere village — a few minutes' walk from the station, the shops and the pubs, and about a mile and a half, mostly downhill, from the shore of Windermere at Bowness. Its 4.5 score across 168 reviews puts it among the better-rated places in the village rather than at the budget end of the market, and the facilities list explains why: apartments and kitchenettes alongside ordinary rooms, a garden, a patio, a fireplace, family rooms and free parking. It is the sort of place that suits a family needing a sofa bed and a kitchenette, and equally a couple who want to be able to walk to dinner and leave the car.

Two things are worth checking before you book. First, whether the rate you are being shown is a room or a self-contained apartment, because they are priced differently and the apartment trade is a good part of what happens here. Second, whether a hot tub, patio or particular view is included in the unit you have been allocated — the facilities list covers the whole property, not one specific apartment. Pets are allowed, which is not universal in Windermere, and the free on-site parking is a genuine saving in a village where street parking is restricted and central car parks charge by the day.

The location, and what to do with it

Windermere village and Bowness are two different places and people mix them up constantly. The village, where Kotel is, has the station, the bus stops and the everyday shops; Bowness-on-Windermere, down the hill, has the lake pier, the Beatrix Potter attraction, the World of Beatrix Potter, and the boats. The walk between them is about twenty minutes downhill and rather longer coming back, and the 599 open-top bus covers it if your legs object.

From the pier, Windermere Lake Cruises run the classic circuit: the ferry across to Bowness, the islands, the trip up to Ambleside and Waterhead, or the full length of the lake to Lakeside at the southern end, where the Lakeside and Haverthwaite steam railway waits. Orrest Head, the hill above the station, gives the view that made Wainwright fall in love with the Lakes and costs twenty minutes of uphill walking from the village centre. The other easy hill is School Knott and the tarns above it, on the way towards Troutbeck.

Further out, the drive over Kirkstone Pass to Patterdale and Ullswater is one of the great roads of the district — steep, narrow in places, and best not attempted in a vehicle you do not know well. Grasmere and Rydal are fifteen minutes up the A591, Ambleside and Waterhead another ten, and Coniston over the fells. For a rainy day, the Blackwell arts and crafts house above Bowness, the Windermere Jetty Museum and the Brewery Arts Centre at Kendal are all reliable.

Getting here

Windermere station, five minutes' walk away, has direct trains from Oxenholme on the West Coast Main Line and from Manchester Airport, which makes a car-free break genuinely possible. Buses from the village run to Bowness, Ambleside, Grasmere, Kendal and Keswick, and the 599 is a scenic route in its own right. By road, the M6 at junction 36 then the A590 and A591 is the usual approach, about fifteen minutes from the motorway if the traffic behaves; parking in the village fills up from mid-morning in summer and at weekends.

The free parking here matters more than it sounds: leave the car once and do the whole break on foot, by boat and by bus, which is what most people end up doing anyway. Just note that the roads around Bowness and the Troutbeck valley are narrow single-track in places, and the Kirkstone and Wrynose passes are for confident drivers only.

When to go, and for how long

May, June and September are the best months: long days, decent weather, and none of the August crush. July and August are lovely and busy, with Bowness at its most crowded and the lake cruises full by mid-morning. October half-term is popular for the colours, and winter is quiet and often beautiful on clear days, with rates well down — just pick a week without a named storm in it. Christmas and New Year are booked months ahead.

Two nights is enough for the lake and one hill. Three or four lets you add Ullswater, Coniston or a day at Grasmere, and it is the right length for a family with children who want a boat, a hill and an afternoon doing nothing. The 4.5 guest score is a fair sign of what to expect: well-run, comfortable, not grand.

Facilities

• 24H. Security
• Apartements
• Bars
• Bathrobe
• Bathroom
• Cleaning
• Coffee
• Cot
• Desk
• Dishwasher
• Express check in
• Family rooms
• Fan
• Fireplace
• First aid
• Free Wifi
• Free car parking
• Garden

All 43 facilities

• Hairdryer
• Internet access
• Iron and board
• Kitchen
• Kitchenette
• Laundry Service
• Microwave
• Non smoking rooms
• Oven
• Parking
• Patio
• Pets allowed
• Radio
• Refrigerator
• Safe
• Shower
• Slippers
• Smoke detector
• Smoking area
• TV
• Toaster
• Toiletries
• Towels
• WC
• Wifi

Location

Lake Road, Windermere, United Kingdom.

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