Windermere Lake Cruises operates scheduled services from the main pier in Bowness throughout the year, with greater frequency in summer. The northern route runs to Waterhead at Ambleside, taking about 35 minutes and stopping at Brockhole (the national park visitor centre) on some services. The southern route runs to Lakeside in about 45 minutes, where you can connect with the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Steam Railway for a trip inland through the Leven valley. There is also a small ferry crossing to the western shore at Ferry House, from which a path leads to Near Sawrey and Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse.
The boats are a practical way to avoid the car, but they are also worth taking for their own sake. Windermere is 10.5 miles long and the lake looks quite different from the water than from the shore — the wooded islands and inlets, the fell profiles that shift as you move north, the occasional glimpse of a Georgian house set back among the trees. A round trip to Ambleside and back is a reasonable half-day outing. Booking ahead online in peak summer months avoids queues at the pier.