There is limited information on Lake District via public transport but we have done it! It's not extremely challenging and very much doable. There are limitations of course in terms of time flexibility but at least you don't have to worry about parking and taking wrong turns! But something to note and bear in mind is that the buses are very punctual on main stations/stops but a bit iffy on those smaller stops along the way, meaning they can leave early and you might need to wait an hour for the next bus. More on this below on Catbells.
Avanti West Coast runs trains from London Euston to towns in the Lakes. There are 2 stations where you can disembark, Oxenholme Lake District and Penrith (North Lakes).
- if you pick Oxenholme, you have a choice of settling down in Kendal or Windermere OR
- Like us, we picked Keswick as we disembarked at Penrith. Ambleside is also a good choice to stay as there are much more food options and a bigger town compared to Keswick.
Stagecoach is the sole bus company servicing Lake District. They release 2 timetables annually, the Summer one which is published end of March, covering periods from 31/3 to 2/11 and the Winter one which is published early November, cover the other 4 months with lesser services. Bear in mind that Google map some times is not as up to date with these timetables.
Below are links to the 2024/2025 winter and summer timetables. Google "Stagecoach Lakes by Bus:
- https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/Cumbria/Lakes%20Connection/Winter%2024/Winter%202024%20Lakes%20by%20Bus%20WEB.pdf
- https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com/Timetables/Cumbria/Lakes%20Connection/Summer%2025/Lakes%20by%20Bus%20Summer%202025%20WEB.pdf
You can get the free hard copy of the schedule on the bus, they are like bibles for the bus drivers as well!
Bus tickets can be purchased on the bus or via their App. We use their app as it's more convenient. It provides Live bus routes and ticket purchasing as well. Please ensure that your mobile is charged sufficiently as the mobile ticket is animated and uses the gyroscope of your mobile for security/fraud avoidance reasons. The key word and colour changes daily and you cannot take a screenshot of your mobile ticket!
Which bus ticket to get depends on your usage, how long you plan to stay in the Lakes and how big your group is. Frankly, their online customer service is pretty hopeless in their products. We made multiple attempts to contact them but never received a straight answer for which ticket to purchase nor if our large luggage will be allowed onto the bus. When we did a search, we got this, which worries us even more:
https://www.stagecoachbus.com/help-and-contact/faqs/how-much-luggage-can-i-take-on-the-bus
We are a group of 2 adults and a 10 year old and staying for 4 nights, hence it made perfect sense to get the North West Gold 7 day Group Megarider.
https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regionaltickets/cumbria-and-north-lancashire/kendal-and-the-lakes/megarider?passengerClass=GROUP
As per the posting of this blog, Stagecoach is running a promotion which states pay no more than £3 per single bus trip, which still ends up more expensive considering the number of buses we take per day :)
The train from Euston to Penrith took around 3 hours, no drama. We booked Standard Premium class because:
- they are not significantly more expensive
- they are actually First class minus the meals
- cabin is more spacious (2+1 seats per row vs the standard class which is 2+2 seats per row)
- less crowd which also means more luggage space for us
And when you reach Penrith station, rest assure that the X4 and X5 buses to Keswick does allow you to board with luggage, ours are huge, measuring W55 x H81 x D35 cm. No issues on the bus as there is ample luggage space :)
There is a large Booths supermarket just behind Keswick bus stop, you can't miss it. Keswick is pretty central, one of the bigger towns in the Lakes hence you don't have to worry about buses. Premier Inn is just less than 10 mins away from Booths and along the way, if you prefer, there's a Co-op there as well, though not as well stocked as Booths. We haven't came across the usual London supermarkets like Morrisons, M&S, Waitrose, Sainsbury's or Lidl in the few towns we visited in Lake District, Booths is the main one here, there's a Tesco Express in Ambleside.
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There is also a coin laundromat in Keswick. We did some washing there as the weather was a bit wet the first 2 days we were there, plus we tried to travel light hence brought lesser clothing. They accept cards at the main counter in exchange to coins, basically a wash costs £7 and dryer costs £5, total time is around a hour for both:
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During our 5D/4N stay, we managed to cover couple of walks like Catbells, Buttermere, Rydal Cave, Castlerigg stone circle and Derwentwater and a couple of bigger towns like Keswick, Grasmere, Ambleside, Windermere and Bowness and World of Beatrix Potter! Yes, via a bus :)
Most of them were very convenient, you just need to take note of the bus timings and adjust your walks accordingly, remember to keep the hard-copy of the timetable booklet with you for a quick and easy reference.
We had no issues with any of the above except for Catbells. Catbells is serviced by bus 77/77A which also covers Buttermere. Catbells is not far from Keswick but the bus frequency is a bit odd, you get hourly frequency in the mornings but in the afternoon, the buses are at 2 hour intervals. Cattle Grid bus stop is on a single lane road, that Sunday when we were there, while walking down the hill, we saw a bus passed by in the opposite direction, no issues, not our bus. But the bus we were waiting for didn't arrive and we waited over 45 mins! We tried calling Stagecoach call centre but they are as hopeless as their online customer service. Finally decided to walk back to Keswick, which is over an hours walk. Not a bad thing though, we stumbled upon a pretty good restaurant along the way :)
More to come!
