Inn in Ambleside
2 guests · 1 bedroom · 1 bath
Reasons to book
Guests love it hereGuests give this property a top rating
Great for petsBring all your friends and family, even the furry ones
Top-tier experienceA high end property in this area
About this inn
Waterhead Inn is surrounded by the Lake District's popular walking and cycling routes.
Amenities at The Waterhead Inn, Ambleside- The Inn Collection Group
Free WiFi/internet
Free Parking
Non-smoking
Pets allowed
Heating
Bar
Balcony/Terrace
WiFi/Internet
Garden
Key access
Key card access
Housekeeping available
Fire alarm
Fire extinguisher
Cleaning products
Map of Ambleside
Available Rooms
Ratings and reviews
100% verified reviews9.0 / 10.0Outstanding·Apr 2026
The location was great. Nice area and quiet. Rooms spacious, clean and well appointed. Breakfast was wonderful and the restaurant food and service good. Would stay again with less luggage
There are no lifts or porters here, so moving luggage from the lobby to the room was difficult. Also parking is very limited. The hotel should make a deal with the car park next door (reduced rate with a special tag)
8.0 / 10.0Excellent·Apr 2026
Great location
Rooms comfortable but a little dated.
9.0 / 10.0Outstanding·Apr 2026
Great location in Ambleside. Room was big and clean. Bar and eating area was large. Nice outside seating area although traffic noise was a bit disturbing. Great view of the north end of lake Windermere.
Bed was hard and uncomfortable. Traffic noise at location but great views.
6.0 / 10.0Average·Apr 2026
Location: excellent. The hotel sits next to the waterfront on the edge of Ambleside with one road in front of it before the jetties, from which you can get various boat trips as well as boat hires. It is a 15 minute straight walk into town, where there are plenty of independent shops, cafes and places to eat.
Breakfast: The breakfast was excellent. It offers a buffet-style full English option, as well as toast, pastries, serials and the usual hot and cold drinks. All of the breakfast food was well cooked and of good quality.
Staff: generally friendly. The lady running breakfast was very chatty (albeit clearly overworked and short on staff).
The hotel was good, but there were a couple of bits which could be improved:
Maintenance: The hotel is looking a little weathered and the maintenance could be better. By way of example, in our room we opened one wardrobe drawer and the handles fell off. We opened the wardrobe door and one of the hinges was off. The shower screen leaked and the extractor in the bathroom didn't work - so you had a nice Swedish Sauna when you got out the shower. Two overhead down pipes in the car park had pulled apart so water was pouring out when it rained - a very easy fix I could have done in 2 minutes if I had ladders. Again, a sign it is not as well maintained as it should be.
Housekeeping: this came up in other reviews we read online. The rooms are not serviced well. We had a lot of dust in the bathroom, which was not cleaned during our six-day stay (so much so we actually wrote in the dust and it remained). The bathroom mirror was not cleaned (again, we know because my daughter wrote a message in the steam at the start of the trip and it remained throughout), the floors were not vacuumed.
The hotel offers the option to have your room serviced or receive a credit at the bar. We did one-day-on-one-off. However on one of the mornings we had a service they emptied the bin and replaced the tissues (leaving the empty tissue box on the bed0 - but that was it. We also found clean towels and bedding just left in a pile on the floor outside the room ready to change on more than one occasion. Not the most hygienic.
Staff engagement: All very friendly, but the housekeeping staff walk around wearing headphones, so a couple of times when I went to chat to them, they jumped out their skin! When we checked in, the lady behind the reception just looked at us and carried on chatting to her colleague (about work) for a good two minutes before we got an abrupt "checking in?". Basil would be proud...
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Top rated by guests
8.3Excellent
(1,737 Ratings)
"Stunning location! Right on the edge of Lake Windermere. Views were spectacular! A 10 minute walk into Ambleside town where there are many pubs and restaurants to choose from!
The bedroom was big, cl..."
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