14 best hotels in the Lake District to check into in 2023

The Lake District is a natural playground that beckons with outdoor activities that include fell hiking, forest biking, paddleboarding, wild swimming and rock climbing. From homely Airbnbs in the Lake District to the best hotels in the Lake District, you'll find an excellent base from which to experience this spectacular corner of England.

BEST HOTELS IN LAKE DISTRICT

The region also abounds with literary associations, small-scale museums and local art galleries, plus the artisan food producers, award-winning farm shops, classic tea rooms and contemporary crafts breweries that make it a foodie's paradise.

Indeed, some of the best hotels in the Lake District are centred around outstanding restaurants that put sensational local produce including salt marsh lamb, Cumberland sausage and brown shrimp to remarkable use in high-end cuisine to rival any served in Britain’s major cities. Afternoon tea is also a high point of any stay – served in most hotels, it’s a guilt-free indulgence after spending all that time out in the fresh air.

With lovely views to boot, the best hotels in Lake District also have gardens, summer terraces and sometimes the likes of outdoor hot tubs to help you soak up your rustic surrounds. They may also run or organise absorbing activities such as foraging, forest bathing and farm visits.

Whenever the season you're visiting (autumn is a delight for taking in the fiery hues of nature and winter is arguably the most magical time of year when snow blankets the fell tops), the Lake District is one of the most beautiful places to visit in the UK and our pick of the best hotels will help you see it at its most wonderful.

One of England’s original stately homes sits in splendid isolation in 400 acres of deer park and woodland above Lake Bassenthwaite. Armathwaite Hall Hotel & Spa is a great place for getting under the skin of the Lake District landscapes, with tempting activities including fishing, canoeing and kayaking, forest bathing, clay-pigeon shooting, alpaca walking, birds-of-prey displays and nature photography.

There’s also a tennis court and a stand-out spa with an infinity-edge pool, outdoor hot tub with woodland views and a thermal suite. The homely rooms include family and dog-friendly options, and there are two restaurants and a mellow cocktail bar with parquet floor and velvet-clad seating.

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New for 2022 at boutique retreat Rothay Manor Country House Hotel are The Pavilion, a contemporary building with stylish suites, some with private gardens, and a boot room and dog wash for those returning from hikes over the fells. The latter adds to several pooch-friendly areas here, including the bistro-style Brathay Lounge.

There’s also fine dining inspired by Scandinavian and Japanese cuisine but based on seasonal local produce, available as a tasting menu that includes the likes of turbot with asparagus and saké. Indeed this is a little piece of heaven for food lovers, who can go out with a local forager to learn to identify the likes of wild garlic, wood sorrel, bitter-cress, cow parsley and bistort, as well as mushrooms and wild berries.

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With its renowned, adult-only Brimstone Spa offering seven thermal experiences, indoor/outdoor relaxation pool and Bubble, a private spa for two, this sweeping estate is perfect for a couples' break. But self-catering lodges and apartments dotted around the grounds also make it an enticing family option - with options sleeping up to eight ideal for multigenerational getaways or breaks with other family or friends. We'd happily travel here solo, too.

Rooms and suites at Langdale Hotel & Spa are plush cocoons from the elements, one with a contemporary four-poster bed and one with a nickel-plated roll-top bathtub at the foot of the super-king-size bed. Stoves Restaurant has a terrace overlooking the historic waterwheel, plus an inside-outside fireplace.

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By the shores of Grasmere, this handsome house has fresh and airy contemporary rooms and suites with lake or valley views – one with its own balcony and some designed specially for families, with an emperor bed and two twins. At the Daffodil, there’s also a blissful spa including a thermal pool, rasul bath, tepidarium, sauna and steam room.

Between them, the dining room, lounge, lakeside terrace and lobby bar offer small plates, afternoon teas and generous sharing platters, and there’s also an extensive room-service menu with something to suit all tastes and moods. In the main restaurant, innovative local dishes include the likes of pressed Cumbrian ham hock with potato and mustard, pickled apple purée, brioche and sage.

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Food is the big draw at contemporary country house hotel Linthwaite House perched on a hilltop within its lovely gardens and private woodland. The main dining room, Henrock, is presided over by iconic northern chef and restaurateur Simon Rogan, with a menu inspired by his travels around the world but making full us of sustainable local ingredients - including produce from his own farm a few miles away in the Cartmel Valley.

Seasonal dishes might include the likes of white Peking duck with gochujang and date croquette, celeriac and bitter chocolate, and even the cocktails are a world apart - don’t miss the Don Negro with coffee mezcal, coffee-infused Campari and vermouth. Outside, you’ll find a boules pitch, a giant outdoor chessboard and walking trails.

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With heavenly views of Cumbria’s best-known lake and surrounding fells, Holbeck Ghyll Country House Hotel is a traditional but unstuffy 19th-century hunting lodge where you can hole up for a few days. With only 32 comfortable rooms, a bijou spa including a steam room, and a fabulous fine-dining restaurant that led to it being featured in an episode of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s foodie odyssey The Trip, this is one Lake District hotel worth knowing about.

There are also sublime afternoon teas to be enjoyed in the lake-view lounges or on the terrace, and casual menus in the bar and lounges. When the weather permits, you can book the pergola with its private barbecue area and fire pit.

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Family-owned and run by a women-only team, this elegant, award-winning guesthouse sits in a Thomas Mawson-designed garden complete with its own tarn, lovely terraces and mature plants that give it colour all year long. Lindeth Fell Country House's 14 rooms are comfy nests, some with Windermere views and one with a freestanding slipper bath.

Decanters of cream sherry awaiting your arrival are a welcome touch, as are coffee machines and retro-style radios. Breakfasts are taken very seriously here, too, from the hearty grill platters to the likes of poach smoked Finnan haddock with poached eggs.

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This gabled Georgian house and its cluster of stone buildings, many with original features, conceals just 12 bedrooms, suites and cottages in soothing natural tones of dove grey, blue and green. In the warmer months, you can book a two- or three-night ‘Wilderness Adventure’ in one of its glamping Prospector Tents by the woods, all with heated verandahs and personal butlers serving full Cumbrian breakfasts.

Meanwhile, all guests at The Samling can book a slot in the hot tub hidden away in the woodlands, and private tastings can be arranged in the atmospheric wine cellar. The food on offer embraces fine dining, Sunday roasts and afternoon teas, with many ingredients sourced from the on-site greenhouse, gardens and woodland.

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In vast, secluded grounds in a prime spot on Windermere, this Grade II Georgian and Victorian hotel includes accommodation in its main house, in its stone boathouse (a single suite with its own steam room, hot tub and firepit) and in its contemporary lakeside suites.

The latter are the best spot for immersion in nature, with sliding glass walls onto the outdoors and private terraces with Japanese-style cedar-wood hot tubs. The food alone brings many to Storrs Hall, whether it’s afternoon teas in the drawing room or conservatory, timeless pub classics in the Tower Bar, or sustainably farmed local produce in the lake-view restaurant.

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This luxury, wholesome guesthouse in a Victorian mansion retains much of its original character and offers warmly welcoming rooms all with natural screen-printed wallpapers, organic clay-based paints and sheep-fleece insulation. Two have balconies with village views, and one has its own walled terrace complete with a covered wood-clad hot tub.

In-room treats at Moss Grove Organic can include organic wines, local beers and gin from Lakes Distillery; breakfasts are a sumptuous feast including local Cumberland sausage and eggs, crostini, ham, cheese, tapas dishes, nuts, seeds and berries – more than enough to set you up for a day’s fell roaming.

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Concealing contemporary-meets-classic interiors behind its handsome traditional exterior in Lakeland stone, this five-room guesthouse has superb views over the fells while being just a five-mile stroll from Grasmere with its indie boutiques, convivial pubs and fantastic restaurants.

Raise View's congenial hosts will set you up with a picnic to take out on your walks, although the hearty local breakfasts (including vegetarian and vegan options) are enough to set you up for day. The top spot is the Silver How Suite with its espresso machine and deep soaking tub with divine moorland views.

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In the heart of the Borrowdale Valley, this long-established hotel was given a brand-new look and feel in 2019 and now delights both dog-lovers with its canine-friendly space and foodies with its decadent afternoon teas, lake-view restaurant with regional cuisine, and pan-Asian restaurant.

The spa is the real star, though, with its four-person rasul chamber, thermal suite (complete with laconium, aroma steam room, herbal sauna, salt steam room, ice fountain, drench showers and heated relaxation loungers), outdoor hydro pool with neck jets and underwater bubble loungers with glorious Derwentwater and Cat Bells view, glass-fronted Finnish sauna and even its own champagne bar.

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Owned by the Corus group that includes the Laura Ashley brand, this iconic hotel has a classic English feel in the designer's hallmark style, including elegant public spaces with Art Deco mirrors and decorative plates.

Individually decorated rooms are cosy havens from the elements; many have Windermere views, and the Four Poster Suite includes a roll-top bath as well as a feature bed facing a wide bow window with a spectacular lake vista. You can choose from fine dining in the restaurant to more laidback fare in the airy brassiere; both have garden terraces for clement days.

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