[7] "Steamers" are the throwback name for the ferries (diesel-propelled) which run most days to Bowness-on-Windermere and Lakeside offering fine views of the lake and the mountains – see Waterhead locality below.

A concentration of ten pubs or bars within a quarter-mile radius reflects how the local hospitality market serves residents, tourists, visitors and the student population associated with the University of Cumbria.

With the coming of the turnpikes, the packhorse trains were superseded by horse-drawn stagecoaches, which regularly travelled between Keswick and Kendal via Ambleside.

[16][17] The building was depicted by the Victorian landscapist Lewis Pinhorn Wood (1848–1918) in his late 19th century work The Cobbler's Shop on the Bridge.

[22][23] His body and that of his only son, Henry Lionel Francess Thompson – killed in World War II – share the same part of the churchyard.

Between March and October, a second service operates to the Brockhole Lake District Visitor Centre and Wray Castle.

[37] This government position induced Shelley to write a sonnet of mild reprimand, To Wordsworth, but it gave an income other than poetry.

Under legislation to lower the risk of well-covered sympathiser spies he was interned in the Isle of Man for 14 months of World War II after fleeing Nazi Germany to Norway which was invaded in 1940; his release to London was secured with A. Dorner of Rhode Island School of Design's attestation and sponsorship.

The poet Dorothy Gurney wrote the words to the popular wedding hymn "O Perfect Love" at Pullwyke near Ambleside.

The town maintains the Langdale & Ambleside MRT, one of the busiest volunteer mountain rescue teams nationally.

Key routes are:[41] The nearest National Rail station is at Windermere, which provides services to Oxenholme and Manchester Airport.

[44] Ambleside features an oceanic climate, but being within the Lake District it does experience higher annual rainfall than the average for the North-West of England.

Parts of the town have been flooded on numerous occasions, with the River Rothay breaking its banks during Storm Desmond in December 2015.