Picture the scene: a lake shimmering in the summer sunshine, water gently lapping the shore and beautiful mountains in the distance. It’s an image which has made the Italian Lakes a world famous holiday destination - and one that’s popular with A-list stars with George Clooney famously owning a property there.
While a holiday to Italy would be rather nice, it can be very expensive. Luckily for us there’s a place much closer to home which has been compared to the Italian Lakes.
Holiday rental website HomeToGo conducted research into destinations in the UK which could double for holiday hotspots abroad. They used their own internal search data to find the most popular holiday locations among Brits in Portugal, Spain, Italy and France.
READ MORE:
Then they deployed AI technology to identify locations in the UK which shared the most similarities. The AI programme ChatGPT-4 was asked to consider the factors of landscape, climate, things to do and see, and visitor reviews.
The research found that Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District, which is around a two hour drive from Greater Manchester, is the perfect substitute for Limone sul Garda in Lombardy, Italy. Naturally both locations share gorgeous lakeside views and mountain scenery - although we’ll admit the Lake District fells are a little smaller than the Italian mountains.
Windermere itself is England’s largest lake and it has attracted visitors from across the world. In fact it can certainly rival those found in Italy, as one visitor wrote on TripAdvisor: “As good as any Lake in Italy! Who needs to go to Italy, when you have such a lovely, beautiful lake so close.”
It's more than just the location and scenery which the two towns have in common, they actually share a similar history too. Bowness-on-Windermere started life as a small fishing village, but it became a tourism hot spot during the 19th century with the arrival of the railway in 1847.
Similar to Bowness, Limone sul Garda was once a quiet fishing village, although it became known for its olive growing and lemon cultivation. Interestingly its name derives from the Latin word limen, which means to border, and has nothing to do with lemons.
During Bowness’ tourism boom wealthy businessmen from Lancashire built grand residences overlooking the lake and many of these impressive Victorian buildings have now been converted into hotels. Today it's one of the most popular spots in the Lake District for visitors. The town is a hub for sailing and watersports, while there are also ferries you can catch across the lake.
While there’s lots to do in Bowness itself, it also makes for a great base to explore the surrounding area from. There’s a range of accommodation options in the town, from luxury hotels to family run B&Bs. You’ll also find campsites nearby which can help cut the cost of your holiday.
For more of the latest What's On news, click here.
READ MORE:
- Five of the best waterside walks in Greater Manchester for a sunny day
- The beautiful garden in south Manchester hidden behind a tall wall
- Manchester bar named the best in the UK
- English village looks like Switzerland with stunning scenery for miles
- Things to do in Greater Manchester over the May bank holiday weekend
