The route includes Levens Hall with its world famous topiary gardens, the attractive Edwardian resort town of Grange-over-Sands, the historic town of Ulverston, birthplace of Arthur Stanley Jefferson better known as comic genius Stan Laurel then on to Barrow, Askham, Broughton, Millom and Ravenglass. Ravenglass is situated on the estuaries of three rivers and os home to the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. The railway runs for seven-miles from Ravenglass through some of England's most magnificent scenery to Dalegarth station and visitor centre in Eskdale, which nestles at the foot of the highest mountains in the country. The small town has an interesting Roman Bath House, which is the highest surviving Roman remains in the north of England. Dating from around 130 A.D. it once formed part of the Roman fort of Glannoventa.

As the route passes through the Lake District National Park and along the west coast towards the Solway Firth, which is famed for its superb sunsets it passes through rough border country to the spectacular red sandstone cliffs at St. Bees Head. St. Bees Head rises to a height of 300 feet and is the only heritage coast between Anglesey and the Scottish border. Here the cliffs are home to one of the largest seabird cliff colonies in England and the RSPB nature reserve provides several viewing stations for observing nesting colonies of razorbills, puffins and the only British colony of black guillemots.

St. Bees Priory, dates back to the twelfth century and then its on to the nearby Georgian port of Whitehaven with its interesting Beacon Museum and Gallery along with the Rum Story Museum.

Workington is next with its Harrington Marina and the seaside town of Maryport follows, which boasts a long history, beginning life as the Roman fort of Alauna around 122 AD. The Senhouse Roman Museum at Maryport is dramatically situated on cliffs overlooking the Solway Firth and displays the largest group of Roman military altar stones and inscriptions from any site in Britain. The Maryport Aquarium is one of the best locations for viewing a variety of marine life off the Irish Sea.

The pleasant seaside village of Allonby is followed by the Victorian resort town of Silloth on the Solway Firth with all its bird life, and the border city of historic Carlisle, Cumbria's only city, with its castle, superb cathedral and the Tuille House Museum comes next. A few glimpses of Hadrian's Wall and then it on the way into Scotland to finish at the famous border town of Gretna.

The Cumbria Coastal Way also links with the Coast to Coast route at St Bees and Hadrian's Wall Path National Trail at Bowness on Solway.