A guide to Cambridge, the historic UK university city

Compact Cambridge has an inordinately high concentration of beauty. Though only an hour north east of London, the fenland city seems to belong to another age entirely — its gloriously unmodernised centre chock-a-block with soaring spires, historic colleges and cycling students trailing long scarves. Life centres around the university — one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious, with more epoch-defining alumni than most people have had hot dinners. We’re talking about a place that’s taught everyone from Sir Isaac Newton to poet Sylvia Plath.

“Cambridge is heaven, I am convinced it is the nicest place in the world,” said another writer, the novelist Sophie Hannah, a fellow at Trinity College in the late Nineties. But you needn’t enrol to get the measure of the place — most visitors fall for Cambridge within hours of arriving. With everything in easy walking distance, a long weekend is ample time to explore the city’s world-class galleries and museums, stroll along the bucolic River Cam, and enjoy plentiful pastries and pints in its beguiling cafes and pubs.       

What to see

Follow the sound of pealing bells to the top of Great St Mary’s, the University Church, which has panoramic views over the city. Some of the surrounding 31 colleges are free to visit, while others require prebooking. Highlights include Trinity College’s magnificent Wren Library — where visitors can see AA Milne’s original manuscript for Winnie the Pooh. These hand-written pages are just one example from its archive, where tall oak bookshelves are illuminated by lofty arched windows. Even more inspiring is the chapel at King’s College, a feat of 16th-century engineering. Time a visit with evensong (typically held at 5.30pm, six days a week during term-time), and you’ll be able to gaze up at its mind-bogglingly complex fan-vaulted ceiling while being serenaded by a schoolboy choir.

Another good way to get a feel for the city is by punting along the Cam, ducking under bridges and admiring The Backs — the green land between the river and the colleges. Captain your own vessel or sit back with a blanket for one of Scudamore’s insightful guided tours. After disembarking, continue to Trumpington Street, where bombastic neoclassical pile the Fitzwilliam Museum is known for its Egyptology department and Roman statuary. On the outskirts of the city centre, near the train station, is the city’s Botanic Garden. Its 40 acres feature hothouses filled with extraordinary exotics, as well as fairytale flora like the weeping katsura tree, the leaves of which smell like toffee as they decompose. Afterwards, warm up over coffee and cake in its striking modernist cafe.

Where to eat

A Cambridge institution, Fitzbillies cannot be beaten for lunch or afternoon tea. Its sticky, raisin-rich Chelsea buns — described as ‘peerless’ by Queens’ College alumnus Stephen Fry — have been made to the same secret recipe for more than 100 years and are also now available in a savoury cheese and Marmite version. There are three central cafe-bakeries to choose from; all have gilded windows made for people-watching.

Alternatively, join the fray at one of the city’s many storied pubs. Close to Magdalene Bridge, The Pickerel was a favourite watering hole for writers CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, while Shakespeare is said to have performed in The Eagle’s tucked-away courtyard. It’s also where Crick and Watson announced they’d discovered ‘the secret of life’ after identifying DNA’s double-helix structure in 1953 — who knows what further revelations are to be found at the bottom of one of the pub’s beer flights?

Many celebrated intellectuals have passed through the doors of The Orator, a restaurant and cocktail bar inside The Cambridge Union on Bridge Street. Walls are painted in the city’s signature blue and hung with photographs of former speakers, including Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and actress Pamela Anderson. The menu, similarly, runs the gamut — offering everything from small plates to sirloin steaks.

Where to stay

The city’s oldest and most luxurious hotel, the University Arms (from £219, B&B) has old-school good looks both outside and in. Guests arrive under the archways of a grand porch, and social spaces include a mahogany-panelled library and characterful brasserie hung with eye-catching prints.  The pick of its 192 rooms are the spacious upper floor suites, which feature English country house decor and knockout views over the lawns of Parker’s Piece. Or book in at Wilde Aparthotels (from £170, B&B) which recently opened in the city. Its style is inspired by 19th-century wit Oscar Wilde, a legacy most manifest in the property’s buzzy social spaces and abundant use of velvet. 

Like a local

Open every day, Cambridge Market is the place to hunt for vintage clothing, crafts and street food, while nearby St Edward’s Passage is great for second-hand books. Sarah Key (also known as ‘The Haunted Bookshop’) and G. David both specialise in second-hand and antiquarian volumes. The latter also sells one-off folio pages — featuring old maps or botanical drawings — suitable for framing.

For an antidote to all the ancientness, head over Magdalene Bridge to Kettle’s Yard, a modern and contemporary art gallery occupying a row of converted 19th-century cottages. Once the home of Tate Gallery curator Jim Ede and his wife Helen, this charming domestic space now displays the couple’s extraordinary collection of painting and sculpture, as well as hosting exhibitions by current artists.