A day out in Cambridge

Journey to Cambridge

From London, you can take the Great Northern train from King's Cross station to Cambridge, which takes about 45 minutes, with tickets costing around 16-25 GBP/adult. This is a beautiful architectural icon of London with two main areas: St. Pancras International and King's Cross. Platform 9 is located between platforms 9 and 10 of King's Cross.^3/4, a must-see destination for fans of the Harry Potter series.

Unlike most other trains departing from London which are usually noisy and crowded, the journey to Cambridge was quiet and deserted.

Alternatively, you can get to Cambridge from London by National Express bus, but I don't recommend this option, as the bus fare is not necessarily cheaper than the train ticket and it takes more than 2 hours on the road.

800-year-old university

Like many other tourist cities, Cambridge also has a hop-on hop-off double-decker bus to help visitors get a panoramic view of the city in the fastest time. Such a bus trip will last 90 minutes (if only on the bus). But Cambridge is a small city and you can easily walk slowly through every corner within a day. Walking on the centuries-old cobblestone streets, you will feel like returning to the Middle Ages, with ancient moss-covered buildings and small, winding alleys.

Founded in 1209, Cambridge University is one of the top 5 universities in the world, comprising 31 colleges, most of which are free to visit (except lecture halls). Some colleges charge admission, but this is a small fee (around 2-5 GBP/adult).

From Cambridge station, you only need to walk 20-30 minutes to reach Cambridge University cluster and from here, you can freely wander around and explore the magnificent, ancient architectural works that have imprinted the mark of many great celebrities in world history such as Charles Darwin, Issac Newton, Alan Turing, Stephen Hawking... The schools here are quite close to each other, so a tour around the 10 attractions below, even if you stop to admire the scenery and take pictures, will only take about 1-2 hours.

• Pembroke College
• Corpus Christi College
• Queens' College
• King's College
• St. Catherine's College
• Clare College
• Trinity Hall
• Gonville and Caius College
• The Senate House
• Trinity College

Gondola ride on the Cambridge River

If you don't want to walk, rowing a gondola on the Cambridge River is an equally interesting option. You can buy a ticket for a guided tour for about 10-20 GBP/adult (depending on the size of the boat and the rowing time) to relax and enjoy the fresh air amidst the gentle waves, while admiring the schools nestled under the willow trees along the river...

If you want, you can rent a gondola and row it yourself, but it's best to have a rower-guide with you unless you have experience rowing.

Museums and Botanical Gardens

In addition to its universities, Cambridge is also famous for its museums and libraries. There are many museums in Cambridge, and I spent quite a bit of time in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Museum of Ancient Archaeology and the Fitzwilliam Museum, fascinated by the artifacts and artworks from thousands of years ago. Equally interesting are the Polar Museum, the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, the Whipple Museum for the History of Science and the Museum of Zoology. The Cambridge museums are free to visit, but you should check the closing times (usually 4:30-5:00 pm) and holidays (usually Monday or Tuesday) of each museum.

Not too far from the center of Cambridge's old town is Kettle's Yard, a building with unique architecture that is the center of the modern art exhibition of Cambridge University and the Botanic Garden, a beautiful garden with more than 8,000 species of plants from all over the world. Without the exotic flowers and plants that are meticulously designed, pruned and shaped, the Botanic Garden is beautiful in a very different way, with each bush growing freely as in nature, because the main purpose of this place is to serve the research of Cambridge students. The entrance fee to the Botanic Garden is 6 GBP/adult, and this place is worthy of being the last stop on the Cambridge journey when the sun sets.

Rosemary