Tourist Information

Image Copyright © Richard Morgan

Cambridge is an excellent choice for a city break and is one of Britain's most visited cities. There are a wide variety of attractions for tourists to enjoy, from sport and leisure to arts and culture. A curious blend of ancient and modern, you will find some of the world's most advanced technology companies sat beside beautiful historic buildings. All in all, Cambridge has much to offer.

The city is world-renowned for it's university and it's classic architecture, some of which dates back to the eleventh century, and King's College alone pulls in tens of thousands of visitors a year. King's is open much of the year and the Chapel - the quintessential image of Cambridge - is well worth a look, although all of the colleges have hidden corners worth exploring: St John's has the famous Bridge of Sighs (inspired by it's namesake in Venice) as well as the thirteenth century Pythagoras Building, and Queen's College can boast the Mathematical Bridge, wrongly believed to have been designed by Sir Isaac Newton.

Local historian and Blue Badge Guide Allan Brigham provides walking tours of Cambridge, and gives talks on aspects of Cambridge history to local groups. Allan's tours are intended more for locals, exploring the hidden history of Cambridge or as he puts it "an introduction to Cambridge for all those who always meant to take a closer look, but never quite had the time". For further details and availability, please visit his website 'Town NOT Gown'.

One of the best ways to see the city up close, other than on foot, is to join the ranks of Cambridge's cycling masses; bikes are available to hire all over the place and are the easiest way to get around the city.

As a centre of intellectual excellence, Cambridge has been second to none for centuries, playing host to such luminaries as Rutherford, Newton and, more recently, Crick and Watson (of DNA fame) and Stephen Hawking.

Perhaps nothing represents Cambridge in the minds of visitors more perfectly than the sight of punts on the river Cam, and there can be no better way to see the city's famous colleges than from the water. Punt tours are available along 'The Backs' which take in many of Cambridge's most well known sights - the Mathematical Bridge, King's College Chapel, Trinity College - and if you want to try your hand at punting and go at your own speed, there are punts for hire.

Cambridge, with its long association with education, is home to many museums; the Fitzwilliam showcasing artifacts from Greece, Egypt and Rome is the best known, but there are also university museums dedicated to the sciences.

For the more horticultural amongst you, the delights of the Cambridge Botanic Gardens may be of interest: a huge collection of more than ten thousand species from desert cactii to tropical fly-traps.

If you are seeking a more musical day out, then the annual Strawberry Fair may be for you: held on the first Saturday of June, the fair has several music stages and marquees alongside food and craft stalls - a veritable mini Glastonbury.