I love a Saturday day trip. Train tickets in the UK are incredibly expensive, but I still try my best to get out of London every now and again. Today, I’m taking you to Cambridge, a famous university city in England, about an hour north from the British capital. I have now been to Cambridge a few times, and I’m going to include photos from various trips. There are enough things to do in Cambridge to keep you busy for a couple of days at least, so try to plan your trip before you go to make sure you manage to see the places you’re most interested in.
Getting to Cambridge from London
Getting to Cambridge from London is fairly easy. There are frequent trains running between the two cities, with the journey taking around an hour.
University campus – college houses, chapel, and bridges
Cambridge is mainly known for being the home of one of the two most famous English universities – Cambridge University. It truly is a university city. Once you get to the city centre (which is about a 15-20 minute walk from the train station), you’ll see campus sites everywhere you look, often stealthily blended between regular houses or rows of shops. Those college houses seem like a parallel universe.
College houses in Cambridge amazed me with their architecture. They seem extracted out of a fantasy book. The Harry Potter fan in me absolutely loves it. I can’t believe that many students actually live there. It seems so surreal.
College sites are private areas, but you can often walk up to the reception line and appreciate the view. There’s usually a square patio with perfectly cut grass, surrounded by low-rise stone walls. Stunning! When I first visited Cambridge, I was truly in awe. I walked through the city centre, passing several college houses on my way, and each of them was even more impressive than the previous ones.
Sometimes, you can enter the premises of a college and have a stroll around the outdoor area, or maybe even pop inside the on-site chapel. Always make sure that it’s allowed! There are typically signs at the entrance, laying out the rules. Make sure to be respectful and follow them.
Some of the college houses are open to visitors for a fee. Sometimes, it’s just a few pounds. The more famous ones can be a bit pricey. The colleges have varying opening hours, and are entirely closed on some days, depending on the university calendar. If you’re interested in visiting a particular college, make sure to check its website before you travel to Cambridge.
King’s College
Amongst the most famous colleges in Cambridge is King’s College. Located in the heart of Cambridge, it’s famous for it’s on-site chapel – a stunning building in Gothic style, with tall ceilings and impressive stained glass windows. It may be just a chapel, but don’t be fooled – it’s the size of a large church. King’s College has the most expensive visitor ticket prices of all colleges in Cambridge (or at least I haven’t seen a more expensive one). But if you’re visiting Cambridge for the first time, it might be worth it. I see it as a one-off type of thing: I visited King’s College once, I had no regrets, but I also have no desire to pay the ticket price again any time soon.
Queen’s College – Mathematical Bridge
If you walk into a souvenir shop in Cambridge and take a look at postcards or fridge magnets, you’ll likely see a couple of bridges. The first one is Mathematical Bridge. It’s made of straight wooden beams arranged in an arch. A legend says that it was built without using any bolts and designed by Isaac Newton, but that’s not true – bolts are indeed part of the design, and Newton died over 20 years before the bridge was constructed. Either way, the bridge looks pretty cool.
You can see the Mathematical Bridge completely for free, from the nearby Silver Street Bridge. But, if you want to see it up close – or even walk across it – you can do so by visiting Queen’s College. Entrance costs a few pounds, but you get to explore the charming premises of the college, and you can take photos of the Mathematical Bridge from a nice angle.
St John’s College – Bridge of Sighs
The other famous bridge in Cambridge is the Bridge of Sighs, named after a popular landmark in Venice. This one, unfortunately, can’t be seen for free. You can either see it from the river below, if you choose to go punting (read more about it further in this post), or you can pay to enter St John’s College. I chose the latter option, and enjoyed my stroll around the area. The bridge was the main reason why I went there, but there were other charming nooks inside, and I enjoyed the brief visit.
Isaac Newton’s apple tree
Near the entrance to Trinity College, there’s a small apple tree. If you walked past it, you wouldn’t even notice it. There’s nothing special about it. No sign next to it. So why are there always plenty of people taking photos of it?
Well, the tree is a DNA-identical clone to Newton’s apple tree. The tree, which – supposedly – helped sir Isaac Newton form the theory of gravity when an apple fell on his head. The real tree was located in Woolsthrope, Lincolnshire, but the tree in Cambridge is grafted from its descendants, apparently. The tree has a pin on Google Maps, if you want to find it. And, by the way – the apple didn’t fall on Newton’s head, it’s a myth. He observed apples falling from the original tree, which was in his mother’s garden.
Churches – Great St Mary’s, The Round Church
As every large city in the UK, Cambridge has a bunch of churches, including old ones worth visiting. The two I want to call out are Great St Mary’s Church and The Round Church, both located in the city centre, near King’s College.
Great St Mary’s is a gothic church with impressive stained glass windows. You can climb the church’s tower (requires a paid ticket) to get nice views of the town, and learn about bell ringing. I love a church tower climb! They’re some of the best spots for catching a panoramic view of the city. At the start of 2026, adult tickets for the tower climb were £7.50 – quite a lot for the modest height of the tower, to be quite honest – I’ve climbed a lot of church towers in the UK! Still, as a one-off, I definitely recommend climbing the tower of Great St Mary’s to enjoy the view of Cambridge.
When it comes to the Round Church, it’s one of the last surviving medieval round churches in England. It dates back to the 12th century! If you’re into your medieval architecture, this is probably a must-see.
Outdoor market
When it comes to other things to do in the centre of Cambridge, I need to mention the outdoor market. Located behind Great St Mary’s church, it features stalls with handmade items, street food, bakeries and more. I remember getting an almond croissant from one of those vendors a few months ago – it was one of the best almond croissants I’d ever had, and I’m a bit of a connoisseur! The market is definitely worth a visit, you can find some gems.
Corpus Clock
Also in the centre of Cambridge, on the corner of King’s Parade and Bene’t Street, there’s the curious Corpus Clock. Featuring a beastly time-eating insect sitting on top of a gold clock with spinning LED lights, this clock only shows accurate time every 5 minutes. Still, it can be mesmerising to look at.
Punting on river Cam
Writing about things to do in Cambridge, I have to mention punting. It seems to be one of the most popular tourist attractions in Cambridge, actually! It’s not my cup of tea, if I’m honest, but when you walk past river Cam, you’ll see plenty of boats, filled with tourists. I suppose it’s a great way to see the famous bridges up close. If you’re interested in punting, there are usually plenty of people advertising it all around the city centre.
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
Botanic gardens are one of my absolute favourite places to visit, no matter where I go. In London, we’re blessed with the incredible Kew Gardens (I wrote about Kew Gardens before). In Cambridge, they have the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. It’s not huge, but it’s still a nice place for a stroll – especially in the spring. It’s located close to the train station, along the route from the station to city centre. It’s definitely worth a visit if you have a spare hour or two.
I visited the botanic garden in Cambridge a couple of times. When I went in June, it was really beautiful, with countless colourful flowers. My second visit was in August, after a very long and hot summer, and there was a lot less to see – the outdoor plants were dried up, with very few flowers left. Luckily, there’s a greenhouse in the Cambridge botanic garden, and plants inside the greenhouse thrive all year round.
You can find the opening times and ticket prices on the official website: https://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/.
Cambridge museums
Museum of Zoology
Let’s start with the Museum of Zoology. I’m always drawn to museums that have to do with animals or nature, so I had to visit this one. It’s free to enter and includes a lot of interesting exhibits. The museum already had a modern look when I first visited it a few years ago, yet in December 2025 it was partially closed for renovation. I imagine it will be even nicer now! You can find more information on the official website: https://www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/.
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Another free museum, just a stone’s throw away from the Museum of Zoology, is the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. It’s a museum of humanity’s history over hundreds of thousands of years, and it’s supposedly home to over a million artifacts! You can find more information on the official website: https://maa.cam.ac.uk/.
Fitzwilliam Museum
If there’s a must-see museum in Cambridge, it’s definitely this one. It’s free to visit, and the main hall is absolutely stunning! As for the museum itself, it’s one of those that have a bit of everything. From paintings (think Monet, Picasso and Van Gogh!) to sculptures, a huge room filled with centuries-old porcelain, and more. You could probably spend a whole day in this museum alone, but you can speedrun it and focus on sections that interest you the most. For more information, including opening times, visit the official website: https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/.
Happy exploring!
So there you have it – lots of ideas for things to do in Cambridge, based on my experience vitising the famous university city several times over the last few years. There’s plenty to choose from! Even if you want to visit Cambridge on a budget, the city is beautiful and you can enjoy great views by just walking around, or even visit some of the free museums. You can easily fill an itinerary for 3 or 4 days and never get bored. If you’re in England but haven’t been to Cambridge before, I highly recommend it.
Also see:
Alphe's Corner 