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Beyond Tourism
Unlike museum-oriented, metropolitan Oxford, Cambridge is a town for students before tourists. It was here that Newton’s gravity, Watson and Crick’s model of DNA, the poetry of Byron and Milton, and Winnie the Pooh were born. No longer the exclusive academy of upper-class sons, the university feeds the minds of women, foreigners, and state-school pupils alike. At exams’ end, Cambridge explodes in Pimm’s-soaked glee, and May Week is a swirl of parties and balls.
Bicycles are the primary mode of transportation in Cambridge, a city which claims more bikes per person than any other place in Britain. If you are prepared to face the maze of one-way streets by driving to Cambridge, take advantage of its efficient park-and-ride bus system (www.parkandride.net/cambridge/cambridge_frameset.shtml).
Cambridge has two main avenues; the main shopping street starts at Magdalene Bridge and becomes Bridge Street, Sidney Street, Saint Andrew’s Street, Regent Street, and Hills Road. The other main thoroughfare starts as Saint John’s Street, becoming Trinity Street, King’s Parade, and Trumpington Street. From the Drummer Street bus station, Emmanuel Street leads to the shopping district near the TIC. To get to the center from the train station, turn right onto Hills Rd. and follow it for mi.
John Maynard Keynes, who studied and taught at Cambridge, tells us that low supply and high demand usually means one thing: high prices. B&Bs gather around Portugal Street and Tenison Road outside the city center. Book ahead in summer.
Market Square has bright pyramids of cheap fruit and vegetables. (Open M-Sa 9:30am-4:30pm.) Get groceries at Sainsbury’s, 44 Sidney St. (☎366 891. Open M-Sa 8am-10pm, Su 11am-5pm.) Cheap Indian and Mediterranean fare on the edges of the city center satisfies hearty appetites. South of town, Hills Road and Mill Road are full of budget restaurants popular with the college crowd.
King Street has a diverse collection of pubs. Most stay open 11am-11pm (Su noon-10:30pm). The local brewery, Greene King, supplies many of them. Pubs are the core of Cambridge nightlife, but clubs are also in the curriculum. The city is small enough that a quick stroll will reveal popular venues.
Cambridge is an architect’s utopia, packing some of England’s most impressive monuments into less than a single square mile. The soaring King’s College Chapel and St. John’s postcard-familiar Bridge of Sighs are sightseeing staples, while more obscure college quads open onto ornate courtyards and gardens. Most historic buildings are on the east bank of the Cam between Magdalene Bridge and Silver St. The gardens, meadows, and cows of the Backs lend a pastoral air to the west bank. The University of Cambridge has three eight-week terms: Michaelmas (Oct.-Dec.), Lent (Jan.-Mar.), and Easter (Apr.-June). Visitors can access most of the 31 colleges daily, although times vary; consult the TIC for hours. Many are closed to sightseers during Easter term, virtually all are closed during exams (from mid-May to mid-June), and visiting hours are limited during May Week festivities. A visit to King’s, Trinity, and Saint John’s Colleges should top your to-do list, as should a stroll or punt along the Cam. Porters (bowler-wearing ex-servicemen) maintain security. The fastest way to blow your tourist cover is to trample the grass of the courtyards, a privilege reserved for the elite. In July and August, most undergrads skip town, leaving it to Ph.D. students, international students, and mobs of tourists.
King’S College. King’s College was founded by Henry VI in 1441 as a partner school to Eton; it was not until 1873 that students from schools other than Eton were admitted. King’s is now the most socially liberal of the Cambridge colleges, drawing more of its students from state schools than any other. Its most stunning attraction is the gothic Chapel. From the southwest corner of the courtyard, you can see where Henry’s master mason left off and the Tudors began work—the earlier stone is off-white. The wall that separates the college grounds from King’s Parade was a 19th-century addition; the chapel and grounds were originally hidden behind a row of shops and houses. Inside, painted angels hover against the world’s largest fan-vaulted ceiling. Behind the altar hangs Rubens’s Adoration of the Magi (1639). John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, and Salman Rushdie lived in King’s College. In mid-June, university degree ceremonies are held in the Georgian Senate House. (King’s Parade. ☎331 100. Chapel and grounds open M-Sa 9:30am-5pm, Su 10am-5pm. Last admission 4:30pm. Contact TIC for tours. Listing of services and musical events available at porter’s lodge. Choral services 10:30am and 5:30pm most nights. £4.50, students £3; with audio tours £7, students £5.50.)
Trinity College. Henry VIII intended the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity (founded 1546) to be the largest and richest in Cambridge. Currently Britain’s third largest landowner (after the Queen and the Church of England), the college has amply fulfilled his wish. The alma mater of Sir Isaac Newton, who lived in E staircase for 30 years, the college has many illustrious alumni: literati John Dryden, Lord Byron, Alfred Tennyson, and Vladimir Nabokov; atom-splitter Ernest Rutherford; philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein; and Indian statesman Jawaharlal Nehru. The Great Court, the world’s largest enclosed courtyard, is reached from Trinity St. through Great Gate. The castle-like gateway is fronted by a statue of Henry VIII grasping a wooden chair leg—the original scepter was stolen so frequently that the college administration removed it. The apple tree near the gate supposedly descended from the tree that inspired Newton’s theory of gravity, while in the north cloister of Nevile’s Court, Newton calculated the speed of sound by stamping his foot and timing the echo. On the west side of the court stand the dour chapel and the King’s Gate tower. Lord Byron used to bathe nude in the fountain, the only one in Cambridge. The poet also kept a bear as a pet (college rules only forbade cats and dogs). The south side of the court is home to the Master’s Lodge and the Great Hall. The building houses alumnus A. A. Milne’s handwritten copies of Winnie the Pooh and Newton’s personal copy of his Principia. Pass through the drab New Court (Prince Charles’s former residence), adjacent to Neville’s Court, to get to the Backs, where you can enjoy the view from Trinity Bridge. ( Trinity St. ☎338 400. Chapel and courtyard open daily 10am-5pm. Easter-Oct. £2.20, families £4.40, concessions £1.30; Nov.-Easter free.)
Saint John’S College. Established in 1511 by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VIII, St. John’s centers around a paved plaza rather than a grassy courtyard. The Bridge of Sighs, named after the Venetian original, connects the older part of the college with the towering Neo-Gothic extravagance of New Court. The School of Pythagoras, a 12th-century pile of wood and stone thought to be the oldest complete building in Cambridge, hides in St. John’s Gardens. The college also boasts the longest room in the city—the Fellows’ Room in Second Court spans 93 ft. and was the site of D-Day planning. (St. John’s St. ☎338 600. Open daily 10am-5:30pm. Evensong Tu-Su 6:30pm. £2.50, families £5, concessions £1.50.)
Queens’ College. Queens’ College has the only unaltered Tudor courtyard in Cambridge, but the main attraction is the Mathematical Bridge. The structure is rumored to be built on geometric principles alone, which is perhaps why the 1749 original no longer stands. (Silver St. ☎335 511. Open Mar.-Oct. M-F 10am-5pm, Sa-Su 9:30am-5pm. £1.30.)
Clare College. Clare’s coat of arms—golden teardrops ringing a black border—recalls the college’s founding in 1326 by thrice-widowed, 29-year-old Lady Elizabeth de Clare. The college has some of the most cheerful gardens in Cambridge, and elegant Clare Bridge, dating from 1638, is the oldest surviving college bridge. Walk through Wren’s Old Court for a view of the University Library, where 82 mi. of shelves hold books arranged by size rather than subject. (Trinity Ln. ☎333 200. Open daily 10am-4:30pm. £3, children under 10 free.)
Christ’S College. Founded as “God’s house” in 1448 and renamed in 1505, Christ’s has since won fame for its gardens and its association with John Milton and Charles Darwin. Darwin’s rooms (unmarked and closed to visitors) were on G staircase in First Court. New Court, on King St., is one of Cambridge’s most modern structures, with symmetrical concrete walls and dark windows. Bowing to pressure from aesthetically offended Cantabrigians, a wall was built to block the view of the building from all sides except the inner courtyard. (St. Andrews St. ☎334 900. Gardens open daily in summer 9:30am-noon; term-time 9am-4:30pm. Fellows’ garden open M-F in summer 9:30am-noon; term-time M-F 9:30am-noon and 2-4pm. Free.)
Jesus College. Jesus College has preserved an enormous amount of medieval work on its grounds. Beyond the walled walk called the “Chimney” lies a three-sided courtyard fringed with flowers. Through the arch on the right sit the remains of a gloomy medieval nunnery. (Jesus Ln. ☎339 339. Courtyard open daily 9am-8pm.)
Magdalene College. Located within a 15th-century Benedictine hostel, Magdalene (MAUD-lin), was the occasional home of Christian allegorist and Oxford man C. S. Lewis. Pepys Library, in the second court, displays the noted statesman and prolific diarist’s collections. The college did not accept women until 1988. (Magdalene St. ☎332 100. Library open M-Sa Easter-Aug. 11:30am-12:30pm and 2:30-3:30pm; Sept.- Easter 2:30-3:30pm. Free.)
Smaller Colleges. Thomas Gray wrote his Elegy in a Country Churchyard while staying in Peterhouse College, the smallest college, founded in 1294. (Trumpington St. ☎338 200.) The modern brick pastiche of Robinson College is the newest. In 1977, local self-made man David Robinson founded it for the bargain price of £17 million, the largest single gift ever received by the university. (Across the river on Grange Rd. ☎339 100.) Corpus Christi College, founded in 1352 by the townspeople, contains the oldest courtyard in Cambridge, aptly named Old Court and unaltered since its enclosure. The library has a huge collection of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. Alums include Sir Francis Drake and Christopher Marlowe. (Trumpington St. ☎338 000.) The 1347 Pembroke College holds the earliest work of Sir Christopher Wren and counts Edmund Spenser, Ted Hughes, and Eric Idle among its grads. (Next to Corpus Christi. ☎338 100.) A chapel designed by Wren dominates the front court of Emmanuel College, known as “Emma.” John Harvard, benefactor of a different university, studied here and is commemorated in a stained-glass window in the chapel. (St. Andrews St. ☎334 200.) Gonville and Caius (KEYS) College was founded twice, once in 1348 by Edmund Gonville and again in 1557 by John Keys, who chose to use the Latin form of his name. (Trinity St. ☎332 400.)
Fitzwilliam Museum. The museum fills an immense Neoclassical building, built in 1875 to house Viscount Fitzwilliam’s impressive collections. Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and Greek antiquities are joined by 16th-century German armor. Upstairs, galleries feature works by Rubens, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Brueghel. (Trumpington St. ☎332 900. Open Tu-Sa 10am-5pm, Su noon-5pm. Call about lunchtime and evening concerts. Suggested donation £3.)
Other Museums. For those with a green thumb, the Botanic Garden displays over 8000 plant species and was opened in 1846 by Professor John Henslow, Darwin’s mentor. (☎336 265. Open daily Apr.-Sept. 10am-6pm, Feb.-Mar. and Oct. 10am-5pm, Jan. and Nov.-Dec. 10am-4pm. £3, concessions £2.50.) Kettle’s Yard, at the corner of Castle and Northampton St., was founded by former Tate curator Jim Ede and displays extensive early 20th-century art in an intimate space. (☎352 124; www.kettlesyard.org.uk. House open Apr.-Sept. Tu-Su 1:30-4:30pm; Oct.-Mar. Tu-Su 2-4pm. Gallery open Tu-Su 11:30am-5pm. Free.) The Scott Polar Research Institute, Lensfield Rd., commemorates arctic expeditions with photos and artistic memorabilia. (☎336 540; www.spri.cam.ac.uk. Open Tu-Sa 2:30-4pm. Free.)
Churches. The Round Church (Holy Sepulchre), where Bridge St. meets St. John’s St.,is one of five surviving circular churches in England and the second oldest building in Cambridge, predating even the university. Built in 1130, it is based on the pattern of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. (☎311 602. Open M and Su 1-5pm, Tu-Sa 10am-5pm. Tours W 11am, Su 2:30pm. £1.50, students and children free. Tours £3.50.) The only building older than the Round Church is St. Benet’s, a rough Saxon church on Benet St., built in 1025. (☎353 903. Open daily 8am-6pm. Free.) The tower of Great St. Mary’s Church, off King’s Parade, gives views of the broad greens and the colleges. Pray that the 12 bells don’t ring while you’re ascending the 123 tightly packed spiral steps. (Tower open M-Sa 9:30am-5:30pm, Su 12:30-5pm. £2.30, children £1, families £5. Church free.)
Punting. Punting on the Cam is as traditional and obligatory as afternoon tea. Touristy and overrated? Maybe, but it’s a still a blast. Punters take two routes—from Magdalene Bridge to Silver St. or from Silver St. to Grantchester. The shorter, busier, and more interesting first route passes the colleges and the Backs. To propel your boat, thrust the pole behind the boat into the riverbed and rotate the pole in your hands as you push forward. Punt-bombing—jumping from bridges into the river alongside a punt, thereby tipping it—is an art form. Some ambitious punters climb out midstream, scale a bridge while their boat passes underneath, and jump back down from the other side. Be careful of bridge-top pole-stealers. You can rent at Scudamore’s, Silver St. Bridge. (☎359 750; www.scudamores.com. M-F £14 per hr., Sa-Su £16 per hr. £70 deposit. MC/V). Student-punted tours (about £12) are another option.
Theatre And Cinema. The Arts Box Office (☎503 333; open M-Sa noon-8pm), around the corner from the TIC on Pea’s Hill, handles ticket sales for the Arts Theatre, which shows musicals, dramas, and pantomime. The ADC Theatre (Amateur Dramatic Club), Park St. (☎359 547), offers student-produced plays, term-time movies, and a folk festival during the summer months. The Corn Exchange, at the corner of Wheeler St. and Corn Exchange St. across from the TIC, is a popular venue for concerts. (☎357 851. Box office open M-Sa 10am-6pm, until 9pm on performance days; Su 6-9pm on performance days only. £10-30, concessions available.) Independent and foreign-language films play at the Arts Picture House, 38-39 St. Andrews St. (☎551 242; www.picturehouse.co.uk. £6, £5 students.)
Festivals. Midsummer Fair, dating from the 16th century, fills the Midsummer Common with carnival rides and wholesome fun for five days during the 3rd week of June (call ☎457 555 for specific dates and hours; www.cambridge-summer.co.uk). The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival (www.cambridgeshakespeare.com), in association with the festival at Oxford, features plays throughout July and August. Tickets (£12, concessions £9) are available at the door and from the City Centre Box Office at the Corn Exchange. The free Strawberry Fair (www.strawberry-fair.org), on the 1st Saturday in June, attracts a crowd with food, music, and body piercing. Summer in the City (www.cambridge-summer.co.uk) keeps Cambridge buzzing with a series of concerts and special exhibits. The festival culminates in a huge weekend celebration known as the Cambridge Folk Festival on the last weekend of July. World renowned musicians—with past performers such as James Taylor and Elvis Costello—gather for folk, jazz, and blues in Cherry Hinton Hall. Book tickets well in advance. (☎357 851; www.cambridgefolkfestival.co.uk. Tickets about £43. Camping on the grounds is an additional £5-18.)
May Week. May Week is actually in June—you would think that all those bright Cambridge students would understand a calendar. An elaborate celebration of the end of the term, the week is crammed with concerts, plays, and balls followed by recuperative riverside breakfasts and 5am punting. The boat clubs compete in races known as the bumps. Crews line up along the river and attempt to ram the boat in front before being bumped from behind. The celebration includes Footlights Revue, a series of comedy skits by undergrads. Past performers have included future Monty Python stars John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Graham Chapman. Guests can partake in the festivities for a mere £250.
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For 52 years, we have published the world’s favorite budget travel guides, written entirely by students and updated every year. With pen and notebook in hand and a few changes of underwear stuffed in our backpacks, we spend months roaming the globe in search of travel bargains.
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