It was early in the 13th century that the first scholars arrived in Cambridge and the foundations were established for what would become the University of Cambridge, one of the oldest and most successful universities in the world. In 1284 Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse, the first college, and several more colleges were established in the next centuries. Today the university has 31 colleges, three of which are for women only.
The university has more Nobel Prize winners than any other institution. As many as 81 affiliates - academics, former students - of the university have won the Nobel Prize since 1904, and they have won in every category, with 29 Nobel prizes in physics, 22 in medicine, 19 in chemistry, seven in economics, two in literature and two in peace.
Yet the city by the Cam is not only about colleges and academics. It has long been a bustling market town with plenty of cultural and social activities going on. The medieval city centre is beautiful, with narrow, winding streets, the market square, little parks and gardens and many charming old buildings, and it is surrounded by green open spaces and the river. In addition, Cambridge has a wide variety of excellent pubs, bars and restaurants, and the nightlife is good fun too. It is hard not to be taken in by the city's charms, which no doubt helps to explain the fact that some 4.5 million people visit Cambridge every year.
Cambridge is not a very big city, but thanks to its university it has exerted a considerable influence on the world through the people who have had formative experiences there, from Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin to John Cleese and Eric Idle.
Sightseeing
Cambridge has one of the oldest and most successful universities in the world and one of the largest in the UK, so it is little wonder that the university and its many colleges are central to the city, both culturally and architecturally. Many of the college buildings are worth seeing, particularly the stunning King's College Chapel from 1547. Several of the college bridges crossing the river are also gems, and they can best be seen from the river itself, so there's a good excuse for a punting trip. The university also runs many of the fascinating museums in the city, including the zoology museum, where material collected by Charles Darwin on his Beagle voyage can be seen. For art lovers, the Fitzwilliam Museum and Kettle's Yard house impressive art collections. Those more interested in nature are also catered for. Apart from the many pretty gardens and green open spaces, there is an excellent botanic garden containing more than 10,000 plant species.
Tourist Information
Cambridge Visitor Information Centre
The Old Library, Wheeler Street
Tel: 0871 226 8006 or 1223 464732 (from overseas).
Website: www.visitcambridge.org
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1000-1730, Sat 1000-1700 (Oct-Mar); Mon-Fri 1000-1730, Sat 1000-1700, Sun & Bank Holidays 1100-1500 (Apr-Sep).
The Old Library, Wheeler Street
Tel: 0871 226 8006 or 1223 464732 (from overseas).
Website: www.visitcambridge.org
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1000-1730, Sat 1000-1700 (Oct-Mar); Mon-Fri 1000-1730, Sat 1000-1700, Sun & Bank Holidays 1100-1500 (Apr-Sep).
Passes
The Cambridge Visitor Card entitles visitors to special offers and discounts on a wide variety of services and products around the city. It can be used on official city walking tours and chauffeured punts along the Cambridge 'Backs' as well as for reduced entry into museums, churches and the King's College Chapel. The card gives discounts at restaurants, coffee houses and shops. It lasts for a maximum of three weeks. The card can be bought from the tourist office.
Cambridge is great for shopping. There's a market every day of the week at the bustling city centre market square, and there are several department stores, shopping centres, designer shops, wonderful first- and second-hand bookshops and delicatessen. The biggest shopping centre is The Grafton (website: www.graftoncentre.co.uk) on Burleigh Street, which boasts a selection of over 70 shops, eating and entertainment venues just a short walk to the east of the city centre. Just as central is the indoor Lion Yard centre with more than 40 stores situated between the Petty Cury, the market and the bus station.
Jesus Lane Shopping Forum (website: www.shoppingforum.info) is a maze of small, independent stores in Jesus Lane near the Park Street car park and the Bridge Street Park & Ride stop. It's a great place to look for individual gift items. Bradwell's Court connects St Andrews Street with the bus station on Drummer Street and includes several high street stores. Art and craft items are on offer at the market on St John's Street.
Restaurants
Cambridge University colleges
The university colleges, with their long history and wonderful architecture, are an essential part of the identity of Cambridge. See the chapel at Pembroke College, Sir Christopher Wren's first completed work, or the finest surviving medieval court in Cambridge, which can be found at Corpus Christi College. Or take in the wonderful panoramic views from the tower of Great St Mary's, the university church that overlooks the market square. Most impressive of all is King's College Chapel, which took over a century to build, was completed in 1547 and is the largest and most spectacular of the college chapels in Cambridge. The chapel choir sings daily services in the chapel during term time, and it is also famous for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, which is broadcast live across the world on Christmas Eve.
King's College
King's Parade
Tel: (01223) 331 100.
Website: www.kings.cam.ac.uk
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Housing a world-class art collection, the Fitzwilliam Museum has been described as the finest small museum in Europe and is known as the university's art museum. Its world-class collections of works of art and antiquities span both centuries and civilisations. Among the highlights are paintings from the 14th century to the present day, drawings and prints, sculpture, oriental art, illuminated manuscripts and coins and medals and antiquities from Egypt, the Ancient Near East, Greece, Rome and Cyprus.
Trumpington Street
Tel: (01223) 332 900.
Website: www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
The university's botanic garden is a beautifully landscaped 40-acre (16-hectare) garden located about 1.6km (1 mile) to the south of the city centre. The collection numbers more than 10,000 labelled plant species, and there are many different kinds of landscapes, from the alpine to woodlands, as well as several glasshouses, a lake, a winter garden and a rock garden. Guided tours can be pre-booked.
Cory Lodge, Bateman Street
Tel: (01223) 336 265.
Website: www.botanic.cam.ac.uk
Cambridge University Museums
The university has several museums, and they are all available for free. They include the Zoology Museum, where visitors can have a close look at materials collected by Charles Darwin during his voyage with the Beagle; the Archaeology and Anthropology Museum, which has exhibits from traditional cultures all over the world; the Classical Archaeology Museum, with the finest collection of plaster casts of Greek and Roman sculpture in the world; and the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, with its renowned collection of early scientific instruments dating from the 14th century. In addition there is the Scott Polar Research Institute, where visitors can learn about Captain Scott's and other polar explorers' expeditions, and the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, which houses a spectacular collection of fossil animals and plants of all geological ages from all over the world.
University Museum of Zoology
Downing Street
Tel: (01223) 336 650.
Website: www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/museum
University Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology
Downing Street
Tel: (01223) 333 516.
Scott Polar Research Institute
Lensfield Road
Tel: (01223) 336 540.
Website: www.spri.cam.ac.uk
Whipple Museum of the History of Science
Free School Lane
Tel: (01223) 330 906.
Website: www.hps.cam.ac.uk/whipple
Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
Downing Street
Tel: (01223) 333 456.
Website: www.sedgwickmuseum.org
Museum of Classical Archaeology
Sidgwick Avenue
Tel: (01223) 335 153.
Website: www.classics.cam.ac.uk/ark.html
Kettle's Yard
This is both a collection of art in a stunning domestic setting and a gallery with regular exhibitions. For 16 years, Kettle's Yard was the home of Jim Ede, a former curator at the Tate Gallery in London, and his wife Helen, and it houses Ede's collection of art, including paintings by Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Alfred Wallis, Christopher Wood, David Jones and Joan Miró as well as sculpture by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.
Castle Street
Tel: (01223) 352 124.
Website: www.kettlesyard.co.uk
The River Cam
Going on a punting trip on the river Cam is an essential part of the Cambridge experience. Several of the university colleges stand on the banks of the river, and there are some things such as the Mathematical Bridge at Queen's College and the Bridge of Sighs at St John's College, that you can only see (or at least get the best view of) from a punt on the river. Cambridge Chauffeur Punts offers chauffeured punting as sell as self-hire.
Silver Street
Tel: (01223) 354 164.
Website: www.punting-in-cambridge.co.uk
Shopping
The university colleges, with their long history and wonderful architecture, are an essential part of the identity of Cambridge. See the chapel at Pembroke College, Sir Christopher Wren's first completed work, or the finest surviving medieval court in Cambridge, which can be found at Corpus Christi College. Or take in the wonderful panoramic views from the tower of Great St Mary's, the university church that overlooks the market square. Most impressive of all is King's College Chapel, which took over a century to build, was completed in 1547 and is the largest and most spectacular of the college chapels in Cambridge. The chapel choir sings daily services in the chapel during term time, and it is also famous for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, which is broadcast live across the world on Christmas Eve.
King's College
King's Parade
Tel: (01223) 331 100.
Website: www.kings.cam.ac.uk
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Housing a world-class art collection, the Fitzwilliam Museum has been described as the finest small museum in Europe and is known as the university's art museum. Its world-class collections of works of art and antiquities span both centuries and civilisations. Among the highlights are paintings from the 14th century to the present day, drawings and prints, sculpture, oriental art, illuminated manuscripts and coins and medals and antiquities from Egypt, the Ancient Near East, Greece, Rome and Cyprus.
Trumpington Street
Tel: (01223) 332 900.
Website: www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
The university's botanic garden is a beautifully landscaped 40-acre (16-hectare) garden located about 1.6km (1 mile) to the south of the city centre. The collection numbers more than 10,000 labelled plant species, and there are many different kinds of landscapes, from the alpine to woodlands, as well as several glasshouses, a lake, a winter garden and a rock garden. Guided tours can be pre-booked.
Cory Lodge, Bateman Street
Tel: (01223) 336 265.
Website: www.botanic.cam.ac.uk
Cambridge University Museums
The university has several museums, and they are all available for free. They include the Zoology Museum, where visitors can have a close look at materials collected by Charles Darwin during his voyage with the Beagle; the Archaeology and Anthropology Museum, which has exhibits from traditional cultures all over the world; the Classical Archaeology Museum, with the finest collection of plaster casts of Greek and Roman sculpture in the world; and the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, with its renowned collection of early scientific instruments dating from the 14th century. In addition there is the Scott Polar Research Institute, where visitors can learn about Captain Scott's and other polar explorers' expeditions, and the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, which houses a spectacular collection of fossil animals and plants of all geological ages from all over the world.
University Museum of Zoology
Downing Street
Tel: (01223) 336 650.
Website: www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/museum
University Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology
Downing Street
Tel: (01223) 333 516.
Scott Polar Research Institute
Lensfield Road
Tel: (01223) 336 540.
Website: www.spri.cam.ac.uk
Whipple Museum of the History of Science
Free School Lane
Tel: (01223) 330 906.
Website: www.hps.cam.ac.uk/whipple
Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
Downing Street
Tel: (01223) 333 456.
Website: www.sedgwickmuseum.org
Museum of Classical Archaeology
Sidgwick Avenue
Tel: (01223) 335 153.
Website: www.classics.cam.ac.uk/ark.html
Kettle's Yard
This is both a collection of art in a stunning domestic setting and a gallery with regular exhibitions. For 16 years, Kettle's Yard was the home of Jim Ede, a former curator at the Tate Gallery in London, and his wife Helen, and it houses Ede's collection of art, including paintings by Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Alfred Wallis, Christopher Wood, David Jones and Joan Miró as well as sculpture by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.
Castle Street
Tel: (01223) 352 124.
Website: www.kettlesyard.co.uk
The River Cam
Going on a punting trip on the river Cam is an essential part of the Cambridge experience. Several of the university colleges stand on the banks of the river, and there are some things such as the Mathematical Bridge at Queen's College and the Bridge of Sighs at St John's College, that you can only see (or at least get the best view of) from a punt on the river. Cambridge Chauffeur Punts offers chauffeured punting as sell as self-hire.
Silver Street
Tel: (01223) 354 164.
Website: www.punting-in-cambridge.co.uk
Shopping
Cambridge is great for shopping. There's a market every day of the week at the bustling city centre market square, and there are several department stores, shopping centres, designer shops, wonderful first- and second-hand bookshops and delicatessen. The biggest shopping centre is The Grafton (website: www.graftoncentre.co.uk) on Burleigh Street, which boasts a selection of over 70 shops, eating and entertainment venues just a short walk to the east of the city centre. Just as central is the indoor Lion Yard centre with more than 40 stores situated between the Petty Cury, the market and the bus station.
Jesus Lane Shopping Forum (website: www.shoppingforum.info) is a maze of small, independent stores in Jesus Lane near the Park Street car park and the Bridge Street Park & Ride stop. It's a great place to look for individual gift items. Bradwell's Court connects St Andrews Street with the bus station on Drummer Street and includes several high street stores. Art and craft items are on offer at the market on St John's Street.
Restaurants
Midsummer House
Set in a pretty Victorian villa by the River Cam near the centre of Cambridge, Midsummer House boasts two Michelin stars and offers classic French Mediterranean cuisine with plenty of modern twists. This is the place to go to experience top-notch gourmet cuisine in Cambridge.
Midsummer Common, Cambridge
Tel: (01223) 369 299.
Website: www.midsummerhouse.co.uk
Price: $$$$
Loch Fyne
This seafood restaurant is located in a historic building near the Fitzwilliam Museum, and it is an excellent place to go for lovers of oysters, mussels and traditionally smoked salmon. The atmosphere is relaxed and cosy, and the menu is plentiful.
37 Trumpington Street
Tel: (01223) 362 433.
Website: www.loch-fyne.com
Price: $$$
Galleria
A large, airy brasserie-style restaurant located by Magdalene Bridge on the banks of the river Cam and with two spacious riverside balconies, Galleria is one of the busiest establishments in Cambridge. This is not only down to the location, though - the food is really good as well.
33 Bridge Street
Tel: (01223) 362 054.
Website: www.galleriacambridge.co.uk
Price: $$
Browns Restaurant
Something of a Cambridge institution since its establishment in 1987, Browns is a spacious colonial-style eatery offering mostly English food and a bustling atmosphere. Located a 5-minute walk from the city centre, it is popular with students, tourists and the local population alike.
23 Trumpington Street
Tel: (01223) 461 655.
Website: www.browns-restaurants.com
Price: $$
Prezzo
Housed in an attractive 18th-century building in the city centre, Prezzo serves a range of Italian dishes. The interior is sleek and modern, and the food run the gammut from pizzas and pastas to grilled meats and salads. It's mainstream quality fare made from seasonal, fresh ingredients.
21-24 Northampton Road
Tel: (01223) 353 110.
Website: www.prezzoplc.co.uk
Price: $-$$
DoJo Noodle Bar
This is a popular and very busy noodle bar that combines Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Taiwanese, Singaporean, Vietnamese and Thai influences to create a range of delicious noodle or rice dishes. Not only is the food truly excellent, but it comes in generous portions and at very moderate prices.
1-2 Millers Yard, Mill Lane
Tel: (01223) 363 471.
Website: www.dojonoodlebar.co.uk
Price: $
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