Cambridge (England) > Reviews (14)

- and if you're just going as a visitor, ignore the other, negative reviews here. It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and certainly one of the prettiest in England. The architecture is amazing and some of the colleges really special - which is just as well because there isn't much else to do in Cambridge except wander around them.

Buy any guidebook and there will be any number of tours you can try to follow, which will probably only get you lost. My advice is, unless you're looking for something specific, head for the centre of town (follow signs to Market square) and just wander. DOn't whatever you do try to drive in - parking places are like hen's teeth and the roads/one way systems are a nightmare, so try and arrive by train (v efficient service from Kings Cross, assuming the line's working) or use the park n' ride service. The town's so small you won't need to drive once you're there, pretty much everything is within walking distance. And I really wouldn't recommend cycling unless you're a pro. Granted most of the traffic is very used to bicycles because all the students have them, but the streets are narrow, the traffic is heavy and the aforementioned one way systems are just as much of a headache for bicycles. Plus you'll only have to keep stopping and chaining them up when you want to go into the colleges - and this you must do, or they WILL get stolen.

So. Once you've started wandering, you could wind up anywhere. When entering colleges, be prepared for stroppy porters (the besuited gentlemen at the front of each college, they need very careful handling - many are ex police) and get to grips with the basic lingo and layout of the colleges. You enter through the porter's lodge, generally, and the colleges themselves are laid out in courts (NOT quads, that's Oxford).The bits generally worth seeing are the main courts, the chapels and Hall, which is where everyone eats (Trinity and St JOhns are especially good)

The main 'sight' is the massive chapel of Kings College, which is pretty spectacular, but for my money the really pretty colleges are the smaller ones. Clare has gorgeous gardens and a really pretty bridge, Trinity is absolutely stunning and has a fabulous court by Christopher Wren, Corpus is dinky, one of the smallest colleges with about the only remaining complete medieval court in existence. But you'll have a guidebook to sort you out with that, so I won't bother going into it here.

My main tips are these: DO take a punting trip - don't be fooled by how easy it looks, it's bloody difficult and I speak as one who has spent a long time trying, and watched many, many friends fall in while learning. Plus the puntees, tho' expensive, are usually students and really need the cash. They also generally know a lot about the colleges and so you kinda get a guided tour at the same time.

The other main point is that you need to be very careful at what time you go. Visit out of term and everything will be very quiet, except in the summer when it'll be overflowing with foreign language students cycling badly and trying to learn English.

Visit in term and that's when you'll see the university in action. And on no account visit during May or early June - this is exam time, and you won't even be able to get into many of the colleges because they close to visitors - understandably, as the last thing you want when you're studying for finals is a bunch of tourists shouting loudly under your bedroom or taking photos of you in the library.

Foodwise, there's not much either: students tend to hang out at the very smart Pizza Express on Jesus Lane or, late at night when after a kebab, outside the infamous Gardies (The Gardenia, just off market square). Otherwise, head for sandwich shops like Nadia's - there are heaps of them, ask any one for directions - you'll get a much better deal. The copper kettle on Kings Parade is ace for a coffee and a cake too. And while you're there, try to resist buying anything with the Cambridge logo on, BTW, no student would be seen dead in the t-shirts and they're an instant giveaway as a result.