How long does it take to travel from London to Cambridge? Find a train from Cambridge to London. When is the season? When is the best time to go
Located near London. It is known throughout the world as the place where one of the most prestigious universities is located - the namesake of the city. Besides this, Cambridge is also very popular among tourists. Since the city dates back more than 2000 years, it is primarily of interest to history buffs, so many visit Cambridge to admire its architectural attractions, of which there are many in the city. These include an outstanding example of Romanesque architecture, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, whose age has already exceeded 900 years. Also of interest are the King's College Chapel, the building of the University of Cambridge and the library of another educational institution, Trinity College.
How to get from Stansted to Cambridge?
So, it’s worth visiting this town on occasion. But a logical question arises: how to get to Cambridge from London? The easiest way is to take the bus directly to international airport Stansted. After all, it is located only 40 kilometers from Cambridge, while from the capital itself the distance to the town increases to 75 kilometers. In particular, from the second platform at the airport you can take a bus to Birmingham. It stops in Cambridge approximately 35 minutes after the start of the flight. The convenience of this type of transport is also that it departs every hour. The price of a ticket to Cambridge on this flight is £9. In addition, you can use the services of National Express - they also go from Cambridge to Cambridge regularly, around the clock. You will have to spend a little more time on the road - the journey will take 55 minutes, and the ticket costs 11 pounds and 50 pence.
How to get from Heathrow to Cambridge?
Well, if you plan to arrive in London, there is also a direct National Express flight from there directly to Cambridge. You will have to spend approximately 2.5 hours on the bus, and the cost of a one-way ticket will be 25 pounds, and return - 32 pounds sterling.
How to get from London to Cambridge by bus
Buses from the same company can be used to reach Cambridge from London itself. They depart from Parkside bus station, which can be found near Parker's Piece parkland.
Another way is buses from London. They depart every 10 minutes. These regular buses take about two hours to Cambridge. And, in addition, there is also a direct flight that starts from the very center of London. Tickets can be purchased directly from the driver.
From London to Cambridge by train
An equally popular way to get to Cambridge is by train. You can get to this city from two places – King’s Cross and the station on Liverpool street. The Cambrige Cruiser train is one of the fastest and convenient types transport that will take you to the city. It travels non-stop and covers the distance to Cambridge in 50 minutes. It departs every half hour from King's Cross Station. The ticket price for this train is £22. There are other routes from the same station, but they make stops and take about 1.5 hours on the way.
To save money, you can take the train to Cambridge from Liverpool street station. It takes about 75 minutes to reach the city, but tickets are cheaper.
From London to Cambridge by car
If you plan to rent a car, then the journey from London to Cambridge will take less than an hour. You can get there along two highways - M11 and A10. But it is worth considering that parking in the center of Cambridge is quite difficult. In any case, whatever type of transport you choose, we wish you that your trip to Cambridge becomes comfortable and brings you pleasure.
Cambridge is one of the most famous cities in Great Britain. And for good reason: firstly, it is home to one of the best (and oldest) universities in the world; and secondly, in this ancient city, the history of which goes back more than two thousand years, is home to a huge number of cultural attractions.
Almost all the buildings of the university are architectural monuments: King's College in the Gothic style, Queen's College, the buildings of which are connected by the famous Mathematical Bridge over the River Cam, Pembroke College with magnificent gardens, etc. Auditoriums, libraries and university laboratories are open not only to students, but also to tourists - however, the latter will have to purchase an entrance ticket.
Cambridge has many ancient churches and stone mansions, interesting museums and galleries. Thus, in the Fitzwilliam Museum you can see a rich collection of art objects, in the Kettle Yard Gallery - a collection of modern paintings, and in the Zoological Museum - exhibits from the collection of Charles Darwin, who studied at Cambridge. Worth a stroll around Botanical Garden, where exotic plants from different parts of the world are collected, according to green parks Cambridge, with its spacious squares and cobbled streets, has the unique atmosphere of a student town.
Business card
Among the graduates of the University of Cambridge there are 88 Nobel laureates (this is the best figure among universities in the world). Among them are Isaac Newton, John Byron, Ernest Rutherford, Pyotr Kapitsa, Vladimir Nabokov and many other outstanding personalities.
Entertainment and active recreation
Active leisure in the city of Cambridge in the UK - these are walks in parks, picnics, country hikes, cycling, horse riding. Punting is no less popular - river walks on long flat boats, steered with a long pole, which is used to push off the bottom.
In addition, Cambridge has shopping centers, cinemas, markets, antique shops, as well as spa centers, fitness centers, golf clubs, tennis courts and sports grounds. In the evenings you can relax in one of the nightclubs or pubs. There are plenty of them here, because Cambridge is a typical university city, the main population of which is young people.
Local cuisine and wines
The relatively small city of Cambridge has a huge number of restaurants, cafes and pubs. The most high-status restaurants are concentrated in the city center, but if you move a little further, delving into the labyrinths of old streets, you can find nice budget establishments.
In Cambridge restaurants you can try English and European cuisine, as well as local desserts, including the signature creme brulee called “Cambridge burnt cream”, the recipe of which was invented by culinary specialists from Trinity College.
A gastronomic feature of Cambridge is also the popularity and variety of Indian restaurants. There are at least four dozen of them here: Lalbagh Bangladeshi & Indian Diner, Navadhanya, Raja Indian Cuisine, etc.
Where to stay
Cambridge in the UK will delight its guests with a wide selection of hotels. The city has hotels of famous chains (
It can rightfully be called . What it is traditionally associated with is the highest level of education and the university of the same name. But in addition to the best university in the world, Cambridge has many other significant and interesting points that are also worth mentioning.
Translated from English, the name of the city translates as a bridge over the Kam River. Indeed, Cambridge to this day is located on the banks of this river, 70 km from the British capital. Officially, the city has existed for more than two thousand years, and its history began around 730, when small town The revolution began to take place actively. Subsequently, Cambridge was chosen as the capital of the county of Cambridgeshire, and today more than 130 thousand people live here.
Cambridge is a city with a typical English culture, it has pleasant narrow streets, many houses with red roofs and many students who speak all the languages of the world. It is precisely because of the large influx of students that Cambridge can safely be called an international city. Students here walk the streets in their free time, sit in small cafes and sit right on the grass, discussing the latest affairs and events.
By the way, if you suddenly consider yourself a tennis fan, then in Cambridge it is better to curb your hobby - the fact is that it is forbidden to play tennis on local streets. Every country and every city has its own oddities.
Of course, it is worth talking separately about the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209 - it is considered the most popular in the world, the level of education here is so high that approximately 100 Nobel Prize laureates have graduated from here. First educational institutions began to appear here back in the 13th century, and the founders and first teachers were none other than those expelled from Oxford. At one time, such famous people as Isaac Newton and Prince Charles studied here. By the way, it is the University of Cambridge that can be called the founder of football in Germany, since in 1848 the rules of the game were codified here and are still in effect today.
Huge amounts of money at this University continue to be spent on scientific research, so it is not surprising that it was here that the first model of the three-dimensional structure of DNA, a webcam were discovered, the first cloning was made on Dolly the sheep, and the first computer was created in 1800 by Charles Babbage . Speaking of computers, one of Microsoft's research centers is located in Cambridge.
In general, the city is very rich in cultural and educational facilities. If you go on a boat trip on the River Cam, you will be able to see in person the 31 colleges of the University, which stand in lush and dense greenery. Of this number, only three colleges are exclusively women's colleges - Newham, New Hall and Lucy Kevindish College. In the rest, the groups are mixed, girls study together with young men.
One of the most valuable attractions in Cambridge is the Church of St. Sepulchre, built back in the 6th century AD. This is a round Romanesque church that definitely attracts with its classical and at the same time majestic architecture.
Of course, tourists should visit the Zoological Museum - this is where many unique exhibits are stored, with which Charles Darwin personally worked in his time, making world discoveries. But the Cambridge History Museum is famous for its collection of a wide variety of scientific instruments from all times. Art lovers can visit the Kettle Yard Gallery and personally see luxurious examples of 20th-century art.
If you are more interested in seeing educational institutions, then you should not pass by St. John's College, next to which is the famous Bridge of Sighs - it got its name as a symbol of students who constantly sigh before exams, trying to calm down their excitement. To this day, students come here for what they believe is good luck before an exam. But the Queen's College is worth a visit as one of the best examples of late Gothic architecture; its luxurious architecture is very impressive in comparison with other, more seasoned educational buildings.
You can easily wander around Cambridge on foot, and cycling is also very welcome here - there are a lot of pedestrian streets, and for many students it is much easier to get from one university building to another in this way. The bike paths here have traffic lights for maximum convenience, and the theft of a bicycle is considered a serious crime, on par with car theft.
There are a lot of recreational opportunities in Cambridge, despite its cultural appearance, the city is rich in pubs, restaurants, clubs and numerous sports facilities. By the way, it is not customary to tip at gas stations and in theaters here, but when visiting a restaurant they are required and usually amount to 10-15%. The city hosts various festivals and concerts all year round, cultural life Cambridge is gaining momentum time after time. You can often find spontaneous events formed by students in support of some fresh idea - something like typical flash mobs.
is a university city rich in education and culture. He's good for measured life with the active acquisition of experience and knowledge, so it is worth visiting, if not for the purpose of studying at one of the prestigious universities, then at least in order to appreciate the local standard of living and see with your own eyes the most famous university in the world.
The city of Cambridge did not fit into our week-long program in London, but after something that completely blew me away, I was tormented by the question: is Cambridge really as good?
Unable to bear it, on the penultimate day of our trip I nevertheless went to find out which was better: Cambridge or Oxford.
How to get from London to Cambridge
Cambridge is located 100 km northeast of London.
By bus, the one-way journey will take two and a half hours, so I immediately dismissed this option. Buses depart from Victoria bus station - from there we were just leaving for Oxford (I described how to get to Victoria coach station.
The most convenient way to get to Cambridge is by train.
Trains to Cambridge run from two stations: London King's Cross and London Liverpool Street. They run frequently, several trains per hour.
From the screenshot you can see that the travel time is from 45 minutes to a little over an hour. Trains depart from London Liverpool Street Station less frequently, but tickets are slightly cheaper.
Since our hotel was in walking distance from King's Cross, that's where I went.
London King's Cross Station
The best option for departing from London to Cambridge is by train at 9:44, which takes 45 minutes to Cambridge. The train back is at 18:45, also fast.
Why not leave earlier, say, at 8 am?
The fact is that in England the price of a ticket depends on the time of departure and return - it is more expensive to travel during peak hours, and the difference is noticeable. Rush hour ends at 9:30 in the morning and at 6:30 in the evening. My London-Cambridge Off-Peak Day Return ticket cost 24.60. If I had booked a 9am ticket I would have paid £36.
Another way to save money is to buy tickets in advance. I recommend checking the nationalrail.co.uk website at least a couple of weeks before your trip - there are very good offers, even during peak times.
There are two types of machines at the station: for buying a ticket and for printing reserved tickets, and there are even more of the latter. To print booked tickets, you need to enter the reservation code into the machine and insert the card that was used to pay for the ticket. The machine also shows a website where you can book and buy a ticket https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/
If you haven’t booked tickets in advance, then just buy them. At the same time, if you don’t really like the ticket price, try playing with the departure time - sometimes even minutes matter.
Ticket machine
Select “Buy tickets”
The machine will print you 4 tickets, two with a QR code and two without them. They are all needed for something.
I took everything that crawled out of the machine, and then went to the turnstile and watched the audience for a while, honestly trying to figure out where to put or apply what. Someone applied it, someone inserted it into the gap.
In general, in the end I went up to the employee, fanned out my entire set of tickets, and he showed me the right one. On the way back, I did the same thing - I turned to the employee.
By the way, you can buy a ticket at the station not from a machine, but from a ticket office, from a living person. In any case, arrive at the station in advance so that you have time to calmly deal with the machine and, if anything happens, contact the ticket office.
After purchasing tickets, you just have to wait for your train and platform number to appear on the board. If you have an Off Peak ticket, this does not mean that you have to go through the turnstile only after 9:30. When I boarded my train at 9:30, it turned out that it was more than half full (mostly with Chinese), who had arrived early. Tickets without seats, the first train after 9:30 is popular, in our carriage all the seats were occupied, and several people were even standing.
The train quickly passed London and rushed without stopping, at such a speed that sometimes even my ears were blocked. 45 minutes later we were already in Cambridge.
There is a sign at the station towards historical center"City center 17 min."
Indeed, following the signs and checking the maps.me map, I cheerfully reached the center in a quarter of an hour.
There will be a separate story about Cambridge itself.
In the evening I returned from Cambridge to London, also to King’s Cross station.
The station is remarkable, with a purple futuristic mushroom roof.
By the way, at King's Cross Station there is an entrance to the same Platform 9¾ from which Harry Potter went to Hogwarts. The entrance is marked by a luggage cart driven halfway into the wall.
I arrived on platform 8, so I immediately stumbled upon this new London attraction, which, as it turns out, is very popular.
There is a queue near her (in the evening it lasted for about half an hour) of people wanting to be photographed, and there is even a service worker assigned - a girl who gives each new photographed person a magic wand, ties a scarf and holds the end of the scarf so that in the photo it seems that the scarf is fluttering.
Looking back on my day in Cambridge, I can say that I myself visited a fabulous educational institution. So, everything is correct, I confirm: from King's Cross station trains depart to magical land. Named Cambridge.
Tales of Cambridge
City of Cambridge. University and its colleges
In addition to hotels, in London and Cambridge you can rent housing from private owners (a house, part of a house, an apartment, a room) through Airbnb. Registering using my invitation link in the Airbnb system, you get a $30 discount on your first booking (provided the booking is >$75).
