I've been doing plenty of Googling for a Monday group tour to Cambridge/Oxford in September and have been coming up empty.
If you know of any tours or have other recommendations I'd appreciate if you could share them with me. Yes, we could take a train, but we'll be doing plenty of driving and taking trains as is, and I was hoping for an easy day when someone else does all of the work lol.
Thanks--Mike
There's probably going to be a trade-off: A tour bus is likely to take considerably longer to get to Oxford or Cambridge than a train. You should also consider the travel time from your lodgings to the bus pick-up point and to the appropriate train station to see what the actual difference will be.
Both Oxford and Cambridge have fine museums. In my experience tours don't spend anything like enough time in museums for me, so a bus tour from London to one of the university cities isn't something I'd consider. In both cities you can pick up a guided walking tour of the university area and then make your own decisions about how to spend the rest of your time.
acraven, makes sense. Thank you for those common sense insights. We look look at the train schedule and likely defer to just Cambridge this time. To do both in a day seems a bit much. I'm a big fan of the late Steven Hawking, and Chariots of Fire is among my favorite films.
Just curious but is adding a punting trip worth it? I'm thinking our time could be better spent, but what do I know?
We took the Cambridge university sponsored tour which was very good. We had intended to go punting but by that time it was starting to rain so we did not. It looked like a fun activity for a nice day.
It is easy to take the train from London.
This year we went to Oxford but we stayed several nights. There is more to see in Oxford than Cambridge so I think Cambridge makes a better day trip.
I would just go to Cambridge Oxford by train and then take the Tourist Centre walking tour. Had a wonderful walk around Cambridge on tour and we even got to go inside Kings Chapel-where the Christmas service takes place.
To put the picture in perspective on a day trip to Cambridge, a car will be significantly faster than a tour bus, and a car will take in the vicinity of just under 2 hours to significantly more than 2 hours, depending on traffic. Each way.
The nonstop train every half hour from Kings Cross station (on the Piccadilly, Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern (Bank Branch), and Victoria tube lines) takes 48 minutes leaving at xx:12 and xx:42 similar on the return, other slower trains are available. Take the train and put maybe 3 hours back in your pocket on the day.
London Walks on certain dates will have tours to both cities. Taking the train to either city from London is easy.
Thank you everyone for taking the time to offer your sound advice. We will take a train and then find a walking tour in Cambridge, and go punting if the weather is cooperative.
I recently took a 1 pm walking tour outside the big gift shop in Cambridge where tickets can be bought. The guide was Tony Rogers. He was excellent. Highly recommended. It was a two-hour general introduction to the city with limited access to the colleges.
