I was looking forward to reserving a guided walking tour of Cambridge, but unfortunately London Walks only has 2 days in September, and neither will work for us.
I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for other companies, or individuals, who do Cambridge tours. We are traveling in mid-September.
Thanks so much!
If you get yourself to Cambridge from London via train, you can pick up one of the tourist office’s official tours: Visit Cambridge
Plus there are multiple other Cambridge walking tours that you can find via Google. Here’s a list from TripAdvisor, complete with reviews: Cambridge tours
In the last few days I took both the Introduction to Cambridge Tour (90 minutes) and the King's and Queens' College Tour (2 hours, but the guide was generous with her time and it ran long). Both tours were through the Tourist Information Office and were very good. The opening hours of the colleges vary and key buildings may be closed for extended periods. I trust the TIO to be honest about whether a particular tour is going to be able to go inside the promised college(s) on the day of my visit. Private tour companies--not necessarily.
The Wren Library at Trinity is currently closed to the public. The college is letting people into the impressive courtyard for free.
King's College charges £10, so that needs to be taken into consideration when you look at the prices of tours that include admission to that college. Queens' College is £3.50. Some of the others are free, so you can fill in gaps between tours with cheap explorations of your own.
I've been told that the botanical garden is very nice but haven't been there yet. There is an admission charge.
The Fitzwilliam Museum is magnificent and just asks for a donation. Check its website ahead of time to see what types of things are on display so you can figure out how to spend your time there. I made 3 trips to the museum, totaling over 6 hours, and i'm not much interested in the ancient stuff. The collections are well-displayed and well-explained. High recommendation.
It's a good idea to take a look at rail fares (nationalrail.co.uk) now to see whether you can save substantial money by buying in advance.
I ran across this online: https://footprints-tours.com/tours/free-cambridge-walking-tour/. I haven't experienced this, but a free tour conducted by Cambridge students sounds very appealing - could give you insights into college life that a tourist-office-run tour might not provide.
