visiting cambridge for a day

We bought our anytime ticket right at King’s Cross station the morning we decided to go, got on the next train with no stops, and departed upon arrival in Cambridge. We walked around town (about a mile from the train station) and went back to the station when we were done. Easy.

I was about to post this same question. jaimeelsabio, did you have anytime return tickets? We would like to go and return same day but don’t want to be committed to a specific return time.

You need to ask for an ‘off-peak day return’ you can use any train normally after 09:30 hrs
return same day any time.

Weekends/bank holidays fares usually cost less, ask for a ‘super off-Peak day return’
and you can board before 09:30.

There is also an alternative route from Liverpool Street station to Cambridge, although it takes longer.

Thanks. We will be traveling on a bank holiday (April 18). How long before the train leaves should we get to the station if we want to buy tickets there?

Where do you check the rail schedule? I’ve looked at the national rail and DB websites but found trainline much easier to use.

Check the London North East railway site as it is the one that operates the non-stop to Cambridge. We had anytime return tickets. When we got to the ticket window we just said what we wanted and the gentleman behind the counter gave us those. Total price for two tickets, the day of travel, was £57.20. We got to the station early to get tickets and boarded the train 15 minutes before departure mostly because it was chilly in the station. There was no line for tickets. Arriving at the station 20-25 minutes early should be more than enough.

Thank you. Nice to have the option to just view the timetable on that website.

sorry, LNER do not call at Cambridge. They will sell you the ticket, and it is perfectly legit., but they don't go there,

Great Northern go there from Kings Cross, and will be the fastest, Thameslink go there from St Pancras and will be second fastest, and Greater Anglia from Liverpool Street station bring up the rear, timewise by quite a lot, are the least reliable because of track issues out of their hands, makes many stops and takes a longer distance route, and are a little cheaper.

All what's most important to you.

The buying advice given by Dennis.Loline a couple of answers up in this thread is correct.

You can add an app to your phone and get your ticket straight to your phone, never have to print it out.

A Great Northern ticket is usable on Thameslink and vice versa, but not interchangeable with Greater Anglia.

Using the app, or the website of the operating company working the trains you will be on is very handy because they will give you delay information and show you which platform to use.

Great Northern https://www.greatnorthernrail.com/

Thameslink https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/

Greater Anglia https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/

Care should be exercised traveling on Easter Monday. The Easter weekend is when a great deal of rail enhancement projects (construction) takes places. Check carefully to be sure that the route you have chosen is not affected.

Also, general advice about trains on a Bank Holiday - train companies tend to run an amended Sunday service (read, less frequent) on Bank Holiday Mondays, and the trains tend to be very crowded. In these days of covid with lots of train crew off sick expect cancellations.

It is a little difficult to answer two peoples' questions in one post. The Bank Holiday Monday information is for Jess who popped into your question. The rest is for both of you...

I hope you each enjoy your day in Cambridge - one of my favourite cities. Do you have anything planned?

Especially for Jess, have you accounted for what will be open and closed?

Let me give you an alternative.

Prior to the pandemic, I took a one day tour of Cambridge with London Walks.

London Walks

You meet the guide at the train station in London and pay him for the tour and the tickets. You travel together by train to Cambrdige. You are met by a coach to take you to a few out of town sights and then a walking tour of the center of Cambridge and the campus. Then the coach takes you back to the Cambridge rail station and your train trip back to London.

It's a full day and you get back to London around 6 PM. (You can stay later on your own but you may have to buy a separate train ticket.)

@Jess
18 April Easter Monday is super off-peak all day, no time restrictions,
Kings Cross to Cambridge showing £39 for 2 adults total.
there are fast and stopping trains, so check that.
A user friendly app I use for train times
https://www.railboard.com/

The train companies that serve Cambridge are Thameslink and Great Northern
also Greater Anglia from Liverpool Street.

Rail map of London & south east England
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/London_South_East_Network_Railcard_map_Dec-2021.pdf

Anytime ticket is a different product, you are paying for full flexibility over different days with no time restrictions, rule of thumb for day outings, travel at off peak times also weekends/bank holiday these are cheaper fares all day with no time restrictions.

Nigel is correct. LNER is the company that sold us the ticket to Cambridge. Sorry for the incorrect information.

Thank you all for these helpful responses. Sorry, petevall, to have taken over the thread. I hope you're finding this info useful, too.

Based on the good advice here and the fact that King's College is closed on Mondays, I've changed our Cambridge trip to Thursday, April 21. I did look at London Walks, but at the time they weren't taking reservations for Cambridge tours, and, as of now, their website shows Cambridge tours starting in May on Wednesdays only.

While we're in Cambridge, we're going to take a walking and punt tour with Alumni Tours (working on exchanging the tickets for Thursday), with King's College entry (now that we're going on Thursday). Also planning to go to the Fitzwilliam (ditto going on Thursday) Museum and Fitzbillies. We might eat at one of the restaurants on the Cam. It's my spouse and I traveling with our 15 and 9 year old, so we'll see how everyone's interest and energy hold up.

Jess, thanks for the further info. Is that the only train trip you'll take? With 2 adults and 2 kiddoes (yup, for one more year, as far as trains go, the 15 is a kiddo (just don't tell them)) if you take enough train trips a Family and Friends Railcard starts to make sense. Cheap tix for the kiddoes and the adults.

Let me know where else you may travel by train and I'll get out my Ouija Board and see if I can help with that.

As it is, they are half fares...

Thank you, Nigel. Cambridge will be our only train trip.

so 2 adult tickets and 2 child tickets will do the job. Child is under 16.

Hope you have a good time, both