View of King's College Chapel, seen from St Johns College chapel.
Cambridge brings many images to mind: the breathtaking view of King's College Chapel from across the river Cam, the rich intricacy of Gothic architecture, students cycling to lectures, and lazy summer punting on the River Cam.
Cambridge manages to combine its role as an historic city with a world-renowned University and, in more recent years, an internationally acknowledged centre of excellence for technology and science. The University of Cambridge was founded in the 13th century by scholars leaving Oxford after a dispute with townsfolk. They chose the quiet town of Cambridge as a suitable location for study. In the 17th century Cambridge University educated many of the founders of a (then) minor American university called Harvard, also located in a place called Cambridge (named after the English university). Cambridge University has many famous alumni, including: mathematicians such as Sir Isaac Newton, philosophers such as Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein, and writers such as John Milton and Lord Byron. It was the site of Rutherford's pioneering work in nuclear physics as well as Crick and Watson's DNA work (see the Eagle pub below). Cambridge academics have won more Nobel Prizes than those of any other university in the world. The rumour that just one college, Trinity, had more Nobel prize winners than France, however, is false.
The city is surrounded on all sides by heritage villages, towns and ancient monuments (such as Ely, Peterborough and Grantchester), all within easy travelling distance.
More than 3.5 million visitors come to Cambridge every year to savour the delights of the historic city itself, as well as using it as an ideal base for exploring some of the gentlest (read flattest; good for leisurely walks, poor for hills with viewpoints) and most unspoiled countryside in England.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Cambridge (England)
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Cambridge (England) - updated May 2024
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Cambridge (England) Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
