One Day in Cambridge

A one-day walk through central Cambridge: King's College Chapel, the market, Trinity and St John's, the Backs and a bakery-cafe.

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The stops start on King's Parade, go north to Trinity and St John's, then follow the river back south to Queens' and finish at a bakery-cafe on Trumpington Street. Each description is taken from the stop's own page; check that page for opening times and tickets before you go. The order and the time allowances are our suggestion, not sourced facts.

Estimated time on the stops below: about 370 minutes (about 6.2 hours), not counting walking between them. Durations are our own estimates, not figures from the place pages.

1

Morning
King's College Chapel Church
A Tudor-era Gothic chapel with a fan vault, Flemish glass and a Rubens above the altar.

Allow about 60 minutes (estimate)
2
Corpus Clock Landmark
A gold-faced clock with no hands, driven by a sculpted insect that appears to devour each second.

Allow about 10 minutes (estimate)
3

Lunch
The Eagle Pub
A 17th-century coaching inn where the structure of DNA was announced over lunch.

Allow about 60 minutes (estimate)
4

Early afternoon
Great St Mary's Church
The University Church on King's Parade: a late-medieval tower, two organs and the chimes later borrowed for Big Ben.

Allow about 30 minutes (estimate)
5
Cambridge Market Street food
An outdoor market on Market Hill that has traded in the same spot since Saxon times, open every day of the year bar three.

Allow about 30 minutes (estimate)
6
Trinity College College
Henry VIII's merged foundation, with the Great Gate, Great Court and Wren Library.

Allow about 60 minutes (estimate)
7
Bridge of Sighs Landmark
St John's covered Gothic Revival bridge over the Cam, completed in 1831.

Allow about 15 minutes (estimate)
8

Late afternoon
The Backs Landmark
The riverside college lawns and bridges behind the Cambridge colleges, listed as a Grade I historic park.

Allow about 45 minutes (estimate)
9
Mathematical Bridge Landmark
A timber footbridge at Queens' College that looks like an arch but is built entirely from straight beams.

Allow about 15 minutes (estimate)
10

To finish
Fitzbillies Cafe
A Cambridge bakery-cafe since 1920, known for its Chelsea buns.

Allow about 45 minutes (estimate)