Cambridge is one of the most beautiful cities in England, a university town of honey-coloured stone colleges, medieval chapels, and manicured lawns (the “Backs”, the gardens that back onto the River Cam), animated by the river that winds through the city, the punts that glide along it, and the particular bustle of a city that has been a centre of learning, scholarship, and intellectual achievement since the university was founded in 1209 by scholars fleeing violent clashes in Oxford. Cambridge is compact, the historic centre is walkable in a day, but it rewards a full weekend: a morning of college-hopping, a punt on the river, an afternoon in the Fitzwilliam Museum or the Botanic Garden, an evensong service in one of the great chapels, and dinner in one of the excellent restaurants that serve a student city with unusually high standards and unusually deep pockets (the university endowments are among the largest in the world).

Quick Facts: Cambridge, England

• Best time to visit: May–September for the best weather and the gardens; the May Bumps (the rowing races in June, the most exciting week of the Cambridge sporting calendar) are a highlight; the autumn colours in the Backs (October–November) are spectacular; the Christmas carol services in the college chapels are magical. Avoid the summer weekends if possible, the city is very crowded, and the colleges may be closed to visitors during exams (May–June, check the college websites)
• How to get there: ~50 minutes from London King’s Cross by train; ~30 minutes from Stansted Airport. The city centre is compact and walkable. The train station is a 20-minute walk from the historic centre (or a 5-minute bus ride), the walk is flat and pleasant
• Don’t miss: King’s College Chapel (the most beautiful building in Cambridge, the fan-vaulted ceiling, the Rubens altarpiece, and the Christmas Eve service broadcast live on the BBC. Entry: ~£12). A punting tour on the River Cam (the classic Cambridge experience. You can punt yourself, a punt is a flat-bottomed boat propelled by a long pole, and punting is harder than it looks, or hire a chauffeur. The stretch from the Mill Pond through the Backs past King’s, Clare, and Trinity is the essential route. ~£20–30 per person for a 45-minute chauffeured tour). The Fitzwilliam Museum (the university’s art museum, one of the best small museums in the UK, free, with a collection that spans antiquities, old masters, and British art. The coffered ceiling of the entrance hall is beautiful. Allow 1–2 hours. Free). Trinity College (the largest and wealthiest college, the Great Court, the Wren Library, one of the most beautiful libraries in the world, housing Newton’s first edition of the Principia Mathematica and A.A. Milne’s manuscripts of Winnie the Pooh. Entry: ~£5). And an evensong service at King’s or St. John’s (the chapel choirs are world-class and the service is free, check the times online; the five o’clock evensong is the one to attend). The Eagle Pub (the RAF Bar, where WWII airmen signed their names on the ceiling with cigarette lighters and candle smoke, and where Watson and Crick announced the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, the most historically significant pub in Cambridge)