How I planned my London to Cambridge trip
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How I planned my London to Cambridge trip
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1. Book hotel - Click on the following link to find the cheapest hotels in Cambridge which are just about 5 to 10 minutes away from Cambridge coach station. The postcode of Cambridge coach station is CB1 1JE. You can use the following google map to input the hotel's postcode and check the distance between the hotel and the coach station - Google of map cambridge coach station to hotel
2. Book bus or coach - You can book a coach from London Victoria to Cambridge. The one I booked departed at 09.30 and the service name or the bus number was 010. It's cost was £37 for a return journey for 2 people.
3. Check-in into the hotel - Walk to the hotel from CB1 1JE. Usually the check in is at about 15.00. If you take the coach departing at 09.30, you'll reach Cambridge at about 11.30. So, it might be too early for the hotel staff to let you in as your room might not be ready when you arrive at the hotel. So, you can request them to make your room ready as soon as possible and you can leave your bulky luggage at the hotel and by the time the room is ready, you can visit a place or two.
4. Visit Cambridge University's Botanical garden - Leave your heavy luggage at the hotel reception and walk to Cambridge University's Botanical garden (Postcode - CB2 1JE). The tickets cost about £4 to £4.50 per person. The garden is very beautiful with many varieties of plants and flowers, water bodies and glass houses. There are 2 entrances to the garden and the entrance close to the postcode CB2 1JE has a small garden shop selling interesting garden stuff.
5. Since we were hungry, we returned to the hotel by 14:00 hrs and luckily our room was ready by then. So, we checked in and ordered food online. The following link will give you several online food options to choose from - Order food online in Cambridge
6. Due to heavy headache (probably because of doing a night shift just before the trip and hence lack of sleep) I couldn't go out that evening to visit places. However, after finishing lunch, one can visit more places in Cambridge. - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g186225-Activities-Cambridge_Cambridgeshire_England.html
7. Next morning breakfast was served. The hotel booking was inclusive of breakfast. There was English breakfast (1 sausage, 1 fried egg, 4 slices of bread, butter, jam, 1 bacon, beans, raw piece of tomato) with cereals and milk and orange juice and coffee/tea. Breakfast was served between 08:00 and 10:00.
8. After breakfast and check-out at 11:00, we walked to Fitzwilliam museum (post code - CB2 1RB). The entry was free. We had to submit our backpack in the cloak room. It is definitely worth visiting the museum, which contained some beautiful paintings, old guns, swords, coins, Mummys and other stuff from Egypt, Iran, Italy, very beautiful crockery etc. There was museum shop and cafe and toilets obviously.
9. By the time we came out of the museum, the time was 14:00. We were a bit hungry and decided to have lunch at a all vegetarian restaurant called Rainbow Cafe (postcode - CB2 1SJ). It seemed a very interesting and different restaurant and was below ground level. We had a Spinach Lasagne and a Shepherdess Pie with 2 Brown rolls with butter and a coke. We spent about £25 for lunch.
10. Just a few steps away was King's college (post code CB2 1ST) which is also a top place to visit in Cambridge. Tickets cost about £7.50. It is best to visit in the morning because it closes by about 15:30. We couldn't visit it as we were late. For complete information about tickets, group discounts, opening hours etc, please visit - http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/visit/
11. Punting in Cambridge - While I was clicking pictures of the king's college, one of the punting agent's approached me. She initially offered tickets for £18, then said she'd give them for £15 (which was student rate) and eventually sold them for £14 without any bargaining efforts from my side. The tour began at 16:00 when her colleague took us to the starting point of punting. It was about a 10 minute walk after which we got into our boat. On the way many punting agents offered tickets for just £10! But it was too late to buy them as we had already paid the agent. It was about 10 of us for the tour. 2 at the front section, 2 at the back and 6 in the middle. Though the water was quite shallow (about 4 meters deep), we asked for life jackets. It was a very enjoyable 50 minute to and fro trip. The punter who was a Cambridge student (originally from Peru), was very entertaining and told us many interesting facts about Cambridge university. As we punted along, we saw many beautiful university buildings, bridges like the mathematical bridge etc.
12. It was about 17:15 when we got off the boat. Our coach was at 19:50. So, instead of visiting any more places (as we didn't have much time and it was raining as well!), we decided to just walk around. But due to consistent rain, we decided to go to a local cafe and spend time there. We left the cafe at about 19:15 and walked to Cambridge coachway (Cambridge parkside, postcode - CB1 1JE). The coach departed to London at 19:50.
Apart from the headache and a bit of rain here and there, it was a very nice trip.
One can visit more places in Cambridge if they aren't as unlucky as me to have a headache and probably leave an hour early from London (There is a coach at 08:30 in the morning as well.)
Book a Cambridge and Oxford tour