Tours of Cambridge University

[tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz]

Afternoon all wondering if anyone can advise

Has anyone with or without their teens ever done a good walking tour of Cambridge uni? Specifically ones where you get access to campus and areas not normally open to the public?

DD 17 while not aiming to attend as a student so not looking at prospective studentopen days (also has work commitments on those days) as a student would love to visit and explore the beautiful buildings, libraries, bridges and generally take it all in.

She tried to get into this years free Trinity Campus tour which opened last night to apply for the free places but was too late to get one.

She has also seen some paid tours operated by the college advertised (£10) but has tried calling to establish places included but it wasn’t very clear.

Has anyone done one of these paid ones and able to say what you were able to see? Or recommend something we haven’t come across yet? Amongst other things she’d love to see Trinity Chapel, Great Court and Neville’s Court.

Well, there isn’t a ‘campus’, just individual colleges, so if she identifies the ones she’d like to visit, she should just look up their opening hours/visiting arrangements.

Yes she’s looked at that although Trinity as an example is only accessible via a tour? Or with an admission fee. So wondering if anyone has done this and was it worthwhile.

Probably helpful to add she will coming by train from East Mids so wants to make sure she can make most of the day.

There isn’t a campus as such.

the university is spread around the city with lots of departments and colleges having their own site.

on undergrad open days most colleges and departments are open.
the colleges are generally open to tourists except in exam season which is long over.

i’m a bit confused about the areas not open to the public but what you have listed is all trinity college.

trinity seem to have a tour booking system here

https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/about/book-guided-tours/

there’s plenty of tours of Cambridge many of which include some bits of the university.

there’s a hell of a lot of the university though so most tours will only have a few bits.

if you say what you want to see people may be able to advise

I haven’t done the trinity tour but it’s quite a nice college to poke around in. I used to cut through it on my way to lectures.

kings college chapel is where many tourists also go and kings is usually open to tourists (I think they charge an entrance fee - sorry I usually show my uni card).

all colleges have a library and some have very old libraries - my college queens does tours of the chained library sometimes.

https://www.queensoldlibrary.org/

Each college will have its own arrangements for visitors and you can search online for details. Departmental sites/buildings are not usually open to the public but there are museums such as the Sedgewick and Scott Polar which are. Each college has its own library (sometimes multiple libraries) as well as each department and the main University Library. Many will be open for open days but otherwise access is for researchers. Alumni get free access with a special card, so if you know anyone who is a current or former student/staff that might help you.

Even just wandering round the city centre and taking a punt tour along the Backs will give you a good feel for the colleges.

Thanks folks, yes agree that it’s massive and she is going to have a think of specific areas and we will perhaps come back then ☺️

But I thought what your daughter was looking for was a guided tour? The Trinity website explains roughly what you get to see, and what might be off limits. It says the courts aren’t open to the public, for instance, and nor is the dining hall.

She’s considering a guided tour as may be in her own but is open to doing it DIY too. I was just wondering if others had done either option and what were perhaps pros and cons

There’s lots of guided tours of cambridge which focus on different things.

we’ve even done the ghost one (was good).

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g186225-Activities-c42-t183-Cambridge_Cambridgeshire_England.html

Thanks @Octavia64

Well, it’s just that with some colleges, including Trinity, a guided tour of that college, led by its porters, is her only option. If she wants to take a general, tour she could look up the dizzying number of options on Tripadvisor and see what they offer and prices (including a punt or boat tour of the backs), and work the timings of that around tours of any individual colleges she’s also booked. If she’s going on termtime and not on a Monday, she should attend Evensong at King’s, which is free, musically gorgeous, and in a beautiful Perpendicular Gothic building with a Ruben’s over the altar.

That does sound lovely, thanks.

You and your DD need to remember that the colleges are places where people live and work. So seeing places not normally open to the public is just not on. It’s intrusive (and really quite annoying).

If she's confident she can just say to the porter at the entrance gate that she's a prospective student, and they will probably let her in for a quick look, although obviously this would be self guided.

I mean she obviously isn’t going to wander where she feels? I think that’s quite obvious?!! 😳

There are some tours which are planned and associated with the uni which allow access to places rarely open to the public. We were wondering if anyone had done such a tour and what their thoughts were.

Nobody’s there over the summer. The undergrads are on holiday, the post grads are mostly at the departments or on holiday and the academics have departed and left Cambridge to the language students.

now’s a good time for tours.

I went with dc last September on Open Day (I think its on 11th Sept this year).

All the colleges were open to tour as I recall, but dc needed to register online beforehand for the particular colleges they were interested in - I think we made it to around 5 in total.
Most colleges didn't check and just let us in even if we weren't on their list. Current student volunteers took groups around. It was quite a comprehensive tour, including the grand dining halls, chapels, grounds and accommodation rooms. Yes, we could (and did) just wander where we wanted if we didnt want to join a particular college tour, which meant we could spend a bit of time at a slower pace in some of the beautiful grounds.

Most colleges had free refreshments at published times during the day - including a free lunch at some, and afternoon cream teas.
There was also the opportunity to discuss the course with some of the subject staff.
It was a LOT of walking - the colleges were much more spread out from each other than I'd anticipated! But certainly worthwhile. Some of the colleges seem to finish their Open Day earlier than others - about 3.30pm - 4pm for the early ones I think.

We also did the Oxford college tours - which seemed to be a little smoother as most colleges were fairly central, so not quite so much walking involved.

Thanks @LittlePinkRabbitthats very helpful, sounds like a lovely day. Cream tea too, how civilised 😄