We researched many locations when deciding what our day trip from London would be and I’m so glad we decided on Cambridge. It was really an enjoyable day! Here is our itinerary, including actual times so you can use it to help plan your own day trip.

Train 9:28 AM

We planned a shorter day so we could sleep in a bit and not get home too late since we were heading to Paris the next morning. The train from Liverpool Station was about an hour long, with nice rolling countryside and even some sheep!  The price came out to $21.00 and I did buy the tickets before I left the states.

Once arrived, we walked from the train into town heading towards King’s College. It was a very pleasant twenty-minute walk through town and there were helpful signs pointing you towards the city center and popular attractions.

Christ’s College 11:00 AM

During our walk into town, we saw this beautiful green courtyard through a doorway and had to go in and explore. Turns out it was Christ’s College and Darwin went to school there. It has a really charming garden out back.  The three of us hung out in the garden for a little while and put our toes in the fresh cut grass.

Lunch Noon

Aromi:  Just a four-minute walk from Christ’s College. The Sicilian food was AMAZING. This is seriously one of the best places I have ever eaten. Okay, so maybe I have never had Sicilian food before but still, all I know is the food was heavenly.

I don’t have names for anything I ordered. I just pointed at the things that looked good. I had a panini with rocket, cheese and tomatoes. The bread was thin, crispy, and so delicious! I also tried the pizza with cheese, tomatoes, red onions and a balsamic drizzle. Again the crust was to die for. My other friend got an eggplant sandwich but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the other two items.

For dessert, I ordered mini tarts. They came with two flavors, pistachio and Nutella. The pistachio one was my favorite! We also tried a dessert with Nutella pressed between the same bread my sandwich came on. It was good but very sweet. I know a lot of people are obsessed with Nutella so if you are one of those I think you will enjoy it.

All the portions are very large. We ordered way too much food which our server found hilarious. We sat downstairs and the server would come down and call out a number to see who’s food it was. Since we all ordered separately and they brought the food out as it was ready, we ended up raising our hand probably 6 times. By the 4th time he came by he started cracking up as our table got fuller and fuller with food. Two appetizers, three mains and three desserts, but hey traveling makes me hungry! We put a good dent it in and got to try a bunch of different items. They also had a gelato place outside that looked amazing but we were too full to try it.

King’s College 12:45

If amazing food is not reason enough to go to Cambridge, King’s College Chapel should be! It’s a six-minute walk from Aromi and you need to go across the street to a King’s College Visitor Centre to buy tickets.  Anyone working at the college will point you in the right direction. We walked into the chapel and the three of us are facing this beautiful wall with so much detail. I turn around and see the chapel in its entirety and I’m blown away! It’s huge and detailed and just breathtaking. I turn to my left to see the reaction of my two friends and they are still looking at that wall facing the wrong way. I get their attention and they turn around and I literally saw both of their jaws drop! You need to go here, seriously one of the most amazing ceilings I have ever seen.

Punting 1:40

We didn’t schedule this in advance we just walked till we found the punting boats. A guy eating his lunch approached us saying if we went now we could get it at a discount. I had researched the pricing before so I knew what lower end price point was and it was lower than that. Cambridge Chauffeur Punts had a boat leaving in a couple minutes that wasn’t full so it worked out perfectly.

It was a relaxing ride down the water and seeing the college backs was incredible. We went under multiple bridges and willow trees. Just hearing the water movement and the mixture of green grass and old buildings was so delightful.

Some people were attempting to punt themselves and they really looked like they were regretting it. The college boys make it look easy but it was totally worth paying them to punt for us. We got off the boat so relaxed, any travel stress was gone and it was like we had a full body massage! I would love to do it again.

Visitors Center 2:45

We passed by the visitors center and decided to check it out. There was a full courtroom set up with creepy mannequins acting out a scene, which of course we had to take pictures with. It totally gave us a good laugh. They also had a photo booth type thing where it added in fake backgrounds. It looked like we were in a hot air balloon flying over Cambridge. We spent some time trying to figure that thing out just for fun and the picture was so funny we decided to buy it. Of course, the thing was broken so she couldn’t print out the pictures. So if you do it snap a picture with your phone just in case.

Market Hill 3:15

We wandered around a little and ran into Market Hill. It’s an outdoor market that had a variety of fun hats, food and a great old book selection that we spent most of our time looking through. I got a fun fascinator for an event I had coming up and found a used British version of the Tales of Beedle and Bard. Looking at the location now we probably should have gone there after Aromi but we hadn’t pre-planned it and we had some extra time at the end of the day.

Train 4:40

I was pleasantly surprised by Cambridge and would love to go back. It has small town European streets, old buildings, and large churches.  Such a great vibe.  Keep in mind we were there in August so the schools were out. I’m not sure how much that would change the town or your experience.  I recommend it for your day trip from London.

Melissa P.

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