Bus or train? London - Cambridge

The train is, as you day, faster, and has good leg space, toilets (bathrooms) and a refreshments trolley. The fast train runs from suburban platforms at the west side of Kings Cross. The slow train runs from Liverpool Street station, but at Tottenham Hale stops to take passengers from the Victoria Line from Victoria, Green Park, Oxford Circus, and Warren Street.

From the Cambridge bus station to the Crowne Plaza hotel on Downing Street is about 15 minutes walk, and there are local busses for most of that. But from the station to the end of Downing Street you would take a bus: it is a mile or more. When the railway company 150 years ago sought an Act of Parliament to let them build to Cambridge, the University and Colleges, powerful bodies, objected that the trains would be noisy and smoky, and tempt the young gentlemen into days in London. The bill went through, but the company had to build out at the edge of town.

Both are equally reliable and run to time. At your times of day there will be plenty of space.

Welcome to England

ben.haines@btinternet.com

So that's the reason the train station is so far away. Well, just to let you know, I'm glad it is! Our daughter will be attending Cambridge from January to June and I wouldn't want her to be too easily tempted to take the train into London.

Thanks for the information. We are very much looking forward to visiting England.

Hi

I am going to Cambrige for one day from London as well.

Is the train station or bus stop at Cambridge closer to the University itself?

Many thanks!

I used the tourist bus that goes around Cambridge. Make sure it's running the day you're going if you want to use it.

www.guidefriday.com

For me the tour bus ticket was worth it because it stops at the American Cemetery. It's out of town a ways (maybe a mile?) and was well worth visiting.

I don't know how far a tour bus stop is from the bus station. I do know the tour bus makes a stop at the rail station. With the tour bus you can lap around the city and see just how big it is according to your walking standards.

Cambridge is very walkable if you're only interested in the colleges and the Fitzwilliam museum. If you are interested in the colleges, most are closed if it's finals time. I'm not sure when they have finals, but they did when I was there in June of 2002. I knew beforehand so I was disappointed. I'd hate to have the expectation to visit the colleges then arrive and find they're closed.

I had a very nice lunch at Browns. It was a bit of a splurge for lunch, but lunch was cheaper than dinner.

www.browns-restaurants.com/location_pg/loc_cam.html

Awwwww, Ben, having lived in Cambridge many moons ago I was always told that the station was so far out of thr town because of the pollution from the trains. They worried it would discolour and eat away at all the beautiful bricks. I like the temptation theory much better!
M

I took the train from Kings Cross to Cambridge for a day trip last spring. Train was fast and easy. In front of the train station were buses into the center of town (they run every few minutes) for one pound and it took about 5 minutes. To get back to the train we just walked - took about 15 minutes (but I would probably take the shuttle bus if I had luggage).