B&Bs in Cambridge

Table of Contents

• At a glance: what should you know about booking places to stay in Cambridge?
• Places to stay in Cambridge: find your perfect retreat
• Exploring Cambridge: our top recommendations
• Activities: what are the top things to do and see in Cambridge?

• Central self-catering stays: Most places sit within a short walk or cycle of the colleges, with kitchens, WiFi and washing machines as standard across the city centre wards.
• Where to base yourself: Market Ward puts you beside King's Parade, while Coleridge and Queen Edith's offer quieter streets and easier parking near the station.
• Highly rated by guests: Recent stays score 9.9+, with visitors praising spotless interiors, generous space and walkable locations close to the River Cam.
• Eating out: Cambridge rewards browsers, from Michelin-starred tasting menus on Midsummer Common to Mill Road's independent kitchens and long-standing bakeries.
• Things to do: Punting the Backs, King's College Chapel, the Fitzwilliam Museum and the market square fill a weekend comfortably in any season.

Cambridge leans towards self-catering: Victorian terraces, converted townhouses, studios and roomy penthouse flats, most of them a short cycle from the colleges. Terraces suit weekend groups; studios suit couples or solo travellers. Practical touches make longer visits easy.

• WiFi throughout, useful for a working stay
• A full kitchen for market-square produce
• Washing machine for longer research trips
• Off-street or free parking away from the centre
• Private gardens, terraces and the occasional hot tub

Cambridge is a destination you can visit all year long; we recommend to plan a trip during the Christmas time and to book early for graduation weekends and the summer, when central stays go quickly.

What are the best areas to stay in Cambridge?

For first-time visitors, Market Ward is hard to beat: the colleges, the market and the Backs are all on foot. The table below details areas for specific interests:

What do our guests say?

Guests consistently rate their Cambridge stays at the top of the scale, with recent scores reaching 9.9+. The comments repeat a few themes: how walkable the city is, how quiet the residential streets feel after dark, and how welcome a kitchen and a washing machine are on a longer visit. Balconies, gardens and parking come up often too.

Here are our top-rated places to stay in Cambridge from the past year:

1. Exquisite Modern Station Penthouse with Balcony, Parking & Sleeps 6 - 9.9+: A roomy penthouse with a balcony and parking, minutes from Cambridge station and its London trains.
2. Modern ensuite Studio in Central Cambridge - 9.9+: A neat ensuite studio for two in central Cambridge, well placed for the colleges and evening strolls.
3. Bright Beautiful Modern 2 Bed Home Pass The Keys - 9.9+: A bright two-bedroom house in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, with a kitchen and laundry for longer stays.

Cambridge sits on the River Cam in Cambridgeshire, in the flat east of England, roughly an hour north of London by rail.

🥗Where to eat in Cambridge?

According to Google Maps data and reviews, Bread & Meat is the best rated restaurant in Cambridge. Below is a table showing the top 5 highly-rated restaurants hand-picked by our travel experts.

⭐Our guests' recommendation: Our guest traveller Charlotte recommends the Fitzbillies in Cambridge: a proper morning ritual on Trumpington Street, where a coffee and a sticky Chelsea bun set up a slow weekend of college-hopping.

1. Punt along the Backs
2. Step inside King's College Chapel
3. Wander the Fitzwilliam Museum
4. Browse the market square
5. Cycle the riverside greens
6. Graze along Mill Road
7. Escape to the countryside

1. Punt along the Backs

   Nothing frames Cambridge quite like the river. Hire a punt near Mill Pond or Quayside and drift past the lawns known as The Backs, with St John's, Trinity and Clare colleges rising straight from the water. You will slip under the Bridge of Sighs and the Mathematical Bridge, and pass under willow branches that trail into the Cam. Chauffeured trips come with commentary and college anecdotes; self-punting is cheaper, funnier and considerably wetter. Early morning and late afternoon are calmest.

2. Step inside King's College Chapel

   The chapel is the single most photographed building in the city, and the interior earns it. Look up at the world's largest fan vault, then let your eye travel the sixteenth-century stained glass before settling on Rubens' Adoration of the Magi above the altar. Evensong, sung by the college choir during term, is free to attend and turns a sightseeing stop into something quieter. Arrive early in the day if you want the nave to yourself, and check term dates before travelling.

3. Wander the Fitzwilliam Museum

   Admission is free and the collection is enormous: Egyptian coffins, Greek and Roman antiquities, illuminated manuscripts, armour, coins and a painting collection running from Titian to the Impressionists. The Fitzwilliam is a comfortable rainy-afternoon plan, and its café is a decent stop even if you only came for the building itself. Trumpington Street sits five minutes from King's Parade, so it slots easily between colleges. Smaller museums nearby cover zoology, earth sciences and the history of science.

4. Browse the market square

   Trading has gone on in this square since the Middle Ages, and it still runs daily. Expect fruit and vegetable stalls, cheese, street food from a dozen kitchens, second-hand books, secondhand bicycles, prints and clothing, all under the striped canopies with Great St Mary's church on one side. It is the easiest place in Cambridge to assemble lunch, and the obvious stop if your stay has a kitchen. Weekends bring craft and vintage traders alongside the regulars.

5. Cycle the riverside greens

   Cambridge is famously flat, and locals get everywhere on two wheels. Hire a bike and follow the towpath through Jesus Green and Midsummer Common, where cattle still graze within sight of the city centre, then continue out to Fen Ditton or Grantchester Meadows. The ride to Grantchester is a classic: an hour of meadow and river, ending at a village tea garden. Racks and locks are easy to find, and dedicated cycle lanes cover most of the route.

6. Graze along Mill Road

   A ten-minute walk from the centre takes you to the city's most characterful street. Mill Road runs on independent shops: North African and South Asian kitchens, bakeries, delis, record shops and coffee bars, with almost nothing you would recognise from a high street elsewhere. It is where students, families and long-term residents actually eat. Come hungry, browse slowly, and pick up ingredients on the way back if you are self-catering.

7. Escape to the countryside

   Cambridge makes a natural base for the flat, wide-skied east. Ely and its cathedral are fifteen minutes by train, the fen nature reserves are close, and Newmarket's racing gallops lie just beyond. Stretch the trip further and you reach Suffolk for timber-framed villages, or Norfolk for broads and big beaches. All of it works as a day out and returns you to the city by evening.