Planning a Cambridge Trip: Trains, Term Dates and May Week

Cambridge is one of the easiest day trips from London and one of the easiest to get slightly wrong: turn up during exam term expecting every college court to be open, or drive into the centre without a plan, and the visit gets harder than it needs to be. A little sequencing fixes both problems.

Getting here

The train wins, decisively. Cambridge railway station, on Station Road, has direct Great Northern services from London King's Cross in around 50 minutes at the fastest and roughly an hour on typical services, with around 68 trains a day. The one catch is the walk from the station into the historic centre, 20 to 25 minutes on foot, longer than a small map suggests; a bus, taxi or the station's cycle hire all shorten that if you are carrying luggage. From Stansted Airport, National Express runs a direct coach in as fast as 40 minutes from Cambridge Parkside in the city centre, up to 11 times a day.

Why term dates matter here more than in most cities

Cambridge is not a static backdrop; it is a working university, and what you can actually see on a given day depends on the academic calendar in a way it does not in most English cities. The university runs three eight-week terms: Michaelmas from October, Lent from January, and Easter (also called exam term) from April into June. During exam term in particular, several colleges close their courts and gardens to visitors, or restrict hours sharply, since undergraduates are sitting finals in buildings that would otherwise host tour groups. King's College Chapel can close on short notice for services, rehearsals or college events at any time of year. The practical takeaway: check the specific college or chapel's own website for the exact date you plan to visit, rather than assuming standard hours apply, especially between April and mid-June.

May Week: not in May, and not one event

Despite the name, May Week happens in June, once exam term finishes, and it is not a single ticketed festival but a loose cluster of college-run events over a week or so: the May Bumps rowing races on the Cam, college garden parties, and the May Balls themselves, black-tie events that run through the night. Each college organises and prices its own ball separately, and the most sought-after tickets sell out within hours of going on sale each spring. Even if you have no interest in attending a ball, May Week changes the city noticeably: accommodation books out and prices spike across Cambridge for that week and the surrounding weekends, punt queues lengthen further, and the atmosphere on Midsummer Common and along the river, as balls let out at dawn, is worth experiencing even from the outside.

The calendar beyond May Week

Two other fixed points are worth planning around. The Cambridge Beer Festival takes over Jesus Green for about a week each May (2026 ran 18 to 23 May); the Cambridge Folk Festival fills Cherry Hinton Hall on the edge of the city, historically late July into August. Both draw crowds and fill nearby accommodation, so check exact current-year dates before booking rather than assuming a fixed calendar slot, since neither operator publishes the following year's dates far in advance. Outside these spikes, Michaelmas term from October is a genuinely good window: the crowds of summer have thinned, the colleges have reopened after the long vacation, and the autumn light on the Backs is sharp without the exam-term restrictions of spring.

Driving, and why not to

Cambridge's historic centre is narrow, heavily pedestrianised and expensive to park in on purpose. The intended answer for anyone arriving by car is Park & Ride: five sites around the ring road at Trumpington, Madingley Road, Milton, Newmarket Road and Babraham Road, each with frequent buses into the centre. Central multistorey car parks exist but cost more and fill fast, especially during May Week and the Beer Festival, so treat Park & Ride as the default plan rather than a fallback.

How long to stay

A day trip from London comfortably covers King's College Chapel, a walk along the Backs and a punt trip, with lunch somewhere central. Two days adds the Fitzwilliam Museum, Kettle's Yard and a proper look at the Market Square and Mill Road. Three days earns the walk or punt out to Grantchester, a slower pass through the college gardens that charge separate admission, and enough slack to work around whatever the term calendar closes on a given day.