Cambridge, home to one of the world's great universities, is a postcard-perfect English city. Replete with stunning architecture and places of historic interest, it's a perfect place to explore on foot. Take a private Cambridge tour and let a friendly and knowledgeable local guide show you around their lovely hometown.

You may wish to start your day at the city's market square. This lively marketplace comes alive with vendors every day and has been doing so since Saxon times. Your guide will walk with you through Cambridge's many beautiful colleges, from Trinity to Queen's, explaining the region's history to you as you go. Don't miss a stroll through the city's idyllic riverside parkland, The Backs, where you can enjoy some of the loveliest views of Cambridge stone architecture.

Your guide will be happy to recommend a great place for a pint and pub supper, or perhaps a local theatre production, at the end of your private Cambridge tour.

Cambridge

A tour of ENGLAND'S highlights starting from Cambridgeshire

A selection of my very favourite places in England taking in Northumberland castles, The North York Moors, Whitby and York, Beverley and Lincoln, Warwick and Kenilworth, The cotswolds, Bath, Wells, Glastonbury, Avebury and Stonehenge. This tour is priced for 7 days, but can be customised to 3-14 days on request

A week long tour of my absolute favourite spots in England.

Cambridge Highlights express walking tour

A fascinating insight into the history, traditions and student life of the University colleges spanning 800 years. Visit the highlight of the tour, King's College Chapel with its Gothic pinnacles, celebrated Choir and Christmas Eve carol service. Admire the front of Trinity College, founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, famous for marrying six wives. Enjoy stories of student pranks and watch the flat-bottomed boats called punts as they travel along the River Cam propelled by boatmen with long poles.

Learn about life-changing discoveries in Cambridge, such as the structure of DNA at the Cavendish Laboratory. Pause at the Eagle pub to hear stories of the World War 2 British and American pilots' nights of revelry! Marvel at the unique modern Corpus clock with its amazing grasshopper.

I really love this city and shall be happy to share with you the stories I have learned over the years I have been living and working here.

View of Gibbs' Building at King's College

Discover Historic Cambridge and King's College Chapel

Cambridge Town and Gown - Private City Tour with Local Guide

I would like to make this a memorable day on your visit to Cambridge, with a programme packed full of facts and anecdotes, bringing the visits alive in an entertaining way as we travel in space and time across the historic city centre.

Discover some home truths like how Cambridge, a market town in the Fens became a university centre of excellence by sheer chance !
And how a king dealt a blow to the heart of the town's vital river trade, creating a divide between town and gown that survives to this day !

Discover the story of how scholars, always dressed in gowns, became disliked by the townsfolk and how the wealthy colleges built high walls to protect scholars and keep the envious townsfolk out.

Cambridge has some unique accolades: The oldest Publishing house and the only annual boat race with rival Oxford.
Relish different viewpoints, strolling along the Backs of the river Cam, watching the punts or climbing up Great St. Mary's Tower for a birds eye view of the old city.

Entrance tickets to KIng's College Chapel for two people is included in tour price

Experience the unique delights of this city, facts and anecdotes

Cambridge University Full Day Tour with a Cambridge University Graduate and Tour Guide and river boat ride (punt)

Really get the feel of this place with a tour guide who's also a graduate of Cambridge University and knows all about what it's like to study at this amazing and beautiful place. I can tell you so many stories about this place, some only students know!

Included:

-London pick-up and drop-off in a car
-Morning spent on a guided walk with a tour guide who studied at Cambridge University for three years and knows the place and student life very well.
-Afternoon: relax on a 2. 5 hour boat ride in your personal chauffeured private boat (a punt)
-Have a picnic or a pint on the punt (no more alliteration allowed allegedly!)

Customisation:
1. Tour can be customised as follows:
I can meet you at Cambridge (without London pick-up)

Or:
2. Is your son or daughter going to attend the university? Would you like them to find their bearings (faculties, lecture theatres, shops, sports, transport hubs etc. ) before they immerse in this wonderful place?

Full day guided tour of Cambridge with a Cambridge University graduate tour guide, Loona, and a personal punt chauffeuse, Sarah

Your personal chauffeuse, Sarah, for your boat ride on the River Cam

Full day guided tour of Cambridge with a Cambridge University graduate tour guide and a personal chauffeured punt (boat) and picnic

Includes a personal chauffeuse for a 2.5 hour river boat ride (a 'picnic on a punt') plus: London pick-up/ drop-off

During this fascinating tour of my two favourite colleges, we'll spend about half the time at each. At King's College, founded by Henry VI, we'll enter the beautiful Chapel, celebrated for its Choir and annual Christmas Eve Carol Concert. We'll marvel at its awe-inspiring fan-vaulted ceiling and medieval stained glass windows, completed by King Henry VIII, famous for his six wives! Then we can wander down to the River Cam and read the famous Memorial Stone to a famous Chinese poet, Xu Zhimo who loved Cambridge.
At Queens' College, founded firstly by Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI in the 15th Century, and later by Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward VI , we can stroll through beautiful medieval courtyards, with Elizabethan timbered architecture, to see the famous Mathematical Bridge. Here we may watch flat-bottomed punts travelling along the river. I'll be happy to tell you stories about these two colleges, including the ancient student traditions and modern-day student pranks!

View of Queens' College and Silver Street Bridge

Discover the history behind King's College and Queens' College

Royal Cambridge College Walking Tour

Enjoy the Highlights of Cambridge with your local guide

Your visit may be short in time, but we will capture the essence of this historic city.

As we walk, let me paint you a picture: a mini masterclass in architecture and design, viewing historic milestones from the last 800 years right up to the 21st century. I shall animate these with stories of town and gown, that is how life in the colleges differed from that encountered on the streets of Cambridge.

Stroll along the backs of the river Cam watching the punts and/or opt to climb the university church of great St Marys to get a birds eye view of the city below.

I hope to educate, entertain and provide a fun filled few hours for memorable time in this remarkable ancient city.

Kings College Chapel and Senate House from the Backs

A whistle-stop tour of this heritage city - Private Walking Tour

Let me take you on a fascinating tour of Cambridge, a city I love, where I have lived and worked for years!

We'll visit Emmanuel College, famous for John Harvard, who sailed to the USA and founded the first American university in Massachusetts. We'll also admire the beautiful chapel, designed by Sir Christopher Wren and wander in the peaceful gardens.

Then there is Pembroke College to which the American, Ray Dolby, a student here and inventor of the sound system, made a generous donation in 2015. Enjoy the beautiful medieval courts of this college, which dates from 1347.

We'll see the stars, stripes and eagle of the first President of the United States, George Washington, whose great uncle was vicar of Little St Mary's Church and where the family arms are on show.

Then we'll visit the Eagle pub where American pilots enjoyed evenings of revelry during the second world war, and maybe we'll finish our tour with a pint of DNA ale!

Discover what Emmanuel College, Harvard, Pembroke College, Washington and Dolby have in common!

Discover American Links in Cambridge in this walking tour

The unassuming village of Grantchester, just 2 miles south of Cambridge City centre, has much to reveal. .
How and why did this village become such a magnet to Cambridge academics from the late 19th century, coming to play a key role in the life of fellows and students ?
Find out how a tradition was born at the Orchard Tea rooms, God's little Acre, 120 years ago and who were among the group of Cambridge luminaries who met there.
See stills of Grantchester locations of the hit tv series based on the Grantchester Mysteries by James Runcie, following a circuit round the village and riverside. Discover little known facts about the actors and the inside knowledge of filming the series in the village and Cambridge. This has given the village an international profile today, drawing visitors from home and abroad, bringing the village alive. For TV fans, not to be missed !
View the homes of famous residents who lived there and a sculpture garden of the former celebrity Politician, whose story is renowned.

Grantchester: Past and Present

Grantchester, Cambridge

Spend the morning visiting Cambridge colleges and really get the feel of student life both past and present on this tour of the historic centre of this University city. 
Learn about the life changing discoveries at the Cavendish Laboratory,  visit the Eagle Pub with its famous RAF bar and be amazed by the extraordinary Corpus Clock.
You will visit King's College chapel with its awesome fan-vaulted ceiling  stained-glass windows and famous Choir.
Visit also Queens ' College and the Mathematical Bridge.
At Pembroke College you will be able to visit Christopher Wren's Chapel and enjoy the warm atmosphere of this old medieval College.
There's also a chance to pass the Senate House , where graduation ceremonies take place, Great St Mary's Church and Trinity College, famous for Isaac Newton and his apple tree!

3hour tour of Cambridge colleges 

Cambridge Colleges Tour

Explore Cambridge Art & Culture, above and below ground with Art Historian

Growing up, my passion has always been art, in particular painting, so becoming an art historian and being privileged to work at the National Gallery in London was a dream come true!

I have since lectured at other major collections and acted as front of house presenter at archaeology displays at sites in France when I lived abroad, so I am most at home inside a museum or in sight of art !

Any opportunity to talk about and share the superlative art collections in Cambridge with you is a no brainer. I consider art to be an integral part of life and still enjoy discovering new artists and artefacts at exhibitions and when I travel away from home.

My part time work teaching adults at the Fitzwilliam Museum and other City museums offers me plenty of opportunities for this due to the rolling displays and shows curated there plus of course the permanent art collections ranging from Egyptian antiquity, Greek and Roman art, ceramics, a fan gallery, painting, sculpture, from medieval through to contemporary art

Treasures that celebrate the redeeming power of art, Private Walking Tour


Anglesey Abbey, just like the fictional Downton Abbey (aka Highclere castle) was not actually an abbey, but began its life as a 12th century priory in the hamlet of Angerhale in the Fens, hence the name Anglesey. 
   Discover its long history, featuring a real life American heiress,  Cara Rogers by the 20th century, whose name may have inspired Cora, Lady Grantham in the TV/Films of Downton Abbey.  It was her legacy, inherited from her father, Vice President of Standard Oil, reputed to be one of the wealthiest men in the U.S. and rubbing shoulders with the Rockefellers and British Royalty, that would   bankroll the grand creation of her son, Huttleston Broughton.
   A stone's throw from Cambridge, this is an experience that offers so much to lovers of history, gardens and art alike. Hear the full story, unlocking the connections back to the U.S., Lord Fairhaven's American upbringing and how he followed his vision, creating a haven in the Fens, a much loved  part of our Cambridgeshire heritage today

A Cambridgeshire Downton Abbey, legacy of America's gilded age

Anglesey Abbey, National Trust House and Gardens, near Cambridge

Enjoy a short stroll along the river Ouse, once the life blood of the locals and hear how the superabundant supply of eels paid for more than just the rent !
Discover how the waterlogged Isle of Elig became a centre for the new Christian religion sweeping England with the foundation of an Abbey by an Anglo Saxon princess.
Hear the tale of woe and destruction which threatened its survival repeatedly, as we travel back in time some 1000 years, walking through the jaw dropping, lofty spaces of the cathedral.
Delight in the unprecedented scale of the Lady Chapel, celebrating the cult of the Virgin Mary. Completed in the year of the Black Death, it is compelling not just for its sheer beauty but also for the presiding legacy of terrible loss dealt by the Iconoclast reformers.
View some chapels dedicated to the many bishops at Ely and discover their vital scholarly links with Cambridge colleges and their role in the University

The wonders of Ely Cathedral near Cambridge and the town that grew up around it.

The Ship of the Fens Ely Tour

Mention Cambridge and the ancient University springs to mind, but Newmarket in Suffolk, a mere 30 minutes drive away, is quite another story ! The town motto, Respice Finem, meaning aim for the finish, sits right at the heart of it's glowing achievements.
How did the sport of Kings, a royal pastime, grow into a multi million pound global industry with Newmarket at its HQ ?
Where else can you meet and greet equine veterans, hear about their track careers as well as their welfare in retirement ? Fancy being a jockey ? Try the racing simulator.
Immerse yourself in the classic sporting art collection, housed in the surviving 17th century Palace. See the window from where Charles II could view his mistress, Nelly Gwyn, his favourite companion to the local cock pit fights.
Delve into the underground world of betting and bribery, proving that crime can pay for some !
Marvel at the Anatomy of a Horse book by Stubbs of 1766 and discover the famous Canadian who captured horse locomotion for the world to see on film

Statue unveiled by the Queen showing her with a mare and a foal, in 2016 at Rowley Mile Racecourse, Newmarket, to mark her 90th birthday

Fresco of chariot racing at Ancient Olympics

Ely tours

Explore with 13 tours and 4 guides.

Keith B.

$ 3,785 (USD)

Rosemary E.

$ 293 (USD)

Deborah M.

$ 632 (USD)

Loona H.

$ 1,239 (USD)

Rosemary E.

$ 307 (USD)

Deborah M.

$ 440 (USD)

Rosemary E.

$ 262 (USD)

Deborah M.

$ 227 (USD)

Rosemary E.

$ 330 (USD)

Deborah M.

$ 424 (USD)

Deborah M.

$ 344 (USD)

Deborah M.

$ 475 (USD)

Deborah M.

$ 577 (USD)

Meet your local guides in Ely

Customize your tour