The stately university city of Cambridge, with its Gothic courtyards, grazing cattle, and student-packed pubs, is just an hour from London by train, making it a popular day trip from the capital. But now that the University Arms, a former 19th-century coaching inn, has reopened after a two-year renovation, there’s good reason to spend the night (besides the hot Chelsea buns served for breakfast at Fitzbillies). Architect John Simpson, who gently modernized Kensington Palace, and designer Martin Brudnizki, of maximalist London club Annabel’s fame, created a space that is a swirl of nostalgic academe: studded wingback armchairs, Cambridge college crests on the windows, and a library curated by Heywood Hill, the Mayfair bookshop with a royal warrant stamped next to its door. It’s deliberately on the nose, and more fun for it.
Many of the rooms overlook Parker’s Piece, a grassy common popular with picnicking Cantabrigians and students pedaling toward the city center, less than a mile away. The hotel keeps a fleet of Tiffany-blue bicycles, so you can go for a spin yourself. One of the most idyllic routes is along the River Cam to the nearby village of Grantchester, where you can have a scone at the cheap and cheerful Orchard Tea Garden (everyone from Virginia Woolf to Prince Charles has downed a brew there) or a G&T at the Cambridge Distillery. Then whiz back to catch the last afternoon entry at King’s College Chapel (spot the roses and greyhounds in the stonework, heraldic symbols of Henry VII), before returning to your room to fill the roll-top bath and pour yourself a glass of port from the bedside stash. The Do Not Disturb signs, of course, are in the shape of bookmarks.
Close By & Can't Miss
Bould Brothers Coffee
It’s got the best flat white in town and is across the street from the Round Church, which offers daily guided walking tours of Cambridge.
Kettle’s Yard
This modern art gallery and former home of curator Jim Ede was donated to the university in 1966 and reopened in February after a two-year redesign.
Punting on the River
A River Cam tour is a must. Rutherford’s has the best guides and gives out hot water bottles during chilly months.
Museum of Zoology
Nerd out over skeletons of extinct creatures like the dodo at this on campus institution, which reopened in June after a five-year restoration.
Midsummer House
Order the tarte Tatin at this two-Michelin-starred cottage restaurant on the Cam.
