This file contains directions to various places around Cambridge. Run through it and hopefully you will find some useful information. For an ASCII map of Cambridge see: http://wol.ra.phy.cam.ac.uk/pub/mackay/maps/Cam For a super image-based map of cambridge, navigable by clicking, http://www.cam.ac.uk/map/v3/drawmap.cgi?mp=main;xx=1100;yy=720;sx=5;gf=png In this document: (1) GETTING TO CAMBRIDGE (2) PLACES AROUND CAMBRIDGE (3) OTHER STUFF (1) GETTING TO CAMBRIDGE Trains from London ------------------ There are lots of trains from London to Cambridge. London Kings Cross has the best trains. Trains leave at least every 30 minutes on Monday - Saturday, and at least every hour on Sundays. Journey time is less than an hour, which is excellent. (There are hourly slower trains to Cambridge, but it is usually quickest to wait for the next fast train.) At Kings Cross, most Cambridge trains leave from platform numbers 9 10 and 11, the far left hand platforms, in a building adjacent to the main platforms. Trains to Cambridge also leave from Liverpool Street Station, but it is best to go to King's Cross. Go to Liverpool Street if Kings Cross is blown up by the IRA. On weekends, trains are less frequent and slower, but not severely so. Cambridge railway station is about 1.5 miles from the town centre and there are buses that take you there if you don't want to walk. Directions to Cavendish Laboratory: By Car, from London --- ----------------------------------------------------------- Coming North on the M11, take the last Cambridge exit which is the Madingley Road exit, the A1303. Turn right, then within a few hundred yards take the second turning on the right, where there is a sign saying "West Cambridge" --- Cavendish laboratory, Veterinary school. It's a major turning, with lots of white bollard things to drive between. Go down this for 150 yards and park in the car park on the left. The first building you come to is the Rutherford Building. My office is room 961, which is on the 1st floor on the South side. Directions to Cambridge from Heathrow Airport --------------------------------------------- There are two ways, coach or train. For this particular journey I used to prefer coach, but now I usually go by train. For reliability the train might be superior. There are Now TWO train options. Arriving at london heathrow you can (1) take a coach to cambridge (direct, no changes of coach, reliability is unpredictable because roads can be bad) or (2) you can take the underground and then the train (I always used to do this). or (3) NEW OPTION! You can take an express train to paddington, change at paddington onto the tube, then change at kings cross back onto the train. Here is a sample journey by method 3: HEATHROW AIRPORT Heathrow Express station 13:37 LONDON PADDINGTON 13:53 Train LONDON PADDINGTON 14:08 LONDON KINGS CROSS 14:28 Tube CIRCLE LINE (yellow line) (eastbound) LONDON KINGS CROSS 14:45 CAMBRIDGE 15:34 Train All these times allow you a huge amount of time to change trains. You will probably be able to change to the tube in 5 mins at paddington and 5 mins at KX so you may well make the journey in less than 2 hours. I would definitely try this third method (even though it involves more changes than the other methods!) -- it is probably the most expensive, but probably is fastest. Unfortunately, ticketing is not convenient by this route -- absurdly, you can't buy a direct ticket, but have to buy ticket to paddington, then get a ticket to cambridge at paddington or take the tube to KX and get the cambridge ticket there. --- coach info ---- Leaving the airport, follow signs to coach station. NB, the coach station is located centrally between the three terminals 1-3 and should not be confused with the bus stations, of which there are three, one at each terminal 1-3. The signs are pretty clear; I've never got confused between these, but it's probably a good idea that I warn you. At the coach station, go to the ticket office to buy your ticket to Cambridge. (It might be possible to pay the driver instead, I can't remember). A one-way ticket costs about 12 pounds, a return ticket 21 pounds. There is a telephone in the coach station, if you need one. You need 20p coins. A coach to Cambridge leaves about every hour. It is pretty direct, usually stopping only at Stansted airport or Luton airport. It drives through nice English countryside. Journey time is less than 2 hours. On weekends in the middle of the day, traffic hold-ups are unlikely. The coaches are usually coloured blue and silver. As of June 1998, departures from Central Bus Station are at 20 minutes past every hour, and cost is 13 pounds single. You can pay the driver by VISA. The coach also stops at terminal 4 before central bus station. Don't expect the buses to leave on time: if you get to the coach station at XX:40, there is a good chance the "XX.20" will just be leaving, especially if there is rainy weather. ---- old train info, not using heathrow express ---- The alternative is to go by train. This is more hassle and may even take longer than going by coach. And it is not so scenic. But it is reliable. You first take the Underground into the centre of London (costs about 4 pounds). Heathrow is on the piccadilly (dark blue) line. This line goes through King's Cross, so there is no need for you to change underground-trains. Get off at King's Cross, and follow the British Rail signs. Buy a ticket to Cambridge. Trains leave at least every 30 minutes on Monday - Saturday, and at least every hour on Sundays. Journey time is less than an hour, which is excellent. (There are hourly slower trains to Cambridge, but it is usually quickest to wait for the next fast train.) At Kings Cross, most Cambridge trains leave from platform numbers 9 10 and 11, the far left hand platforms, in a building adjacent to the main platforms. Trains to Cambridge also leave from Liverpool Street Station, but it is best to go to King's Cross. Go to Liverpool Street if Kings Cross is blown up by the IRA. On weekends, trains are less frequent and slower, but not severely so. A one-way ticket costs about 14 pounds. It is possible that at Heathrow you might be able to buy one ticket that covers both the underground and the rail journey to Cambridge. This is certainly possible and advisable from the Cambridge end. Directions from Stansted airport -------------------------------- Stansted is the most convenient major airport for Cambridge. From Stansted airport there are frequent coaches to Cambridge. The journey takes only about 40 minutes. Some of the coaches go to Cambridge railway station and some of them go to Cambridge Coach station. There are direct trains to Cambridge, hourly. Directions from Gatwick airport ------------------------------- DO NOT take the coach from Gatwick to Cambridge. It goes a long way round. Take the train. Gatwick airport is to the South of London. British Rail trains run from there into London. The `Intercity' trains leave every 15 minutes and take you to London Victoria, where they terminate (journey time 30 minutes). The `Thameslink' trains leave every 30 minutes and stop at several stations; the one that you want is `Kings Cross Thameslink' (journey time about 45 minutes). At Gatwick, buy a ticket to Cambridge (a single costs about 18 pounds). This ticket is valid for the Underground, if you need to use it. You do not need to buy another ticket. If you take the Intercity train to London Victoria: At Victoria, take the underground to King's Cross (Victoria line, light blue colour); your British Rail ticket includes your underground journey -- just stick the ticket in the barrier. There are two platforms for the Victoria line, and you want the `Northbound' platform to go to Kings Cross St. Pancras. If you take the Thameslink train to King's Cross Thameslink, then you do not need to make a journey on the Underground. At Kings Cross Thameslink follow the signs to "Kings Cross (British Rail) Mainline station". This is a short walk. At Kings Cross follow the directions I already gave you for getting from Heathrow to Cambridge. Find the Cambridge train (usually at platform number 11ish, the far left hand platform), and bingo. Trains to Cambridge leave every 30 mins or so and take a little over one hour. Typical total journey time by train ~ 2.20 hours. There are also trains to Cambridge from Liverpool Street, but King's Cross is the probably best option. When you buy your rail ticket at Gatwick airport, mention that you want to return on the Xth of November, and maybe they will be able to give you an appropriate return ticket, which'd be cheaper. Recently they have started some sort of competitive privatisation on the Gatwick to London line. This might conceivably mean that you get a choice of tickets. I believe that if you buy the more expensive of the two options then you are entitled to travel on either of the two services. Hopefully you can just ask for a ticket to Cambridge and this issue will not affect you. (2) PLACES WITHIN CAMBRIDGE Cambridge Railway and Coach stations and my house ------------------------------------------------- The coach station is right in the centre of town. The railway station is one mile South of the centre. My house is in Girton, two miles North of the centre. Buses run in Cambridge during daytime. At night the buses are pretty useless. Railway station to town centre buses are frequent. They take you to the coach station. From town to Girton, the appropriate buses are destined for St Ives or Huntingdon or various villages e.g. Cottenham. Ask for Girton College and get out there. Some buses take the right turn to Girton, some go straight up the Huntingdon Road. Either is fine. If they turn right, stay on for 400 yards and get out at Thornton Road. Directions to the Cavendish Laboratory -- on foot or bike: -------------------------------------- From the centre of town, on foot or bike, it is far better to take the cycle path than to go via Madingley Road. You can pick up the path in the centre of town starting from the Senate House passage. Take Garrett Hostel Lane over the river, cross the backs, cross Queens Road, pass the University Library (UL) (a big tower prominent just to the left), continue in the same direction up Adams Road, then when the road turns sharply right continue on the cycle path (West) for three hundred yards and turn right (North) into the Cavendish lab. I work in the Rutherford building, which is the furthest building from the cycle path (furthest to the North). My office is 961 and it's on the top floor. Directions to the Cavendish Laboratory by bus: there is little public transport to the Cavendish. Sorry! The MADINGLEY ROAD park-and-ride bus from the centre of town (route 77) does stop at the entrance to the Cavendish site and runs every 10 mins. There may also be other buses that go along Madingley road, but they are not super-frequent. Bus timetables: http://www.stagecoach-cambus.co.uk/ http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/sub/parkride/ttable.htm (3) OTHER STUFF On Oxford --------- If you want to get to Cambridge, don't start from Oxford. There is no convenient car or coach route, and the only train route is via London. It is easier to go to Heathrow and leave the country than to get to the other place. If you want to plan a trip involving Oxford and Cambridge, it is good to bear in mind that the journey from Heathrow to Oxford on a weekday involves less risk of traffic congestion than the corresponding Cambridge journey. Oxford is very convenient by coach from Heathrow. Going from Oxford to Cambridge by train via london takes about 3 hours. The coaches typically take a little longer and run less frequently, I think. TRAVEL FROM GATWICK, HEATHROW, STANSTED AND LUTON AIRPORTS TO CAMBRIDGE AND FROM LONDON TO CAMBRIDGE BY TRAIN (as at August 2001) SUMMARY. From Gatwick and Heathrow one can travel by train with one or two changes in London, or there is a direct coach [long distance bus] once per hour from Heathrow and once every two hours from Gatwick. From Stansted there are also coach and train (direct) services, and from Luton coaches, all about once per hour. From London a frequent service runs from Kings Cross station. GENERAL NOTE RE ALL COACH TRAVEL. These coach services are run by Jetlink (yellow and green coaches) which is also part of the large National Express Group for buying tickets and finding timetables: see website http: //www.gobycoach.com/ The times given below apply at Aug. 2001, but one or two of the very early or very late trips may not run in the winter. One can buy a ticket and book a seat online, or at the ticket offices in or by each terminal at each airport and at the Central Bus Station at Heathrow terminals 1,2,and 3, and at the Coach Station at Gatwick and Stansted. One can also pay on the coach but only in cash and with the right amount in change. The cost now (August 2001) is 24 pounds from Gatwick, 20 from Heathrow, and 8 from Stansted or Luton. Note for those coming from Gatwick or Heathrow. Some but maybe not all coaches have toilets on board. At Stansted there is a toilet very near where the bus stops and one can ask the driver to wait while one nips in quickly but I don't think the geography at Luton is so convenient.=20 On ARRIVAL at Cambridge coach station, it is necessary to take a taxi -- there is a stand just opposite where the coach stops. It is not possible to meet anyone by car because of parking and access restrictions. [Regrettably the situation is slightly shambolic, but coach travel is designed for regular travellers only.]=20 NOTE RE ALL RAIL TRAVEL and LONDON-CAMBRIDGE BY TRAIN The web site for rail (not the London Underground) timetables and buying=20 tickets on line is http://www.railtrack.co.uk/ but the service to Cambridge is sufficiently frequent that one usually just arrives at the station and takes the next train. From=20HEATHROW and GATWICK one goes via LONDON KINGS CROSS station. From Kings Cross there are two trains per hour through most of the day, taking 50 minutes non-stop to Cambridge and called the Cambridge Flyer, labelled as terminating in Cambridge or going on to Kings Lynn . There are other slower trains in between. Usually, but not always during the evening or on Sunday, they leave from what are called the 'suburban platforms' numbered 9 to 11, which are in a separate but attached part of the station from the main-line platforms numbered 1 to 8. But you have to buy the ticket in the main concourse of the station, and the times of the Cambridge trains [terminating at Cambridge or Kings Lynn] are included on the main departure indicator board there. The suburban platforms are in the attached building forward and to the left of the mainline platforms.=20 To reach them, walk up the extreme left-hand main-line platform [number 8] past the restaurant and bar etc until a narrow passage leads through the building to the left; then continue forward for a few more yards. Another small snag; on these platforms there is sometimes a parked train and to reach the mobile one you have to walk up the platform to infront of the parked one. I am sorry if this sounds a bit complicated, but as the word 'suburban' implies it is designed for the commuter, or rather it is not designed at all. Actually it is all quite simple if you follow these directions.=20 FROM HEATHROW AIRPORT TO CAMBRIDGE BY COACH See general note above re all coach travel. From=20Heathrow it should take about 3 hours, but the route takes it around the infamous M25 circular motorway around London, so do not expect it to depart or arrive punctually near times of rush hour traffic [though they are pretty good at being in radio contact with one another and taking off-motorway routes when needed.] Departure from:- Heathrow terminal 4 -- coach station stops 12 and 13=20 Heathrow central bus station [from terminals 1, 2 and 3] -- bay 9 Departure TIMES: note there are two services, namely number 797 coming from Brighton originally, and 787 coming from elsewhere. From=20central coach station, service 787 departs at 05.20 and then every TWO hours until 21.20, and service 797 at 06.40 and then every TWO hours until 22.40. From=20terminal 4, departure is 20 minutes EARLIER. FROM HEATHROW AIRPORT TO CAMBRIDGE BY TRAIN See general note above about travel by train. =20 There are now two train routes in to central London. One is a proper train which runs non-stop to Paddington station, but it is not recommended because one then has to make an awkward change to the underground=20 [=3D'tube'] 'Circle' line to Kings Cross station, and thence to Cambridge. = It is better to take the underground 'Piccadilly' line which runs direct to Kings Cross station. It leaves from Heathrow both at terminal 4 and separately at the central tube station serving terminals 1, 2 and 3. There is usually an enormous queue at the ticket counter, but there is a machine that takes credit cards and banknotes. The cost to Kings Cross is =A33.60. FROM GATWICK AIRPORT TO CAMBRIDGE BY TRAIN See general note above about all travel by rail. There is a special airport Gatwick Express train non-stop to London Victoria station every 15 minutes during the day and hourly through the night. There are also ordinary local trains which are cheaper and also run to Victoria station. From Victoria station one has to take the 'Victoria' underground [=3D'tube'] line or a taxi to Kings Cross station.=20 Alternatively there are from Gatwick airport also frequent trains on the Thameslink line which goes direct to Kings Cross Thameslink station, but this is a short walk from the proper Kings Cross (main line and suburban) station, which you need for Cambridge.=20 FROM GATWICK AIRPORT TO CAMBRIDGE BY COACH See note above about all coach travel. The route is called Service 797 (coming from Brighton) and runs via Heathrow and Stansted airports to Cambridge. The time from Gatwick is nearly four hours which really makes the train a better proposition, as does the fact that the coach only runs once every two hours, but the coach has the advantage that one does not have to change if one has a lot of luggage. Departure is from:- Gatwick south terminal -- coach station stops 1 and 2=20 Gatwick north terminal -- ground level stop 2 Departure times (as at Aug. 2001):- from south terminal at 05.20, 07.05, 09.20, and then every TWO hours until 21.20, and from north terminal 10 minutes later. FROM STANSTED AIRPORT TO CAMBRIDGE BY RAIL OR COACH See the general notes above re coach and rail travel. There is roughly one train per hour to Cambridge between 05.51 and 21.18 on weekdays, between 05.51 and 19.47 on Saturday, and between 10.19 and 18.41 on Sunday. Journey time is 40 minutes. Buy tickets on the same level where the trains run. There is a coach leaving from stop 19 labelled service 757 or 797 at 07.10 and then every hour until 23.10, and also at 00.10, 01.10, 02.40 and 05.10 every day. Journey time is one hour. Buy ticket at the ticket desk at the arrivals end of the terminal, or in the bus station office. Note that the times are subject to delay because the coaches have come from elsewhere.=20 This applies particularly to service 797 (the ones leaving at ten past the even numbered hours) which has come from Brighton most of the way round the notorious M25 motorway. FROM LUTON AIRPORT TO CAMBRIDGE See general notes about coach travel above. The coaches (service 767 and 787) depart the Main Terminal coach stops 9 and 10 at 06.35 and then every hour until 23.35, taking about one and a half hours to Cambridge.