This university city is a joy to explore on foot or on the water

On this crisp sunny morning, it appears we’re the only ones drifting along the Cam, the river that wends through the bucolic heart of Cambridge.

It’s surreal not to see another soul on The Backs, a much-photographed stretch flowing past the lush groomed lawns of the famous university colleges. Yet while I feel fortunate for this scenic serenity, there is a catch. It’s the northern winter and the temperature is close to zero.

It’s a far cry from my previous, balmy Cambridge trips, when I’ve rubbed shoulders with the peak summer tourists and the students who chose not to go home for the holidays, preferring to soak up this city’s idyllic charms, like kicking back in the riverside beer gardens and boating on the Cam.

Rowers, canoeists and kayakers are in their element here, but punting is the quintessential Cambridge activity. Established in 1910, Scudamore’s is the city’s oldest and largest punting operator and is open every day except Christmas Day. You can hire a flat-bottomed boat and propel yourself along the Cam’s shallow waters with a pole. Or sit back and let someone else do the work.

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Chauffeur-led tours glide you by the fairytale colleges, revealing stories of celebrated alumni, including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, King Charles III and David Attenborough. I was sceptical about booking a 9am punting trip for January, but it’s blissful, and I’m kept toasty by the blanket and hot-water bottle they provide (you’ll also get an umbrella if it’s raining).

Like its old foe Oxford (“the other place”, as they jokingly refer to it here), Cambridge has a timeless, year-round allure. A great day trip from London – it’s just an hour by rail – it rewards longer stays, and my base is the new (Australian-owned) The Hobson Cambridge by Adina apartment hotel in a handsomely restored Victorian police station. As well as arresting period features – flamboyant mosaic flooring, a winding stone staircase – you’ll find Antipodean influences at its restaurant, Oz & Isle, and artworks in the lobby illustrating flora and fauna like waratahs and cockatoos.

Cambridge has plenty to squawk about, chief among them 126 Nobel prizes – more than any other city, it’s claimed. Groundbreaking advances in medicine and science have been made at the university, which comprises 31 colleges. Most welcome the public onto their picturesque grounds. Admission is free to several colleges, such as Peterhouse (the oldest, founded in 1284), while others charge, notably King’s, whose gothic chapel flaunts an incredible fan-vaulted ceiling.

Walking tours are a good way to see a mix of colleges while delving into the wider cityscape. With former Cambridge market trader and now guide Jonny Thornalley for genial company, I discover numerous places I’d otherwise have just walked past, from tucked-away Pembroke College – where Kogarah’s Clive James read English – to the storybook lane where Stephen Hawking lived in the 1970s.

Cambridge is a joy to explore independently too. Just beware the students, scholars and professors careening along on bicycles. Leafy parks, flowery gardens and dreamy meadows abound and there are absorbing free museums on subjects like zoology, archaeology and anthropology. Don’t miss The Fitzwilliam Museum, which has about 500,000 objects, from ancient Egyptian coffins to contemporary African paintings, in a neoclassical building with astonishingly opulent interiors.

For refreshments, Cambridge has everything from classic British tearooms and chophouses to cosmopolitan eateries pleasing many of the 140 nationalities studying here. There’s also epic pub crawl potential.

Atmospheric watering holes include The Pickerel, a riverside inn dating to 1608, and The Eagle, where Francis Crick and James Watson announced they’d discovered “the secret of life” – the double helix structure of DNA – in 1953. I don’t have time to drink in all the Cambridge pubs on this trip, but I figure there’s always next time.

THE DETAILS

FLY
Qantas flies to London from Sydney and Melbourne via Singapore or Perth. Trains connect London’s King’s Cross station with Cambridge. See nationalrail.co.uk

TOUR
It’s £28.50 ($54) per hour to hire a punt for six people. Shared 45-minute tours cost from £40. Private tours are also available. See scudamores.com. Running daily, the 90-minute Cambridge Highlights walking tour costs £20 for adults and £12 for children. See cantabtours.com

STAY
The Hobson Cambridge by Adina has nightly rates from about £125. See thehobsoncambridge.com

MORE
visitcambridge.org, visitbritain.com.

The writer was a guest of Visit Britain and Cambridge tourism.

Steve McKenna is based in the UK, but is usually drawn to sunnier climes. He has a special affection for Mediterranean Europe, south-east Asia and Latin America.