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The Backs, Cambridge - Things to Do at The Backs

Things to Do at The Backs

Complete Guide to The Backs in Cambridge

About The Backs

The Backs is the stretch of riverside meadow and garden that runs behind eight Cambridge colleges along the west bank of the River Cam. Arrive on a clear spring morning before the tourist coaches pull in and it can stop you cold. The view from the Queen's Road footbridge looking south toward King's College Chapel is the kind of thing that ends up on a thousand postcards. Yet seeing those pale limestone towers rise above the willow trees and trimmed lawns with the slow brown river in the foreground is still arresting, even when you know it's coming. There's a particular quality to the light here in late afternoon, when the stone catches a warm amber tone and the long shadows fall across the grass. The Backs covers roughly a mile of riverbank threading behind King's, Clare, Trinity Hall, Trinity, St John's, Queens', and a handful of other colleges. Some sections are college grounds with limited access. Others open freely onto public footpaths. The landscape shifts as you walk it. Clipped formal gardens near Clare give way to rougher meadow grass further north. In the stretches managed by Trinity you might find cows grazing on the riverbank with the college gatehouse visible beyond. The smell of the water, slightly green, slightly muddy, distinctly English, mixes with cut grass and, if the wind is right, something faintly floral from the college gardens. It's worth being honest: The Backs can be crowded, on summer weekends when punts queue at the hire stations and tour groups fan out across the lawns. The experience at 8am on a Tuesday in May is completely different from 2pm on a Saturday in August. The bones of the place are beautiful enough to survive the crowds. But if you want the reflective, slightly melancholy atmosphere that the setting seems designed to produce, earlier and quieter is better.

What to See & Do

King's College Chapel from the Riverbank

The view from the Cam looking east toward King's College Chapel is arguably the most reproduced image in Cambridge, and it earns the reputation. Standing on the bank or drifting past in a punt, you get the full perpendicular Gothic facade rising behind a low stone bridge, with the chapel's four slender turrets framing a sky that seems deliberately composed. Up close, the stonework reveals centuries of weathering: dark lichen patches on the pale Ketton limestone, carved heraldic beasts worn smooth by rain. On misty mornings, the whole structure seems to float slightly.

The Mathematical Bridge at Queens' College

This wooden footbridge connecting the two halves of Queens' College looks, at first glance, like it shouldn't work, a seemingly curved arc assembled from straight timber beams without any nails or bolts. The current structure is a mid-20th century replacement (there have been several), so the popular story about Newton's original design is apocryphal. But the engineering principle is real. Worth crossing slowly and looking down at the water below, which tends to be thick with punts jostling for position in summer.

Clare Bridge and the College Gardens

Clare Bridge, dating from 1640, is likely the oldest surviving bridge in Cambridge, and the approach through Clare College's garden is among the most quietly lovely walks in The Backs. The formal planting, clipped hedges, seasonal bedding, the smell of box in warm weather, gives way abruptly to the open riverside lawn. One of the stone balls on the bridge's parapet has a segment missing, and the story behind it (a stonemason's protest over payment, according to college legend) is probably embellished but adds texture.

Bridge of Sighs at St John's

This covered bridge connects the older and newer courts of St John's College, and while it borrows its name from Venice, the Cambridge version is a rather more cheerful piece of neo-Gothic confection, stone tracery, oriel windows, the River Cam sliding underneath in a narrow dark channel. You can't cross it unless you're a member of the college. But the view from the adjacent Kitchen Bridge looking west is one of The Backs' better photographic angles, in the blue hour before dusk when the carved stonework holds the last light.

The Open Meadow Near Trinity

Past the formal college gardens, the northern section of The Backs opens into a rougher, less manicured stretch of riverside meadow managed by Trinity College. This is where you're most likely to encounter the unexpected: cattle grazing on the bank (the college has retained grazing rights for centuries), or a solitary rower passing silently in the early morning, oars creaking. The grass here is longer, the path less defined, and the atmosphere noticeably different from the groomed south end, less postcard, more quietly peculiar.

Practical Information

Opening Hours

The public riverside footpath along The Backs is accessible at all hours, though some sections pass through college grounds that close at dusk (typically around 5pm in winter, later in summer). The path running along the west bank of the Cam from Silver Street north toward Magdalene Street is generally open throughout the day. Individual college gardens vary, Clare, King's, and Queens' all charge admission during peak season and have defined visiting hours.

Tickets & Pricing

Walking the public riverside path is free. Entering individual college grounds typically costs a modest entrance fee per adult, with reductions for students and children, though these vary by college and season. Punting hire is a separate cost and ranges from self-hire boats charged by the hour to chauffeured tours charged per person. Chauffeured tends to run significantly higher than self-hire.

Best Time to Visit

Early morning in late April or May is the sweet spot, daffodils and blossom are out, the light is clean, and you'll have the lawns largely to yourself before 9am. Summer afternoons are the most crowded period, though the warmth makes punting pleasant if you don't mind company. Autumn offers softer light and falling leaves with noticeably thinner crowds. Winter is stark but surprisingly atmospheric, with frost on the lawns and no punts to contend with.

Suggested Duration

Give yourself 45 minutes for the simple stroll from Silver Street to Magdalene Bridge along The Backs. Add two to three hours if you step inside colleges, linger on bridges, or pick up a punt. A full afternoon with a punt ride plus one college garden equals a solid Cambridge day.

Getting There

The Backs lies ten minutes' walk from Cambridge city centre. Leave the market square, head west on King's Parade, and Silver Street appears fast. Cycling rules here. The west bank path suits a slow pedal, though summer crowds thicken near punt stations. Trains stop a mile east. Walk or hop a Citi bus. Cars? Forget them. Parking near The Bond is punishing and the city is tiny.

Things to Do Nearby

King's College Chapel Interior
The outside view from The Backs costs nothing. The inside ticket is worth it. The fan vaulting, the largest anywhere, webs the ceiling in stone lace that stops you cold. Listen during weekday choral evensong. The sound seems to bloom from the air itself.
Fitzbillies on Trumpington Street
Since 1922 Cambridge students have walked ten minutes from Silver Street for Chelsea buns. They arrive dark, dense, sticky with treacle and orange peel. Eat one in cold air. Go early, beat the lunch rush.
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Five minutes south of The Backs, the Fitz punches above Cambridge's weight. Egyptian mummies, Impressionist canvases, Greek marble, and top illuminated manuscripts sit inside. Entry is free and the halls stay calmer than college quads. Perfect rain refuge.
Grantchester Meadows
Rent a punt at Scudamore's Mill Lane base and head two miles upstream to Grantchester. Meadows turn rural fast: cattle graze, swifts wheel, city hum fades. The village tea garden has poured cups for over a century and still runs on honesty and cake.
Trinity Street and the Covered Market
North of The Backs, Trinity Street squeezes past college gates and crooked bookshops in proper medieval fashion. The covered market off Market Square, dating from the 18th century, still mixes cheese, secondhand books, and coffee in friendly chaos.

Tips & Advice

The west bank footpath along Queen's Road gives you river views without college tickets. Use it when you want the mood, not the queue.
Self-hire punts cost far less than chauffeured rides and feel more rewarding. Expect twenty wobbly minutes, then you glide. Ignore touts on the bridge. Stick to established stations for sound boats and clear prices.
Weekday evensong at King's College Chapel is free and fills the vault with candlelit song. Choir rehearsals in term time slip under the radar yet linger long.
The meadows north of Trinity feel loneliest in autumn and winter. Bring waterproof boots. The path turns to mud after rain.

Tours & Activities at The Backs

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