King's College costs £16 to £18, the Fitzwilliam is free and punting starts at £28.50. Verified August 2026 prices, opening days and the discounts worth knowing.
Cambridge has an unusual split for a visitor city. The colleges charge, sometimes heavily, and almost everything the university runs as a museum is free. Knowing which is which is worth about £40 to a family on a day out.
Everything below was checked against the venue’s own website in August 2026. Prices change, and several here change on a specific date, so those dates are given.
Free, and worth the trip
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street. Free entry to the permanent collections with no booking, open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday and bank holidays 12pm to 5pm. Ticketed temporary exhibitions carry a charge, but under-18s go free to those too. The only catch is groups: parties of ten or more from the same organisation pay £5 a head and must book, which excludes UK schools, colleges and universities.
The Museum of Zoology, Downing Street. Free. Closed Mondays except bank holiday Mondays, when it opens 12pm to 4.30pm, and open from 10am to 4.30pm from Tuesday onwards. The finback whale skeleton hanging over the entrance is the thing people remember. The Whale Café is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 3pm, and food is not allowed in the galleries.
Kettle’s Yard, Castle Street, is two things with two prices. The galleries and temporary exhibitions are free. The house, Jim Ede’s arrangement of modern art in a domestic setting, is £13, or £11.50 if you decline the donation, with concessions at £11.85 and £10.35 and a £7 rate (£5.75 without donation). Open Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 5pm.
Wandlebury Country Park on the Gog Magog hills, run by the charity Cambridge Past, Present and Future, is free to walk. Parking is £3.50 Monday to Friday and £4.39 at weekends and on bank holidays.
The colleges, and what they cost
King’s College Chapel and Grounds is the one everybody wants, and its pricing has a quirk worth knowing. Self-guided visits are sold by the week, and booking before the Sunday night ahead of your visit is cheaper:
| Ticket | Booked in advance | Booked in the week itself |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | £16.00 to £18.00 | £17.00 to £18.00 |
| Student or child aged 5 to 17 | £13.50 to £15.00 | £14.50 to £15.00 |
Family passes are sold on the order page and group prices do not change with the booking date. Two practical points the college makes itself: tickets are non-refundable, and there are no public toilets on site.
If you live within ten miles of King’s Parade, the college sells a Local Resident Pass that admits you to the grounds and chapel whenever they are open to the public. Other colleges may honour it at their discretion but are not obliged to. For anyone in Cambridge who takes visitors to King’s more than once a year, it is the first thing to look at.
Visiting hours move constantly around services, rehearsals and recordings, and on some days only the grounds are open, at a reduced price paid in person at the Visitor Centre. Check the college’s own day-by-day calendar before setting out.
Great St Mary’s, the university church on King’s Parade, is the cheap alternative view. The tower climb is £8.50 adult, £6.50 student with ID, £4.50 for an accompanied child aged 5 to 16, free under 5, and £21 for a family of two adults and two children. The church is open Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 12pm to 4pm.
Punting, and the price of doing it yourself
Scudamore’s is the long-established operator on the Cam. Prices start from:
- Shared chauffeured College Backs tour, 45 minutes: from £35 a head, rising to about £41 on busier slots. The tour returns to where it started.
- Private chauffeured tour, 45 minutes: from £115 for the punt.
- Self-hire punt on the College Backs: from £28.50 for 60 minutes or £35.50 for 90 minutes. Overrun is charged at £3.50 per six minutes, so an hour over is £35.
- Canoe or kayak hire towards Grantchester: from £28.50 for 90 minutes. Sheep’s Green is about ten minutes of paddling away and Paradise Nature Reserve about thirty.
Check in 15 minutes before your slot; self-hire needs a contactless card deposit and a signed hire agreement. Children under 16 must be accompanied on the chauffeured tours.
The Botanic Garden, cheaper until 1 September
The Cambridge University Botanic Garden on Bateman Street is running reduced adult admission as part of the Great British Summer Savings scheme, from 25 June to 1 September 2026:
| Ticket | Until 1 September | From 2 September |
|---|---|---|
| Adult, donation inclusive | £8.50 | £9.50 |
| Adult, standard | £7.60 | £8.60 |
| Guest of a Friend, donation inclusive | £7.60 | £8.60 (special rate) |
| Children under 17 | Free | Free |
Under-17s are free all year, so for a family this is one of the better-value afternoons in the city at any time. If you were planning a visit in early September, moving it forward a week saves a pound a head.
Local museums the tourists miss
The Museum of Cambridge on Castle Street tells the story of the town rather than the university. £7 standard, £7.70 with Gift Aid, £6 concession, and children 16 and under free. There is a £3.50 last-call entry from 4pm, and groups of five or more adults get 20% off. It is closed Tuesday and Wednesday, open 10am to 5pm Thursday to Saturday and Monday, and 11am to 5pm on Sunday. Hours can change with volunteer availability, so ring ahead.
Cambridge Museum of Technology at the old pumping station on Riverside is £7 adult or £7.70 with Gift Aid, concessions £6 and £6.60. Higher-priced tickets apply on days when the engines are in steam.
Jesus Green Lido is the one locals rate above all of it. About 90 metres long, built in the 1920s and 30s, one of the longest outdoor pools in the country and run for the council by GLL. Until 31 August it opens 6.30am to 7pm and 7.30pm to 9.30pm on weekdays, and 7am to 7pm at weekends. From 1 September the evening session goes and it runs 6.30am to 7pm on weekdays. On bank holidays until the end of September it is open 7am to 7pm. There is no dedicated parking; there are cycle racks outside and meters on Chesterton Road. Prices and booking are through GLL.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to visit King’s College Cambridge?
A self-guided visit to the Chapel and Grounds is £16 to £18 for an adult if you book before the Sunday ahead of your visit, and £17 to £18 if you book during the week itself. Students and children aged 5 to 17 pay £13.50 to £15 in advance, or £14.50 to £15 otherwise. Tickets are non-refundable.
What is free to visit in Cambridge?
The Fitzwilliam Museum, the Museum of Zoology, the galleries and temporary exhibitions at Kettle’s Yard and Wandlebury Country Park (parking charged) are all free. So are the Backs, Jesus Green, Midsummer Common and Grantchester Meadows.
How much is punting in Cambridge?
A shared 45-minute chauffeured tour of the College Backs starts at £35 a head. A private punt for the same tour is from £115. Taking a punt out yourself is from £28.50 for an hour or £35.50 for 90 minutes, with overruns at £3.50 per six minutes.
Is the Cambridge Botanic Garden free?
Not for adults, but children under 17 are free all year. Adult admission is £8.50 donation-inclusive or £7.60 standard until 1 September 2026, returning to £9.50 and £8.60 on 2 September.
What can you do in Cambridge when it rains?
The free university museums are the answer: the Fitzwilliam, the Museum of Zoology and the Kettle’s Yard galleries are all indoors and all free. The Museum of Cambridge at £7 and the Museum of Technology at £7 are the paid alternatives.
Sources
- Fitzwilliam Museum, visit us for free entry, opening hours and the group charge.
- Museum of Zoology, visit us for free admission and opening days.
- Kettle’s Yard, plan your visit for house admission prices and opening times.
- King’s College, opening times and tickets and its ticketing pages, plus the Local Resident Pass page.
- Cambridge University Botanic Garden, book tickets for the summer promotion dates and the standard prices from 2 September.
- Great St Mary’s, the tower for tower climb prices and church opening hours.
- Scudamore’s chauffeured tour, self-hire and canoe hire pages for punting prices.
- Museum of Cambridge, visit and Cambridge Museum of Technology, visit for admission prices.
- Cambridge City Council, Jesus Green Lido for the pool’s dimensions, operator and seasonal opening hours.
- Cambridge Past, Present and Future, Wandlebury Country Park for parking charges.
Checked 9 August 2026. Opening hours at the colleges change day to day around services and recordings, and several prices here change on 1 or 2 September, so confirm with the venue before travelling. Getting here is covered on Cambridge to London trains and Cambridge roadworks and travel.
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