Cycling-related information for tourists and visitors to Cambridge

Maps and Cycling Information

If you’re looking for maps of Cambridge and the surrounding area, many of the bookshops in Cambridge (and there are lots) sell local maps. There are also a number of booklets and leaflets describing rides in the area.

We’ve helped produce a new cycle route map for the City which is now into its second edition. There’s an on-line copy and if you contact us with a stamped-addressed envelope, we will send you a printed one. You may also be able to find one at the tourist information centre.

The Tourist Information Centre has a page on cycling and much other information for visitors:

Tourist Information Centre
Wheeler Street
Cambridge CB2 3QB
01223 – 322640
tourism@cambridge.gov.uk

Also, detailed information about where you can and can’t cycle in the city centre is available.

Hiring bikes

If you’re visiting the area for a few days, why not rent a bike and see the countryside?

There are a number of bike hire outlets in Cambridge.
The Tourist Information Centre also has a list.

We ourselves (Cambridge Cycling Campaign) do NOT offer bike hire services.

Bikes on trains

See our page about bikes on public transport.

BikeBus Explorer

The BikeBus Explorer ceased to run after 27 March 2016. The bus had a trailer for bikes attached, and ran on Sundays and bank holidays from Cambridge to Wimpole Hall and the villages to the west of the city.

Long distance routes

Two National Cycle Network routes, NCR 11 and NCR 51, pass through Cambridge. This link to OpenCycleMap shows how Cambridge connects to the rest of East Anglia. The routes leave Cambridge as follows:

  • NCR 11 north. A spur leaves Cambridge along the river, but can presently be used only as far as Waterbeach. To follow the main route, follow NCR 51 out of Cambridge, then use one of the links (at Swaffham Prior, Reach or Burwell). NCR 11 proper then continues via Wicken Fen to Ely and on to King’s Lynn
  • NCR 11 south. This follows the DNA path from Addenbrooke’s to Great Shelford, then passes near Saffron Walden and Audley End, and continues to Bishop’s Stortford and Harlow. At Harlow, it connects with NCR 1, which will take you into London
  • NCR 51 west. From the edge of Cambridge, this uses a traffic-free route adjacent to the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway as far as St Ives. Then continues to Huntingdon, Bedford and beyond
  • NCR 51 east. This leaves Cambridge on a route adjacent to the river past Stourbridge Common and Ditton Meadows, then runs through the Newmarket Road park-and-ride site to Stow-cum-Quy. It continues to Newmarket, Bury St Edmunds, and on to the coast (at Felixstowe and Harwich) before terminating in Colchester

The Hull to Harwich route may also be of interest (see the Sustrans website for the Hull to Fakenham and Fakenham to Harwich stretches).
Joining the ferry ports of Hull and Harwich, this 370 mile (590km) route travels along minor country roads, cycle tracks, disused railways and river banks.

Visit East Anglia, the official tourism body for the region, has some information about cycling, including bike hire, routes, and events.

Cycle rickshaws

Outspoken Cycles offer a private hire service. We are not aware of any other operators active in Cambridge at the moment.

Other information