Cambridge colleges and gardens: King's, the Backs and the Botanic

Cambridge is a compact city that rewards walking, and its centre packs in an extraordinary concentration of architecture, art and planting. The trick to enjoying it is to resist the urge to tick off colleges one after another. Pick a handful of set pieces, take to the river, and leave room for the museums and gardens that most day-trippers miss. Here is how we would spend a day or two.

King's College Chapel: start with the ceiling

King's College Chapel is the building most people picture when they think of Cambridge, and the college itself calls it the most instantly recognisable in the city. Building began in 1446 under Henry VI, part of the austere court style associated with that pious king, but work went on long after he was overthrown, and later builders added richer ornament. The great fan vault, completed between 1512 and 1515, is the largest in the world.

Stand in the centre of the nave and look up; it is one of those rare spaces that genuinely changes the way you breathe. The college is candid that the chapel needs constant care, from roof coverings and stonework to the medieval stained glass.

Visiting as a tourist requires a ticket for a time slot, bought online, and the college offers cheaper early-bird tickets for the week ahead. Our advice: if you can, come for Choral Evensong instead or as well. It is sung most days during term time and is free. King's is also home to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. If King's is full or closed, don't worry: many other college chapels also hold Choral Evensong, free and open to everyone, and the experience of hearing a college choir in its own building is the point, whichever chapel you choose.

Walking the Backs

The Backs is the name for the stretch where several colleges back onto the River Cam, and it is the best free view in Cambridge. From the path you look across lawns to the chapel and the colleges beside it.

Walk south and you come to Queens' College and the Mathematical Bridge. It was first built of oak in 1749, by James Essex the Younger to William Etheridge's design, repaired in 1866 and rebuilt to the same design in teak in 1905. You will probably hear that Isaac Newton designed it without nuts or bolts. He didn't; the bridge went up 22 years after his death, and the visible bolts in the modern version may be what started the story.

Head north instead and you pass towards Trinity; its Great Gate faces the street on the town side, and a short detour along Trinity Street and Bridge Street brings you to The Round Church. Near the southern end of King's Parade, look out for The Corpus Clock. For the overview, climb the 123 steps of the tower of Great St Mary's Church, whose 360-degree outdoor viewing platform gives you the whole layout of colleges, river and town in one sweep. It is the best way we know to make sense of the city before you explore it.

Punting: do it properly

An estimated 900,000 people go punting in Cambridge each year, and a trip along the Backs is the classic way to see the colleges from the water. Routes take in King's College Chapel, the Wren Library at Trinity and the Bridge of Sighs.

You have two choices:

• Chauffeured tour: a guide does the work and tells the stories. Several licensed operators run shared and private trips.
• Self-hire: you punt yourself. It is harder than it looks, and much more entertaining for anyone watching.

The one piece of advice that matters: use a licensed operator. Visit Cambridge warns that unlicensed sellers tout tickets on King's Parade and elsewhere in the centre. Licensed operators work only from their stations at Quayside, the Mill Pond and near Jesus Green, so buy your ticket there.

The Fitzwilliam Museum: Cambridge's great free treasure house

The Fitzwilliam Museum on Trumpington Street is the University of Cambridge's museum of art and antiquities, founded in 1816 through the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam. Its Founder's Building, designed by George Basevi and completed by C. R. Cockerell, opened in 1848.

It holds more than half a million objects, including Egyptian galleries and paintings by Titian, Rubens and Monet. Admission is always free, which makes it the perfect place to dip into for an hour rather than attempt in one go.

If you have children, or simply like skeletons, the university's Museum of Zoology and the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences are both worth adding.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden

Further south along the same road, the Cambridge University Botanic Garden covers 16 hectares (40 acres) between Trumpington Road, Bateman Street and Hills Road. The university bought the site in 1831 and opened the garden to the public in 1846. It was planned by Professor John Stevens Henslow, who was also Charles Darwin's teacher and mentor.

The glasshouse range dates from the 1860s and has been restored and replanted with around 3,000 species, grouped into themes such as Arid Lands and Tropical Rainforests. The garden is designed for interest all year, and the Winter Garden is at its best from December to April, which makes this a rare Cambridge highlight that improves in the cold months. Tickets are needed, and the garden is close to the railway station, making it an easy first or last stop.

If you only have one day

• Morning: King's College Chapel (book a time slot), then a walk along the Backs to the Mathematical Bridge.
• Lunch: Something simple near the centre; Cafe Foy and Aromi are both handy.
• Afternoon: An hour in the Fitzwilliam, then on to the Botanic Garden.
• Early evening: A chauffeured punt, or Choral Evensong if it's term time.
• Evening: A drink at The Cambridge Blue or The Free Press, or riverside at The Anchor.

Plan it

With a car or an extra half-day, Audley End House and Gardens is the obvious country-house excursion from the city.

• Getting there: Cambridge railway station is the nearest stop for the Botanic Garden, and the centre is walkable from there.
• Where to base yourself: Staying central means you can walk everywhere; Premier Inn Cambridge City Centre is close to the colleges.
• Best time of year: Term time if you want to hear Evensong; December to April for the Botanic Garden's Winter Garden; warmer months for punting.
• Booking tips: Book King's College Chapel online in advance for early-bird prices. Buy punting tickets only at licensed stations at Quayside, the Mill Pond or near Jesus Green. Check the Fitzwilliam's website for special exhibitions, and book Botanic Garden tickets before you go.