Free things to do in Cambridge

9 places in Cambridge with free entry or no charge, based on guide listings and map data.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
The museum contains large and important collections of archaeological and anthropological material from all parts of the world. The archaeological collections from all periods include significant collections from Palaeolithic Europe, Asia and Africa; Precolumbian Central and South America; early civilizations of the Mediterranean; and British archaeology. The world-renowned anthropological collections include important collections from the South Seas, West Africa and the Northwest Coast of North America; historic collections from the 18th century; and extensive photographic collections from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Tue-Sun 2PM-4:30PM; closed at Christmas and Easter and on most public holidays; possible extended summer opening - please telephone or email for detailsFree
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Museum of Classical Archaeology
The Museum of Classical Archaeology is one of the few surviving collections of plaster casts of Greek & Roman sculpture in the world. The collection of about four hundred and fifty casts is open to the public and housed in a purpose-built Cast Gallery on the first floor of the Classics Faculty. Although nothing here is an original, nearly all the well-known (and not so well-known) works from the Classical world can be seen together under one roof. The reserve research collections consist of another two hundred plaster casts, Greek vases, pottery sherds, and epigraphic squeezes. These can be consulted by arrangement.
Mon-Fri 10AM-5PM, Sat 10AM-1PMAdmission is free
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Newnham College
Newnham sits a little away from the central colleges and consequently, gets far fewer visitors. The grounds, however, are beautiful, peaceful and simply huge. Walking on the grass is permitted, unusual for Cambridge colleges.
Variable hours: see websiteFree
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Selwyn College
Founded in 1882, Selwyn is one of the newer Cambridge colleges. Its buildings and grounds are excellent examples of Gothic Revival architecture and it has been named one of the “most obviously impressive” of 68 listed buildings in the West Cambridge Conservation Area appraisal. Entering through the Porter's Lodge Gate on Grange Road puts you in the attractive Old Court with its manicured lawn surrounded by red brick, turreted buildings. The gate next to the college chapel leads into the Selwyn gardens. Selwyn College is located less than a ten-minute walk south of the Cambridge Library, and is about 250 m from the Museum of Classical Archaeology.
Free
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The Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge and is on Trumpington Street. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. The museum was founded in 1816 with the bequest of the library and art collection of the VIIth Viscount FitzWilliam. The bequest also included £100,000 "to cause to be erected a good substantial museum repository". The "Founder's Building" itself was designed by George Basevi, completed by C. R. Cockerell and opened in 1848; the entrance hall is by Edward Middleton Barry and was completed in 1875. The Egyptian Galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum re-opened in 2006 after a two-year, £1.5-million programme of refurbishment, conservation and research. The museum has five departments: Antiquities; Applied Arts; Coins and Medals; Manuscripts and Printed Books; and Paintings, Drawings and Prints. Highlights include masterpieces by Titian, Rubens, Van Dyck, Canaletto, Hogarth, Gainsborough, Constable, Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne and Picasso and a fine collection of 20th century art.
Tue-Sat 10AM-5PM, Sun noon-5PMAdmission free
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The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
One of the university's many hidden treasures, and actually its oldest museum, the Sedgwick is packed full of fossils with more than 1 million in its collection. These range from the earliest forms of life from more than 3000 million years ago, to the wildlife that roamed the Fens less than 150,000 years ago. Displays include a gallery of minerals and gemstones, the world's largest spider, rocks collected by Charles Darwin on the 'Voyage of the Beagle', dinosaurs from the Jurassic and Triassic, and fossils from the local area including a hippopotamus from the nearby Barrington gravel pits. The museum organises many activities, so it's always a good idea to check its website..
Mon-Fri 10AM-1PM and 2PM-5PM; Sat 10AM-4PM; closed on Bank HolidaysAdmission free
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The University Museum of Zoology
The University Museum of Zoology displays a great range of recent and fossil animals, emphasising the structural diversity and evolutionary relationships among the animal kingdom. The collections were accumulated from 1814 onwards, and include many specimens collected by Charles Darwin. To find the museum, look for the spectacular whale skeleton, hung above the entrance and visible through the archway from Downing Street.
Tue-Sat 10AM-4:30PM, Sun noon-4:30PM, and Bank Holiday Mondays noon-4:30PMFree
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The Whipple Museum of the History of Science
The Whipple Museum is a pre-eminent collection of scientific instruments and models, dating from the Middle Ages to the present. Included in this outstanding collection are microscopes and telescopes, sundials, early slide rules, pocket electronic calculators, laboratory equipment and teaching and demonstration apparatus. Visitors are advised to check beforehand by contacting the museum if you have special access requirements.
Mon-Fri 12:30PM-4:30PM; closed at weekends (ex third Sat per month), bank holidays and occasionally over the Christmas periodFree
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World War II Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial
The cemetery is on land donated by Cambridge University and is the final resting place for 3812 American military dead lost during the War in the Atlantic and Northern Europe. A monument is inscribed with the names of 5126 Americans whose remains were never found or identified. The chapel contains mosaic maps of World War II campaigns and a mosaic memorial to American Air Forces on the ceiling.
Daily 9AM-5PM except for Dec 25 and Jan 1Free

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Cambridge (CC BY-SA 4.0).