“Good but not great”
I stayed with two other family members for four days in this hotel while visiting someone at Cambridge University. The beds were comfortable (good mattresses) and the room clean which were my main two concerns. The location of the hotel was excellent, just one block away from Emmanuel College, banks, shopping mall (Grand Arcade), food store.
I did have a few complaints:
- The lighting in the room was poor, not enough lights and the existing lights were not bright enough. So the room was too dark at night and not comfortable for reading or talking with several people.
- The desk chair had to be replaced right away, it was falling apart (screws were loose).
- The wireless Internet was excessively expensive, especially by American standards, 35 pounds for 4 days per computer and my family had three laptops to use. To save money, we took turns using one laptop which was a great inconvenience. Given how important the Internetiis, the hotel should allow several laptops or smartphones per Internet account, and charge a lower fee.
- Like many hotels, there weren't enough wall sockets to power all the electronic devices we had to use (cameras, cellphones, laptops). I had anticipated this and brought a power brick with a British adapter, but that still was not enough. This isn't the 20th century anymore, wake up!
My family did not try the hotel restaurants and bars so nothing to say there.
Area recommendations
Food at the pubs is ok to fair so if you are looking for a tasty meal, try a restaurant. My family especially liked Jamie's Italian, excellent Italian food in an impressive large room with tall (25 feet) columns, the room used to be a big library.
The Orchard at Grantchester is a delightful place to visit nearby, a short taxi cab away and excellent pastries, tea, coffee, soups, and main dishes.
Otherwise, just walking around Cambridge is greatly enjoyable: many small interesting stores, the many colleges are fun to visit, a walk along the River Cam leads to many pretty bridges and scenes, as well as people punting on the river.
One special activity to try is to attend Evensong at one of the colleges around dinner time. This is a religious service in which much of the service is song by a boy's choir. We attended the one at St. John's Chapel, the choir was about 20 boys ranging in age from 10 to 18, and the singing was wonderful.
