If you live away from Cambridge, you probably need a hotel for the duration of your stay. The conference is organized in the De Vere University Arms Hotel and most people will want to book their rooms in the hotel as well.
De Vere University Arms Hotel
Regent Street,
Cambridge,
CB2 1AD
In order to book for this hotel, please register online at:
http://www.devere.co.uk/our-locations/university-arms
If you really need to cut costs, you can use a website like www.laterooms.com to find cheaper hotels in Cambridge. Make sure to check the distance to the conference location! To us, “The Castle” (6 rooms), “Hamilton Lodge” (22 rooms) and “Kirkwood House” (10 rooms) seem interesting alternatives. These hotels all have wifi, but it is not free.
This website is unfortunately not complete, it will not list hotels from the Premier Inn and Travelodge chains. The “Travelodge Cambridge Central” is large, clean, fairly cheap and 1.1 mile away from the hotel – but closer to the train station. You have to pay extra for wifi, though. Both chains have other hotels in the area, but these are beyond walking distances.
Top
Cambridge is a small town to the north of London, UK.
Around London are four major airports. There are several ways to get to Cambridge from each of the airports. We will cover a number of them.
By far the easiest way is to fly into London Stansted airport.
London Stansted Airport (STN)
This is the airport closest to Cambridge. Stansted is well connected to most parts of Europe through Ryanair and easyJet – but you have to book them on their website, they do not work with agencies.
A taxi from STN to the hotel will cost you about 35 pounds.
There is a direct train connection from STN to Cambridge: walk out of the arrivals hall, go down and you'll be at the train platform. Several trains run every hour, up to approx 11pm. Buy a one-way ticket (8-10 pounds, depends on the time of day) and hop on the train. Make sure to keep the ticket with you, as the Cambridge railway station uses exit portals.
Coaches (=bus) from National Express run all night. See below.
Cambridge Railway Station
From the station, it is about a 1.5 km (1 mile) walk to the hotel. It's all pedestrian area, you can safely walk. Be careful: you're in England, and they drive “on the wrong side of the road”: direct traffic comes
from the right.Follow Station Rd, until it ends at Hills Rd. Inthe center of that crossing is a statue. Turn right on Hills Rd. Walk on Hills Rd for about a kilometer. Amongst other things, you'll pass a Domino's Pizza, and a big crossing where Hills Rd changes name into Regent St. You're nearly there. Only a 200 meter further down Regent St, the University of Arms hotel is at your right hand.
London Luton Airport (LTN)
Although this airport is also fairly close to Cambridge, it's already slightly harder to travel.
There are direct buses (“coach”) approximately every 2 hours from Luton airport to Cambridge, operated by National Express. You can pre-book tickets on their website: http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/airport/luton.aspx . (Tip: your “from” is “London Luton Airport”, not “Luton”). The bus takes 1 hour 35 minutes.
The end stop for this bus is at Parkside, Cambridge. Exit the coach and walk across the lawn to the hotel. Be careful: buses do not wait – be in time!
London Heathrow Airport (LHR)
If you fly intercontinental, you'll probably arrive at Heathrow. This is a big airport with four active terminals. Taking a cab from Heathrow to Cambridge will cost between 100 and 200 pounds, don't do it.
The Londen Underground Picadilly Line connects directly to King's Cross Station. The trip takes approx 50 minutes and costs approx 5 pounds. From King's Cross, First Capital Connect trains run directly to Cambridge Railway Station, twice an hour. The trip takes approx 50 minutes for approx 20 pounds. http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/ .
National Express runs Coaches from Heathrow to Cambridge approximately every two hours, day and night. The trip takes 2h45m. A ticket will be approx 35 pounds. The coaches depart from the bus station near Terminal 3 and the end stop is again Parkside, Cambridge. http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/Airport/heathrow.aspx
London Gatwick Airport (LGW)
London Gatwick is the farthest airport. While it is frequented by several low-cost airlines, you might want to consider flying into another airport (notably London Stansted) because travel will be cumbersome.
If you really want, you can take the Gatwick Express train into London Victoria (17 pound), take the underground to King's Cross (5 pound) and First Capital Connect from there (20 pounds).
Alternatively, you can take National Express Coach from Gatwick to Cambridge, but the journey takes 3h45m and will take you past Heathrow and Stansted airports.
http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/Airport/gatwick.aspx
Return tickets
In most cases you can buy open return tickets – this will save money compared to two single fares.
Make sure to have enough time to check in, British airports are not known for their speed. Especially the lines through security can be long.
Also, in the case of Gatwick and Heathrow, you need to take into account that you might need to travel from your drop-off point to the correct terminal. This takes less than 5 minutes in Gatwick, but can easily take 20 minutes at Heathrow.
If you take the underground (picadilly line) into Heathrow, pay attention that the train actually services your terminal. The trains take turns, so if the first one doesn't, the next one will.
By Road
Approaching from the M11, leave the motorway at junction 11, exiting at the subsequent roundabout onto the A1309 towards Cambridge. Follow the A1309, continuing straight onto the A1134 Trumpington Road. At the roundabout take the second exit onto the A603, and approximately quarter of a mile later turn left onto Regent Street and the De Vere University Arms Hotel.