Two of the world’s great universities – Harvard and MIT – shape the character and appeal of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
What makes Cambridge, Massachusetts, unique?
To all intents and purposes a suburb of Boston, just on the north side of the Charles River, Cambridge is technically a city in its own right. A very proud one too – with an academic heritage that no other city in the world comes close to competing with.
At the western end, there is Harvard University, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has its campus in the east. Both are regulars in the top ten rankings of world universities, and both lend very different characters to their area.
Harvard’s campus is mainly red brick, historic and steeped in tradition – and the restaurants and shops in the vicinity attempt to carve out their own slice of deep tradition too. All seem to come with stories.
At the MIT end, however, there’s no desire to be olde worlde. Restaurants play up the science behind the cooking and industrial chic wins out over cosy.
But in the gaps between the rival visions, there are enough people around to allow independent Cambridge to thrive – and come up with plenty of good ideas on its own.
A walk through Cambridge’s highlights
Kicking off from Harvard Square, the Hahvahd Tour (a play on Bostonian pronunciation) from Trademark Tours is a great introduction to Harvard University, its campus and its legends.
This university campus tour lasts around 70 minutes and features tales about why the famed John Harvard statue is based on three lies, plus the lavish library donated by the mother of a Titanic victim – with some rather peculiar strings attached.
There are plenty of on-site museums, with the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology physically connected. The latter has some really good exhibitions on Native Americans and how they reacted to European settlement.
Then either walk down Massachusetts Avenue or hop two stops on the Red Line subway to the MIT campus, which is full of public art from big names such as Anish Kapoor and Jaume Plensa. Pick up a free guide at the visitor centre and make sure to swing by Frank Gehry’s eye-poppingly all-over-the-place Stata Center.
Harvard has more museums, but MIT has the most entertaining one. The MIT Museum goes heavy on the history of robotics, and features several ground-breaking robots that span from a mock tuna learning how fish swim so fast to a robot that learns and apes human expressions.
There are also very cool sections on kinetic sculpture, holograms and the inventions of MIT scientists.
Where to eat in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Mr Bartley’s Burger Cottage is one of those Harvard Square joints with its own mythos. Queues line up outside at lunchtime, labels by the seats indicate famous people who’ve sat there in the past (from Al Pacino to Robert Plant) and the burgers have satirical names such as “Taxachusetts” or “Most Broken Transit Authority”.
Just off Harvard Square, Alden & Harlow gets very playful with regional ingredients, for dishes such as seared Vermont quail with black garlic, pickled spruce, puffed rice and black figs.
Where to shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Unsurprisingly, Cambridge is a place where book stores thrive. Of the many, the Harvard Book Store at 1256 Massachusetts Avenue is arguably the most atmospheric. Shelves clamber to the ceiling, the emphasis is firmly on non-fiction and there are all manner of nooks and crannies to feel happily lost in.
On the other side of Harvard Square, the Cambridge Artists Cooperative at 59A Church Street pulls together some gorgeous jewellery, ceramic coasters, colourful scarves, delightfully handsome wooden boxes and elegant glassware.
Cambridge, MA, hotel recommendations
The Charles Hotel near Harvard Square has professorial authority to it, with gently satirical artwork on the walls, sturdy desks designed for doing serious work at and plenty of endearing detail that catches the eye. The in-room clocks with exposed cogs are very cool, for instance. There’s a handy indoor pool.
The Royal Sonesta in East Cambridge has of the biggest hotel pools in the city, strong riverside dining in the Art Bar, a genuinely impressive art collection and a prime position on the Charles River.
At the budget end, the Cambridge Bed and Muffin veers a little too close to kitschy lace overload, but has cheapish rooms.
The end of May is graduation season, and all hotels are booked out by proud parents coming to watch the ceremonies. Finding somewhere to stay can be a costly and expensive business.
More Boston travel
Boston tours and activities worth considering include small group walking tours along the Freedom Trail, whale-watching cruises and North End food tours.
Other Boston travel articles on Planet Whitley include:
- Learning the legends of Harvard on a campus tour.
- Discovering the story of baseball, starting at Fenway Park.
- Why visit the Back Bay neighbourhood in Boston?
- 5 really good reasons to visit Boston.
- Review of the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.
