The Varsity Hotel & Spa

About The Varsity Hotel & Spa

The Varsity occupies a modern building on Thompson's Lane, tucked between Bridge Street and the river, and its position is genuinely hard to beat - it is the closest hotel in Cambridge to St John's, Trinity, Jesus and Magdalene colleges, and the Cam runs immediately below. It is independently owned rather than part of a chain, and at 48 rooms it is small enough that the staff tend to recognise guests by the second morning.

Rooms are individually designed in a contemporary English style that plays with the city's history - college scarves, rowing photographs, bold headboards - without tipping into pastiche. The higher categories are the interesting ones: Superking rooms come with four-poster beds, and some have free-standing hot tubs on walk-out balconies above the river. Standard rooms are compact by comparison, as they usually are in central Cambridge, so it is worth paying up a grade if you plan to spend time in the room.

Facilities are unusually good for a hotel this size. Guests have free use of the gym and daily fitness classes, an Elemis spa with treatment rooms, a spa pool, sauna and steam room, and the roof terrace, which gives one of the few genuinely panoramic views over the colleges available to the public. SIX, the sixth-floor brasserie and bar, wraps the top of the building with 360-degree views and cooks from a wood-fired stone oven; the River Bar steakhouse at ground level does 28-day dry-aged beef beside the water. Bicycles are complimentary, punting stations are a two-minute walk at Magdalene Bridge, and parking is at nearby public car parks rather than on site.