King's College Chapel
King's College Chapel
King's College Chapel
4.5
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This imposing English Gothic structure was built between 1446 and 1515, and is the site where many great scholars were educated.
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- UKHec394 contributionsStunning but pricyIt’s absolutely stunning but the same old problem with any tourist destination in Cambridge; it’s full of groups of overseas visitors taking endless photos for Instagram and TikTok. It felt quite disrespectful so close to the altar. Maybe they need a couple of staff inside to encourage appropriate behaviour in a sacred space. £14 is steep as it’s hard to spend more than 45 minutes. I noted guide leaflets were available in six foreign languages but none in English!Visited December 2023Travelled with friendsWritten 3 December 2023
- Aspara gustationSouth East England, United Kingdom26 contributionsTotally stunning.Although it seemed expensive for the ticket, I have no regrets spending this, as it was a stunning building crammed with history. As you enter you are in a vast space filled with amazing architectural features, carvings and stained glass windows. The ceilings are very beautiful as they feature fan vaulting, an amazing technical achievement considering the date it was built. There is an exhibition within the chapel which shows in a 3d model how the medieval craftsmen achieved the feature ceiling in what is seemingly an impossible task. Above the altar is “TheAdoration of the Magi” one of Reubens greatest masterpieces.Visited February 2024Travelled as a coupleWritten 28 February 2024
- DocDavid176 contributionsOne of the architectural wonders of the worldTotally and truly breathtaking, and one of the finest and most perfect buildings in the world. It's over 20 years since I was last there, and it has lost none of its wondrousness. Yes, the entrance fee is steep. At nearby Ely Cathedral, similar price, but ticket valid for a year, and a free guided tour thrown in. But my major gripe: no public loos. For that money, you'd think there would be public facilities nearby. Without going into too much detail, this is a major issue for some folk!Visited February 2024Travelled as a coupleWritten 28 February 2024
- Susan Smith69 contributionsWell worth the entrance fee.Booked online and we had no problem getting in slightly earlier than our booking. Extensive walk around the chapel and by the river. I loved the fact that you were free to view the chapel but staff on hand to answer any questions. Steeped in history this chapel is so interesting.Visited April 2024Travelled as a coupleWritten 17 April 2024
- Cheekycockney190757Basildon, United Kingdom11,482 contributionsWonderful addition to any visit to Cambridge.Visited on Friday 08th March 2024 as part of a Mini Break to Cambridge. Booked myself on a self-guided Tour of Kings College grounds and Chapel. Booked a time slot in the afternoon but was allowed by the guy at the entrance to come in earlier which was a nice touch as due to circumstances beyond our control we couldn't make the booked slot time. After entering you access the chapel via a path which circumnavigates the grass square common in these older colleges but beautiful nevertheless. Once inside you are treated with free pamphlets in various languages to guide you around the largest chapel in the world and the oldest building within the University. It is visually stunning and particular highlights were the worn entrance step for an anteroom which is currently the site of the cript of John Churchill. The organ had the initials of Henry VIII & Anne Boleyn carved all over it as a gift from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn and only one remains inside the organist area after he had her beheaded & finally the Adoration of the Magi by Paul Rubens 1616, located here since 1968. When originally sold in the 1950s, most expensive painting in the world at between 250-275k depending on where you read... About 3.3m in today's moneyVisited March 2024Travelled with familyWritten 25 April 2024
- Bad_Seed4Canberra, Australia798 contributionsStunning and mostly worth the moneyThere's a bit of me that says paying to visit a house of worship is not a good thing however I recognise that this is on private land so just go with it. Interestingly, the guard at the first gate kept telling people to go back to the tourist office to buy tickets when it was easy to buy them with the QR code on the big sign in front of him -don't know if he was a technophobe or something? Or just sick of explaining to people who couldn't manage the QR code? Anyway, the QR code was easy so just bought the ticket then and there and went in and all was beautiful, it really is quite majestic, then spent some time afterwards walking around the bits that were open to the public and looking at the punters, it was really bad weather so surprised that there were still a few out! RecommendedVisited June 2024Travelled with familyWritten 23 June 2024
- Rose J69 contributionsEnjoyable visit to King’s College Chapel and GroundsWe had a wonderful visit to King’s College Chapel and grounds. The architecture and stained glass are gorgeous, and the signage/exhibits inside provide a great deal of historical information. The grounds are lovely as well. Enjoyed our time here.Visited August 2024Travelled with familyWritten 18 August 2024
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4.5
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Wander & Wonder
Singapore, Singapore1,699 contributions
Dec 2019 • Family
The King’s College Chapel is a grand gothic style chapel with beautiful stained glass. It is the most prominent building when you enter Cambridge university grounds and it is opposite St Mary the Great church. It was reported that the stained glass were insured for $1billion pounds.
Written 18 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
dlc1980
Christchurch, England, United Kingdom13 contributions
Aug 2021
This is a breathtaking and iconic building. Our family are all musicians - my two children are choristers - so this is a particularly special place to visit. And the college knows how wonderful the place is, because they charge £36 for a family to visit. We don't mind paying this because we're contributing to the cost of maintaining such a unique building. But charging tourist prices does place something of an obligation on them to look after their visitors accordingly, and they weren't quite up to it. Mindful of their policy of not offering refunds if you miss your slot, we booked a later slot (2pm) in case we were delayed in travelling there. Ticketing is done through Eventbrite and the tickets said that they closed at 4pm, so we were surprised at being asked to prepare to leave at 2.45pm. I discussed this with their staff who were friendly and polite, but just said that Eventbrite were wrong, and that I should have checked their own website instead. Unfortunately this said that they closed at 3.30pm, which was also wrong. So don't let this put you off visiting an extraordinary and beautiful building. Just be aware that, like the other colleges, and despite the high ticket price, visitors are not their highest priority.
Written 26 August 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Alexandru T
1 contribution
Jan 2022 • Friends
I had a terrible experience! We arrived at the gate few mins after the last slot to enter and visit and the lady at the entrance was very rude and aggressive saying that we have no tickets, that we have no way to have for that hour even though we had ... after about 10 minutes of explanations and showed the tickets, the lady at the entrance says that it is already late and that we can no longer enter. We explained that we drove 3 hours to visit and that directions were not clear whether which one is the main entranced. Explained we were to the other entrance and that's why we were late 5 mins. Kindly asked if we can go at least in the garden, stay 5 mins so we make our money worth but they didn't allow us to do so. It was pouring rain we were soaking wet and we said it will worth once we are in. No sympathy from them. It was a very unpleasant experience that has never happened to us before
Written 9 January 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
eliza272
Washington DC, DC105 contributions
Nov 2019
Cambridge is one of one of my favorite towns with its cobbled roads and historical university. We had a long walk to get to Kings College Chapel because of the parking. We were in time for Evensong at King's College Chapel, the iconic feature of Cambridge, founded by Henry IV in 1441. After standing in line some time we were fortunate to have front row seats right at the top of the church near Peter Paul Reuben’s painting of the Adoration of the Magi. It was a privilege to be in such close proximity to this world-famous painting which the College only received in the early 1960’s. The music thrilled my soul, the pure voices of the choir boys and a full evensong liturgy, was so beautiful I felt that picture of Reubens was quite appropriate, worshiping the Christ Child. Check the times for Evensong and get in line early if you want a full experience at Evensong.
Written 8 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
steen57
North East England28 contributions
Jul 2021
Ticketed entry meant limited numbers were admitted which does improve the experience. Free visitor leaflet was excellent. Staff were on hand to answer questions and they were helpful and informative. Chapel is impressive and well worth the visit. Wild flower meadow was stunning, and made a lovely walk down to the river.
I would have given the review 5 stars but for our experience in the exhibition area. Signs clearly showed the need for social distancing, and in two areas the need for only 1 'social bubble' at any time. These were being totally disregarded. It would have helped if there had been a member of staff on hand to monitor people entering this area.
I would have given the review 5 stars but for our experience in the exhibition area. Signs clearly showed the need for social distancing, and in two areas the need for only 1 'social bubble' at any time. These were being totally disregarded. It would have helped if there had been a member of staff on hand to monitor people entering this area.
Written 6 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
RWietlisbach
Kawasaki, Japan796 contributions
May 2022
I had visited the chapel many, many years ago as a teenager, at a time I wasn't able to appreciate its splendour. So I was eager to come back at last. What a masterpiece this is, hardly deserving the term "chapel" because of its sheer size!
I had booked a ticket for 9:45am and was greeted very warmly by the member of staff inside the chapel, who was very helpful with explanations and answers to my questions.
Probably in part due to the time of day, and possibly also because there are not yet so many tourists around in these post-pandemic times, I had the whole place totally to myself for the majority of my visit, which made me feel very privileged, as I was able to appreciate its beauty and the tranquility, completely uninterrupted.
The side chapels are extensive, with lots of additional written information provided, and they alone would be worth a visit.
Then, of course, there is the extensive gardens down to the bridge across the River Cam, which offers an excellent vantage point for pictures of the chapel.
Later that day I went to Evensong. As I was unable to find any information about the times etc., I had inquired with the staff and learnt that one has to queue up in front of the entrance around 5pm, and one has to be aware that the doors are closed at 5:20, so no admission after that.
There were rather a lot of people queuing up that evening, and I can see why, because it was an incredible experience, which I hope to repeat next time I'm in Cambridge!
Just wonderful!
I had booked a ticket for 9:45am and was greeted very warmly by the member of staff inside the chapel, who was very helpful with explanations and answers to my questions.
Probably in part due to the time of day, and possibly also because there are not yet so many tourists around in these post-pandemic times, I had the whole place totally to myself for the majority of my visit, which made me feel very privileged, as I was able to appreciate its beauty and the tranquility, completely uninterrupted.
The side chapels are extensive, with lots of additional written information provided, and they alone would be worth a visit.
Then, of course, there is the extensive gardens down to the bridge across the River Cam, which offers an excellent vantage point for pictures of the chapel.
Later that day I went to Evensong. As I was unable to find any information about the times etc., I had inquired with the staff and learnt that one has to queue up in front of the entrance around 5pm, and one has to be aware that the doors are closed at 5:20, so no admission after that.
There were rather a lot of people queuing up that evening, and I can see why, because it was an incredible experience, which I hope to repeat next time I'm in Cambridge!
Just wonderful!
Written 13 June 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
A Midlife Adventure
Dursley, UK2,768 contributions
Jul 2021
This is currently the only part of any college open to the public. We booked our ticket beforehand on line including date and time. Arriving slightly the gentleman on the gate made no issue of this, he was the first of many helpful and friendly staff we encountered during our visit.
As you walk it armed with a leaflet, explaining the route to take and with a description and the history of each section you just can't help going Wow!. It's just stunning, so beautiful, the architecture is unbelievable. Given the horrific exploits of Henry VIII with regards to churches throughout his kingdom it's quite surprising how much he put into making this the place it is.
The wooden panelling hiding the organ is just so intricate and so well preserved.
Once we had finished the actual chapel it was nice to be able to look at the outside of the quadrangle of buildings making up the university and again a member of staff was more than willing to explain it all to us before wandering through the meadow and down to the river.
A really enjoyable experience and I would definitely go back if I was in Cambridge again!
As you walk it armed with a leaflet, explaining the route to take and with a description and the history of each section you just can't help going Wow!. It's just stunning, so beautiful, the architecture is unbelievable. Given the horrific exploits of Henry VIII with regards to churches throughout his kingdom it's quite surprising how much he put into making this the place it is.
The wooden panelling hiding the organ is just so intricate and so well preserved.
Once we had finished the actual chapel it was nice to be able to look at the outside of the quadrangle of buildings making up the university and again a member of staff was more than willing to explain it all to us before wandering through the meadow and down to the river.
A really enjoyable experience and I would definitely go back if I was in Cambridge again!
Written 14 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Erica J
Southampton, UK76 contributions
Jan 2020
We popped along to evensong on a cold, wet evening in January. There was a queue to get in so arrive around 30 minutes before it begins. King's College Chapel is just stunning. The service is fairly short, for the non-religious, and the choir is uplifting to hear. My only complaint would be that whilst you could hear the choir the spoken word was lost in the acoustics of the chapel.
Written 1 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Fusspot2018
Cambridge, UK19 contributions
Sept 2019
You buy your entry ticket in a shop in Kings Parade, easy. You’ll never see such a magnificent roof anywhere else and all built before aluminium ladders! The Ruben’s Adoration of the Magi is wonderful. There is more to see than in years gone by. If you’re lucky the organist May be practising. Enquire about attending Evensong. During the war the stained glass windows were removed for safety despite the agreement that Cambridge and Heidelberg respect the other university.
Written 26 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JSSAmber
Cambridge, UK664 contributions
Jul 2022
This is the second-largest chapel in the world, behind the Sistine Chapel, and it's world-famous for its beauty and its astonishing choir. If you can book in a spot to hear evensong, you absolutely must, as you can't really get the incredible acoustics any other way. Do show up early, though, as the people who are at the back of the line have to sit farther from the choir in a less impressive section.
Written 27 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Go to the front gate, ask the Porter. He usually directs you straight to the entrance to the chapel, where there's a sign outside, telling you where to wait.
But check with the Porter.
Written 25 October 2022
The website says the Clare gate, but where is the gate located? Is it on the river side or another? Please answer soon. Thank you.
Written 4 September 2021
Hello,
The gate is at the back of the chapel!
Written 8 September 2021
What is the schedule in mid-September for evensong?
Written 6 August 2019
Ring the college porters lodge they will be able to advise you on times 🙂
Written 6 August 2019
Will there be Evensong on Sunday, August 11, 2019 at King's College? If so, at 3:30PM?
Written 30 May 2019
No - sorry. Services only take place during term time. The last Evensong of this term is Sunday 7 July.
Written 30 May 2019
I will be in Cambridge for Christmas. Is it possible to come to the carol service on Christmas Eve? Thank you
Written 23 November 2018
Sorry for the delay in replying. We now operate a ticketing system for this service. If you wish to attend, please come to the College early on Christmas Eve morning, with some photographic identification. A queue will form in the early hours and we will begin distributing tickets at approximately 7am. Each ticket will be for a specific seat in the Chapel and valid only for the person who collects it. As the number of tickets is limited, you are advised to arrive in good time. Those who do receive tickets will be invited to come back after 1:30pm to gain admission to the Chapel. Only one ticket will be given per person; approximately 500 will be available.
Written 3 December 2018
You need to come to the front gate of the College on King's Parade approx 30 minutes before the start of the service. To check the times of services please look at the Chapel services page on the website where you can download a pdf of the services this term (NB choral services are only during term time).
Written 22 November 2017
What time does Evensong start?
What is the procedure. The entrance required, the timing etc best position ?
Many thanks.
Written 7 May 2017
Evensong is at 5.30 pm Monday to Saturday and 3.30 pm on Sunday during term time (please note that there are no choral services out of term). Tickets are not required. Just come to the front gate of the College, on King's Parade, 30 minutes before the start time of the service. Full details of all services can be found on the Chapel Services page on the College website.
Written 8 May 2017
What time of year did you visit the King's College Chapel Evensong service?
Written 21 February 2016
Evensong happens every day during the university term. Roughly that means early October to early December, mid January to Easter, Easter to early July. Check the college web site for exact dates.
Written 26 July 2016
Having read the review by Nicholas S, I would like to ask which village allowed its idiot out for the day and request they exercise some control in future.
Written 29 December 2015
Beetee200. I am hoping against hope that it was a joke post by a student - ditto the one about the senseless opulence.
Written 30 December 2015
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