This might sound strange coming from someone who works in Cambridge tourism, but I have gradually come to believe that Cambridge is not actually about the university.

Of course, the university is the reason most people come here. Without Cambridge University, there would be no King's College Chapel dominating the skyline, no famous college courts attracting visitors from around the world, and probably no global reputation that draws millions of tourists every year.

Yet the longer I spend talking to visitors, the more convinced I become that the university itself is rarely what people fall in love with.

What they fall in love with is the atmosphere the university has created.

I first noticed this during a walking tour a few years ago. A family from Canada had spent several days travelling around England. They had visited London, Bath, Oxford, and Cambridge. At the end of the tour, I asked which college they had enjoyed most.

Their answer surprised me.

They couldn't remember.

They remembered the River Cam. They remembered students cycling through narrow streets. They remembered sitting outside a café and watching people walk past with books under their arms. They remembered hearing church bells in the distance while crossing a college bridge.

But they couldn't remember which college had been their favourite.

At first, I thought that was unusual. Surely the colleges were the main attraction.

Then I started hearing similar stories again and again.

Visitors would talk about the feeling of the city rather than individual landmarks. They would remember conversations more than buildings. They would describe Cambridge as "inspiring," "thoughtful," or "different," without always being able to explain exactly why.

Eventually, I realised they were experiencing something that is difficult to include in a guidebook.

Cambridge has a culture of curiosity.

That sounds like an abstract idea, but it becomes surprisingly obvious once you spend time here. People ask questions. They discuss ideas. Students debate topics over lunch. Visitors find themselves wondering how colleges work, why traditions survive, or what it would be like to study here. Even those with no academic background often leave feeling more interested in education than when they arrived.

The city quietly encourages curiosity.

That influence can be felt almost everywhere. A Shared Cambridge Walking Tour and Private Cambridge Walking Tour introduces visitors to the stories hidden behind the architecture. A Shared Cambridge Student-Led Walking Tour and Private Cambridge Student-Led Walking Tour  offers a glimpse into the lives of students who continue to shape the university today. A Shared Cambridge Punting Tour or Private Cambridge Punting Tour allows people to slow down and observe the city from a completely different perspective.

Yet none of these experiences are memorable simply because of what visitors see.

They are memorable because of what visitors begin thinking about.

That, I suspect, is the real secret behind Cambridge's popularity.

Most destinations are designed to impress you.

Cambridge tends to provoke you.

Not in a dramatic way. It does not overwhelm visitors with spectacular views or endless attractions. Instead, it quietly plants questions in your mind. Why have so many influential people studied here? What makes great education possible? How do ideas survive for centuries? Why do some places continue to inspire ambition generation after generation?

Visitors rarely arrive expecting to think about such things.

But many leave doing exactly that.

And perhaps that is why Cambridge remains so remarkable after all these centuries.

The city is famous because of its university.

Yet the reason people remember it often has very little to do with rankings, admissions statistics, or famous alumni.

What they remember is how the city made them feel: curious, inspired, and eager to learn something new.

For a place built around education, that may be the greatest achievement of all.

Written by a Cambridge guide at We Are Oxbridge.