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Cambridge · Hotel shortlist

The best hotels near Grafton

Peter Halvorsen

Peter Halvorsen The Nordics

Updated 1 September 2026 · 30 Cambridge hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in Cambridge, out of the 30 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 5 down to 4.3.

All five are within 1.8 km of Grafton.

Cambridge Common House

Highest rated of the five

Cambridge Common House

★★★★★5 from 84 reviews

Cambridge Common House comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 5 from 84 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.

It is a 4 star property, found under poi and around $516 a night on the dates we checked.

30 hotels in Cambridge qualified for this list and five made it. Ginkgo House on Harvard is the one I would book if the first is full.

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All five, ranked

  1. Cambridge Common House1

    Cambridge Common House

    ★★★★★5 from 84 reviews

    400 m from Grafton, about a 5 minute walk

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    • Ginkgo House on Harvard2

      Ginkgo House on Harvard

      ★★★★★5 from 694 reviews

      1.3 km from Grafton, about a 16 minute walk

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      • Cambria Hotel Boston Somerville3

        Cambria Hotel Boston Somerville

        ★★★★★4.6 from 373 reviews

        1.8 km from Grafton, about a 22 minute walk

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        • The Charles Hotel4

          The Charles Hotel

          ★★★★★4.4 from 1,318 reviews

          200 m from Grafton, about a 2 minute walk

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          • Sheraton Commander Hotel5

            Sheraton Commander Hotel

            ★★★★★4.3 from 699 reviews

            600 m from Grafton, about a 8 minute walk

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            How this list was put together

            30 Cambridge hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating first and on how close they are to Grafton second, then took the top five.

            Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.

            The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.

            What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.

            Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.

            Peter Halvorsen

            Peter Halvorsen The Nordics

            Twenty-six years of teaching means 26 long summers. Trains and driving through most of Europe, now further afield, usually alone with a tent. Keeps every train ticket since 1994.

            Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.