Within twenty-four hours of arrival, freshers will no doubt be well versed in the pleasures on offer at the ADC, the Eagle and Cindie's. A first stroll down Regent or Bridge Street will reveal that, like any other town in Britain, Cambridge has its full complement of identikit high street stores. But do not be disparaged. Tucked away between the looming tourist attractions and chain restaurants, there is a cornucopia of peculiar and idiosyncratic institutions. So, where previous freshers have had to waste many a precious hour with their ear close to the ground before discovering Cambridge's hidden gems, we bring you the best of Cambridge's greasy spoons, nights out, beauty spots and vintage shops. This is the Alternative Cambridge guide.

Shops

Sally Ann's (44a Mill Road). We don't really want to tell you about Sally Ann's. Situated half-way up the Mill Road, it's the Aladdin's den of Cambridge. Thesps, locals and devotees rummage through clocks, sofas, old board games ('Bibleopoly', anyone?), cameras, hockey sticks; odds and ends galore. Please don't go there, i t's just too good.

First Class Teas (3 Peas Hill). An on Peas Hill, just off Market Square. Set up by a Cambridge graduate, this independently run specialist teashop is a beautifully designed place, with a quiet downstairs seating area, great for an intimate chat or writing an essay. From lapsang souchong to black vanilla, the selection of teas is phenomenal and no more expensive than Starbucks. With loose tea stored in apothecary style drawers, and served in stylish glass teapots with plungers, it's a perfectly relaxing place to spend an afternoon.

Tom's Cakes (Market Square, every Sunday). Last year, ‘Tom's Cakes' was named one of the best cake shops in Britain. Much of its appeal is in the attention given to seasonal ingredients - depending on the time of year you may find lavender cake, or lime and elderflower. Unconventional options like Earl Grey Teabread sit alongside dependable classics like lemon drizzle. Best of all, most of the cakes cost less than £3.50. It's worth getting there early to avoid disappointment.

Cheese Shop (4 All Saints Passage) Tucked away down All Saints Passage is a gem of a shop: the recently reopened Cambridge Cheese Company. Decorated with vintage wall furnishings, it's filled not just with fromage but also all sorts of other charcuterie delectables. The cheese selection is small but wide-ranging, filled with independently-produced artisan cheeses from both local and continental sources whilst they also have a good line in olives, pâtés, honey, meats and reasonably-priced gourmet sandwiches.

Beauty Spots

Castle Mound (Castle Street, opposite Castle Inn). The highest point in the Cambridge Fens, this revered bump is a welcome detail to the featureless landscape of East Anglia. In its time it has been a Roman Fort, a Norman Motte and Bailey and a medieval castle - the bricks of which now hold up Emmanuel, Kings and Magdalen Colleges. These days, it is a fantastic viewpoint, offering an unrivalled perspective of King's Chapel. On the horizon, one can see the fens stretching East for miles, a salient reminder that contrary to most presumptions there is a world outside Cambridge.

The Orchard Tea Garden (Grantchester) The Orchard Tea Garden boasts that 'more famous people have taken tea there than anywhere else in the world', and we just have to take their word for it. This tranquil outdoor pavilion on the Grantchester Meadows is a stunning setting for afternoon tea. Next door there is a small museum dedicated to Rupert Brooke, who lived at Orchard House whilst studying at Cambridge, and took tea under the pavilion with friends such as philosophers Russell and Wittgenstein, and novelists Forster and Virginia Woolf.

Botanic Gardens (1 Brookside) No need to wait for that sunny day, just pop into the temperate glasshouses of the Botanical Gardens and delight your eyes, ears and nose with the usual but still unexpected exotic creatures.

Musical

Kambar, Funk Da Bar, Clare Cellars. Cambridge's main clubs can be soul destroying (Fez on Thursdays is the occasional exce ption). There is some relief, however. At Kambar, students often take to the decks, spinning everything from gypsy folk to grime. College restrictions force early closure at Clare and Emmanuel, but the quality of programming compensates. These two nights often attract big-name DJs, and cater to most tastes in dance music, whether electro, drum ‘n' bass, dubstep or techno. Despite their manicured surroundings, they manage to be both more relaxed and more raucous than their commercial competitors.

Songs in the Dark Every other Sunday Cambridge's most outlandish and wonderful noises emanate from the crowded upstairs of a candlelit Clowns Café. Songs in the Dark is an intimate evening of music, poetry, comedy and spoken word, enjoyed over coffee, cake and wine. To perform, e-mail mac73; look out for posters in Clowns.

Jazz at Johns, Clare Jazz at Johns and Clare Jazz, on Friday and Sunday evenings respectively, offer a consistently high standard of jazz, blues, funk and soul in two cool settings. The Clare Cellars, which resemble a Par isian jazz basement, are particularly well-suited to such music. They're not held weekly and are easy to miss - it's worth signing up to the mailing lists / Facebook groups of these well kept secrets.

Food and Drink

Tree Hugging Hippy Juice Bar (13 Norfolk Street). Death and fruit are both well catered for on Norfolk Street. Opposite Sally Ann's, through an eerily quiet but quite wonderful graveyard, is the end of the Grafton Centre and the beginning of heaven in the shape of the Juice Bar. For a couple of quid you can get fresh fruit smoothies, home-made soups and delicious sandwiches. Most importantly, however, you might never see another student in there. Until now, that is.

Clowns (54 King's Street). "Ciao Bella!" the wonderful people at Clowns shouts each time you leave, stomach full of hunger busting Italian food. Clowns restaurant is everything a local Italian caf should be: cheap food, good coffee, and friendly staff. Ray, the mafia don of a father, has run this establishment since the 1986 along with his two lovely daughters G enni and Elena. The food may not be fancy but it is plentiful, cheap and just what the student ordered. More to follow on their fantastic Thursday night student deal...

Savino's (3 Emmanuel Street) Don't be put off by the hoards of bus conductors outside: Savino's on Emmanuel Road is a Cambridge institution. Popular with both locals and Emmanuelites (who get a 10% discount), Pete Savino and family offer some of the city's best croissants, as well as an Illy coffee machine and a fine array of salads and original paninis (artichokes and dolce latte anyone?). We also recommend their new selection of smoothies.

Cultural and Cerebral

Zoological Museum (Downing Street). If you are unlucky enough to find yourself walking through the Orwellian nightmare that is the New Museums Block, you would do well to look up. Above your head you would spot the skeleton of a Finback Whale, hanging amongst the brickwork and concrete. The beast was washed up at Pevensey, Sussex, in 1865, and is the largest recorded specimen of its species. The bones herald the entrance Cambridge Zoology Museum, an underground cavern filled with the perfectly arranged and stuffed carcasses of hundreds of animals. Hours melt as you lose yourself amongst the wonders of the natural world.

Corpus Christi Playroom, Pembroke New Cellars, Judith E. Wilson Drama Studio, Larkum Studio. There is far more to Cambridge drama than the ADC. There are often as many as six different plays on in a week, if not more. The Playroom tends to put on two plays a week, its L-shaped stage encouraging bold staging. The Cellars is more straightforward in layout, but its fringe-like intimacy is well-suited to many student productions. Productions at both theatres feature students from any college, not just their own. The somewhat mysterious Drama Studio encourages experimental theatre, often for very short runs, and hosts workshops for students. It will be joined this year by the tiny Larkum Studio, which should provide the main ADC Theatre with a more daring sibling.

Kettle's Yard (Castle Street) Inventing a new typology for viewing art, Kettle's Yard is an open home holding painting and sculpture alongside potted plants and beach pebbles. Wander through it, grab a book and curl up for the afternoon. Also, sneak into in the backyard and poke around its church with the key from the contemporary gallery.

Classics Museum (Sidgwick Avenue) City holidays involve an obligatory museum visit, why should Cambridge be any different? Marvel at stunning likenesses of the casts and the aesthetic conceptions so similar to our own - each God and Gladiator is a ringer for a Men's Health model, although genital endowment seems to have been less generous a couple of millennia ago. Classic first date material.