Hotels in Ely

Ely is a small cathedral city in the Cambridgeshire fens, and the cathedral is really the whole point of visiting: a vast Norman and Gothic building nicknamed the "Ship of the Fens" because it looms over the flat surrounding countryside for miles. Beyond that, Ely is a genuinely small place, with a compact old town of narrow streets, a Tuesday and Saturday market, and riverside walks along the Great Ouse where narrowboats moor up.

There isn't much to fill more than a day or two here, and evenings are quiet rather than lively. It works well as a base for exploring the fens, or as a calmer, cheaper alternative to Cambridge, which is close enough for day trips to the Fitzwilliam Museum and Cambridge Castle. Stay near the cathedral and old town rather than out towards the retail parks, since everything worth seeing in Ely itself is within easy walking distance of it.