Cafes, Bars & Restaurants
- Details
Come Home to Cambridge, whether you're looking for a quick snack on the run or wanting to spend an evening with friends over dinner.
Cambridge has more than 20 cafes, catering for everyone from the passing traveller in need of a coffee break to locals who want somewhere suitable for a leisurely chat.
Everyone has their favourite and part of the fun of living in Cambridge is checking them out.
Cambridge has more than a dozen restaurants, offering diners plenty of choice.
You'll find restaurants that specialise in ethnic food (including Thai, Chinese and Indian), those that cater for family-style meals and some that offer silver service and fine dining.
If you fancy a drink - and something to eat with it - Cambridge offers a number of pubs and bars to choose from. They include the town's original hotel, the Masonic Hotel, the Clubhouse Sports Bar (at Cambridge Raceway), the Prince Albert (English-style pub), the Group One Turf Bar (for racing and sports fans) and the Stables (which has live entertainment).
There are a number of caterers who can assist with your event or function providing finger food or sit down menus.
Cambridge has about 20 different takeaway food outlets, providing every sort of fast meal you'd expect to find in a modern town.
The town has national franchises such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway and Domino's Pizza, as well as many local operators who can serve you everything from a roast meal to a kebab.
About half a dozen compete for the reputation for being Cambridge's best fish and chip shop - the only way to know is to try them - and you can easily order takeaway Chinese, Indian, Mexican or Thai food.
As Cambridge is in one of the best food-producing regions of New Zealand, we're used to getting fresh produce and seeing it sent to other parts of the country.
You can sample local produce at the weekly Farmers Market at Victoria Square on Saturday mornings, monthly markets at Tamahere or at Twilight Farmers Markets on Thursdays at Te Awamutu during periods of New Zealand Daylight Saving.
The lush soils of the Waikato, and an ideal climate, mean local growers can produce some of the best crops to sell throughout New Zealand, including sweetcorn, strawberries, blueberries, avocados and more.
We shouldn't forget either that our happy cows make millions of litres of milk a year that go to the Fonterra factories for making into dairy products sold throughout the world.
The town has three major supermarkets, Countdown, Fresh Choice and New World, and enough specialty shops to ensure our residents don't go without a thing.
What's more, Cambridge has many beautiful spots inside the town or within a short drive where we can enjoy our food and drink as part of a leisurely picnic.
- Culture & History of Cambridge
- Places to Stay in and around Cambridge
- Equine
- Cambridge Events
- Hobbiton
- Fun for fans of Fieldays
Cambridge has always been the type of town that brings people together.
Formed as a camp for British soldiers during the Invasion of Waikato in 1864, it quickly became a thriving market town when the Lands Wars finished. Settler farmers would head into the town for provisions and it became a logical place for people to meet, connected by the Waikato River, early roads and before long, the main North Island railway.
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Come Home to Cambridge, we are the host for major regional and national events and are used to providing accommodation for one or two to many hundreds of guests at a time.
The town's central location means many visitors choose to stay in or near Cambridge for events such as National Fieldays, major rowing regattas on Lake Karapiro and other big sports events.
Read MoreCambridge and its surrounding rural area is often called the Equine Capital of New Zealand - and not without good reason.
Some of the world's best racehorses have been bred here while many thoroughbred (gallops) and standardbred (harness racing) trainers are based in the district.
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Come Home to Cambridge, we are one of the North Island's most popular destinations for events and functions.
Not only is the town a beautiful place to spend time with friends or business colleagues, it also provides all the modern facilities and services required for a successful event.
Read MoreThe success of the Oscar-winning film trilogy, The Lord of the Rings (LOTR), has helped attract thousands of visitors to the Hobbiton movie set, near Cambridge.
Scenes from the LOTR series and Sir Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies were shot on a farm at Hinuera, just 21.5km and 18 minutes' drive from Cambridge.
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Here's how to book your visit to New Zealand's biggest agricultural event and plan to have a great time during your stay.
Cambridge is the ideal place to stay while you attend the National Agricultural Fieldays at nearby Mystery Creek. Here's how to get the most from your Fieldays trip:
1. Book your accommodation
Cambridge is only a 17–minute drive from Mystery Creek, making it easy to get to and from Fieldays, and putting you in the middle of Waikato's rural heartland. Our town has eight motels and about 75 bed and breakfasts, ensuring you'll get a good night's sleep away from home.
2. Enjoy your evenings
Cambridge has a range of bars, cafes and restaurants with something to suit everyone. For food, we've got everything from takeaways to stylish restaurants.
3. Feel the Fieldays spirit
Cambridge residents get right into the Fieldays spirit and local businesses take part in the Big Little Town competition in which retailers make window displays with rural themes and other businesses find clever ways to incorporate Fieldays into their products and services.
4. Dogs and horses
Cambridge is known as the equine capital of New Zealand, and with good reason. Visit a local horse stud or the dawn gallops at the Cambridge training track. On Day 2 of Fieldays (Thursday, June 13), the greyhounds race at Cambridge Raceway.
5. Plenty for partners
If your partners are looking for things to do while you're at Fieldays, they need not worry — Cambridge is a great place to spend a relaxing few days checking out the local shops and cafes, or taking mini–trips to attractions.
These include Hobbiton (18 minute drive), where you can enjoy a tour of where Sir Peter Jackson filmed parts of his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies, or the Waitomo Caves, less than an hour away.
6. Get on the water
With Lake Karapiro and the mighty Waikato River on your doorstep, there are plenty of activities to choose from. You can water ski, row or paddle in a canoe or kayak. Or you can fish for trout in the lake or nearby streams, or take a jet boat up the river.
7. Check out nature
Go for a ramble at nearby Sanctuary Mountain, a fenced nature reserve at Maungatautari, or the Maungakawa Scenic Reserve. More details and directions are at www.cambridge.co.nz.
8. Tee up a round of golf
More than 40 golf clubs are within 45 minutes of Cambridge, giving you the chance of a challenging round or a gentle stroll in the clean Waikato air. We can help you choose and book the right course for you.
9. Time to chill out
Why rush on the last day of Fieldays? Take a relaxed approach as the event goes into its final day — so go for a wander at the Cambridge Farmer's Market at Victoria Square in the centre of town, followed by a coffee and slap–up breakfast at one of our cafes.
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