Beyond Galápagos: 7 places that shaped Charles Darwin

5 MINUTE READ

Think of Charles Darwin, and it’s likely your mind travels to the Galápagos Islands – that volcanic archipelago whose finches helped reshape our understanding of natural history.  

But Darwin spent only five weeks of his long and full life there. And while there’s no doubt those weeks had a lasting impact on Darwin, his real formation – as a thinker, geologist, biologist and naturalist – took place elsewhere. 

Before and after his voyage on HMS Beagle, Darwin, walked and studied his way across Britain. Here, we follow in Darwin’s footsteps to the 7 places that helped forge his truly original mind.  

 

1. Darwin in Shrewsbury, England: Birthplace of the boy who would rock the world

Darwin’s story starts in Shrewsbury, where he was born in 1809. You can still visit the gardens of his birthplace, The Mount, now a private residence perched above the River Severn. It’s easy to picture him collecting bugs in the grounds! 

Time your visit for the DarwIN Shrewsbury Festival, held every February, to make the most of a programme of science and Darwin-themed events, including tours of The Mount.  

If you book our Darwin in North Wales tour, you might visit Shrewsbury School’s archive to glimpse his letters and school reports. Apparently, he was a mischievous daydreamer with average grades – proof that imagination is more important than academia when it comes to changing the world! 

Later, it was in Shrewsbury that Darwin received the invitation to sail on the Beagle that changed everything – for him and for world history. 

• Don’t miss: The stature of Darwin outside the library, and the nearby Bellstone, a curious boulder that puzzled young Darwin. He later identified it as a glacial erratic. 

Discover Darwin’s Shrewsbury with GeoCultura: Our 6-day Retracing Charles Darwin’s travels in North Wales tour starts and ends here. We’re offering £500 off 2025 tours when you book by 27 July. 

2. Darwin’s Edinburgh, Scotland: An education in anatomy – and aversion

At 16, Darwin was dispatched to Edinburgh to study medicine but he soon discovered it wasn’t for him. He fainted during surgery and preferred the company of taxidermists and tidepoolers to his professors. But his Edinburgh days weren’t wasted. He soaked up radical ideas, learned scientific classification and joined the Plinian Society, for students interested in natural history; it was were he shared some of his first discoveries. 

• Don’t miss: The Old College buildings, natural history collections and shadowy wynds where Darwin began to question his future as a country parson. 

3. Darwin in Cambridge, England: Beetles, books and big ideas

After medicine didn’t work out, Darwin was supposed to prepare for a life in the clergy at Christ’s College, University of Cambridge. But instead of attending lectures, he spent much of his time here, from 1829-1831, collecting beetles learning about the natural world.  

It was here he met Reverend John Stevens Henslow, a botanist and lecturer who encouraged his natural curiosity and who later secured Darwin a place aboard HMS Beagle. 

• Don’t miss: The Museum of Zoology where Darwin’s beetle box and those famous Galápagos finches, which were actually collected by another Beagle crew member and studied by Darwin in Cambridge, are on display. 

 

Did you know? Cambridge University’s Darwin College, founded in 1964, was named after Darwin’s descendants who lived there. It sits on the River Cam and offers glimpses into the family legacy. Even if you’re not studying for a PhD, it’s a peaceful place to ponder life’s big questions. 

 

4. Darwin in North Wales: An education in reading the rocks

If you want to know where to explore Darwin’s geology in Britain, start here. Before the Galápagos, there was Cwm Idwal, a dramatic Welsh cirque. In August 1831, Darwin accompanied geologist Adam Sedgwick on a field trip that changed his thinking. Here he saw the Earth’s deep time etched into boulders and strata. 

Darwin never documented it but recent research – by our tour guide Michael Roberts – suggests he also travelled to Anglesey with Sedgwick in 1831. If so, it was a pivotal trip. Guided by one of the first geological maps of the island, they explored serpentinite rocks formed by ancient ocean crust.  

• Save on GeoCultura’s Darwin in North Wales tour! Follow in Darwin’s footsteps across North Wales and Anglesey with GeoCultura – and get £500pp off our 2025 expert-led Darwin-themed tour when you book by 27 July. Our tour brings the scientist’s geological revelations to life, from Llyn Ogwen’s fossil-laced shores to the glacial scars of Cwm Idwal.  

 

5. The voyage of HMS Beagle: Five years that changed science

Yes, the Galápagos’s contribution to Earth science is iconic. But the Beagle sailed to far more places on this journey, including Cape Verde, Rio de Janeiro, Tierra del Fuego, Tahiti, Sydney, Cape Town and the Azores. Darwin returned with notebooks full of observations and a head full of questions. 

While retracing that route isn’t exactly weekend-break material, highlights like Rio de Janeiro’s botanical gardens and the dramatic scenery of Patagonia are still well worth a pilgrimage for Darwin devotees. 

 

6. Darwin in Kent: Down House and the thinking path

From 1842, Darwin settled at Down House, a Georgian villa with extensive gardens – that doubled up as Darwin’s “outdoor laboratory” – in the southeast county of Kent, between London and the rolling North Downs. It was here that he raised his growing family, refined his theory of natural selection and wrote his game-changing On the Origin of Species. 

Today, the house reflects Darwin’s time, life and work, thanks to English Heritage. You can stand in his study, see the greenhouse where he tended exotic specimens  

Don’t miss: A stroll along The Sandwalk, a looping path where the world’s most famous biologist went for a walk with his thoughts every day. 

 

7. Westminster Abbey, London: A resting place in science and religion

Darwin died in 1882 and was buried in the north aisle of the nave of London’s Westminster Abbey, just a few feet from Sir Isaac Newton and the memorials and resting places of many other influential writers, composers and thinkers. His interment here marked the acceptance of ideas that had once shocked society. Visit his grave, pause for thought and consider Darwin’s evolution from shy schoolboy to global thinker. 

 

 One last stop: Stoke-on-Trent 

Darwin superfans might also stop by World of Wedgwood, a museum, creative studios and factory dedicated to the world-famous Wedgwood family and pottery between Birmingham and Manchester. Darwin married Emma Wedgwood – yes, of those Wedgwoods – and the family connections run deep. You might come for the pottery, but you’ll leave with another piece of the Darwin puzzle. 

 

Ready to follow in Darwin’s footsteps? Whether you’re admiring the shape of glacial valleys in North Wales or reading the rock layers of Anglesey, the places that shaped Darwin go far beyond Galápagos – and they’re just as full of stories. 

Join us to retrace Darwin’s first scientific steps through Wales and start to see the wonder of the world through his eyes: Retracing Darwin’s Travels in North Wales.