Stonehenge

Planning a visit to the world's most famous building blocks construction and ancient stone circle on the Salisbury Plain

Although Stonehenge is associated in many people's minds with Druids, that Celtic religious sect was merely using an existing site. Stonehenge was a ancient mystery even to the 1st century BC Druids.

It was begun by an unknown people before 3,000 BC and added to up until 1,500 BC.

All we really know about Stonehenge is that it is a remarkable feat of engineering—some of the stones came from dozens of miles away—and acts like a huge astronomical calendar, aligned with the summer equinox and still keeping track of the seasons after more than 5,000 years.

Visiting Stonehenge

Stonehenge itself is, in some ways, a bit of a letdown. Don't get me wrong—it's still one of the most incredible sights in Europe, highly conducive to contemplating the earliest dawn of human endeavor and terribly romantic when the sun sets behind it.

Sadly, a rope barrier keeps you 50 feet away from the concentric circles of enormous standing stones; past visitors were fond of scratching their names into the venerable rocks.

A new walkway lets you circle the stones, but seriously mars the beauty of the site—if you can score a ticket, definitely try to book one of the limited entries to the stone circle itself, which are offered for the morning both before the site opens for regular hours and again at the close toward sunset. These book up far in advance, but keep calling, because you never know. On a recent trip to England, for whcih i was told all entry times had been sold out, on a whim I called again just three days before I was going to be at Stonehenge and managed to snag four tickets thanks to a last-minute cancellation. (Call tel. +44-(0)1722-343-834; You can also book this as part of a day trip from London via our partners at Viator.com)

Near the junction of A303 and A344/A360, about 2 miles west of Amesbury
Wiltshire
tel. +44-(0)870-333-1181 or +44-(0)1722-343-834
www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge
Open daily
Adm

Tips

Planning your time: Give Stonehenge at least an hour to 90 minutes—plan on a total of at least 3 hours roundtrip from Salisbury, including waiting; budgeting 4 hours would be wiser. You can also get here on a half-day tour form London (see below).
How to get to Stonehenge: Driving is the best way (or a tour; see below), but if you are coming by public transportation, first take the train or bus to Salisbury. South West Trains leave twice an hour from London's Waterloo Station (www.southwesttrains.co.uk; 1:23 hr). First Great Western trains leave from Bath train station once per hour (www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk; about 1 hr).

Across from either the Salisbury train station or the Salisbury bus station, you can hop the Stonehenge Tour Bus for a visit out to the ruins, about 30–35 minutes away (www.thestonehengetour.info). The bus runs every half hour—at the top of the hour and at half-past (slightly later from the bus station)—until 5pm in summer (May 29–Aug 31), and hourly on the hour in the off-season (last departure from Salisbury: 4pm in fall and spring, 2pm in winter).

It is a hop-on/hop-off service, so you can spend as long as you like at Stonehenge (also at Old Sarum or in Amesbury, both of which are stops along the way). You can also sign up for versions of a tour that include a guided visit to Old Sarum and/or the Salisbury Cathedral.
Free entry: Entry to Stonehenge (and 600 other sights across Great Britain) is covered by the Great British Heritage Pass.
Guided tours to Stonehenge from London from our partners at Viator.com: