Stonehenge?
 

Has anyone visited Stonehenge? How far is it from London and is it worth it to take the tour from London? There's one tour that has an overnight in Bath.
Thanks for the help!

If you get a direct train, it takes about 1.5 hours to get from Waterloo station to Salisbury (SAULSbree).

At the station (the tourism office on your left just before you go out the front door), you can buy a combination ticket which includes bus transport and entry to the monument.

The bus stops in Avebury on the way, and you can get off and see the stone circle there, which many people feel is more interesting than the henge itself. For one thing, the town is right inside the circle, and you can walk right up to the stones and touch them (Stonehenge is fenced off).

At Stonehenge, the audio tour takes about 40 minutes if you don't linger.

Some have visited Bath and Stonehenge in the same day (which is easily feasible in summer, because the monuments are open late and the sun doesn't set until about 9:20 at the solstice).

1) Yes

2) It's over 75 miles from central London - a little less than 2 hours one way.

3) You can see Stonehenge in under 15 minutes - it's your call as to whether it's "worth it"

4) If you are doing an overnight in Bath, then a Stonehenge detour makes a little more sense.

FWIW & IMHO, I would not plan any day trips if you will only be in London a week or less.

Somewhere I saw mention of a tour that actually gives you access to the stone circle, but I couldn't find any information. Maybe someone knows? (Just had an idea---maybe I should Google "Druid").

Anyway, since you mentioned elsewhere that you like to be active, you might consider going the way my son and I did: train to Salisbury, rent bikes, and take the backroads, stopping for lunch at the Wheatsheaf Tavern in Middle Woodford. We saw an incredible classic car rally along the way. I believe the distance is 11 km each way; we were there and back to Salisbury, including lunch, in about 4 hours. It's a mostly level ride through beautiful countryside; the only tricky part was crossing the motorway just before Stonehenge. It was a wonderful day---much nicer than a bus tour.

This (or any tour) would, however, pretty much take a whole day of your London time. It just depends on what you like to do.

I went to Stonehenge on my first trip to England in 1997. We took a coach tour, Evan Evans, I believe it was, a trip to the ‘Henge, Salisbury, then Bath. Of course it was a bit too rushed overall but it gave me a taste for Bath which I otherwise would probably have not visited. I learned that Bath, in and of itself, is something of a treasure.

Stonehenge is, as has been stated, a personal call depending in part upon your interests. It’s one of the world’s best known sites and people are drawn to it for any number of reasons. I wanted to see it so I could say that I had. I have. I would probably never go out of my way to visit it again, but on the other hand I’m rather glad to say that I’ve been there. Good luck and let us know what you decided, once you’ve returned from your trip.

I agree with much of what Robespierre said, - personally, I enjoyed Bath, thought Stonehenge was ok, but if I only had a limited time in London, I don't know that I would take the time away to only see Stonehenge, unless you have a particular interest in it and it is a must see for you. I would personally want to connect it with Bath, and possibly an overnight if possible.

Some people love Stonehenge - for me, it didn't add anything seeing it in person versus what I'd read about it or watched on specials to take a day away from London if you have say only a week in London. But that is just me, some people would say it is defnitely worth it. Such a personal call, it just didn't 'sing' to me that much.

Would you recommend renting a car from London and driving out to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath for a day trip? Fiance loves roadtrips and loves to drive in different cities.

Our bestmemory of Stonehenge was looking at it on a late summer evening, just about moonrise. Magical!

Hi..
Did the Stonehenge tour through Astral tours and we went to Avebury and some mound/cave and we went into the inner circle of the stones and it was quite impressive..the countryside was lovely and we finally got to see some real English people..I am glad that I did it but I would not do it again..

On my upcoming trip in April my companion, who is VERY interested in all things Wiccan/Druidic, etc., and I are going to Avebury instead of Stonehenge after getting lots of recommendations on this board.

To do that you can also take a train to Swindon and the short bus ride from there. Since we've both been to London before we decided this might be a good daytrip, rain or not.

Same question from a few days ago and some good info including a link to an older thread about the inner circle tour.

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34772760

Robespierre is right about about many people being more interested in the stone circle at Avebury, sadly the bus tour from Salisbury does not go anywhere near it, but it does stop in Amesbury, resting place of at least one Queen of England (Eleanor of Provence) and a few decent pubs. If you do choose the tour from Salisbury railway station, spend some time at Old Sarum as I believe a journey to this original and abandoned hill top fortress city, that predates Salisbury itself, is included in the tour. Avebury is another 20 miles further north and you'll ned a diferent bus service to get there.
Stonehenge is worth no more than an hour and it would be better to combine it (if you are at all interested) with other Neolithic sites such as Avebury Stone Circles, Silbury Hill and West Kennet Longbarrow, a 5,500 year old burial chamber that I suspect was the mound/cave TahitiTams ventured into on their Astral Travels tour (by the way this is one of the tour firms that arranges special 'inner circle' access to Stonehenge). Wilts and Dorset bus schedules will help you plan a route to combine them all these locations and if you didn't want to take a tour bus from London then make your way to Salisbury and start your day there.