Augusta78

Hello

We are 3 active girls in our early 30s and we would like to see stonehenge and the town of Baths. We will not have a car, and none of us would be comfortable driving on the opposite side of the road.
We found a tour company that charges about 160 US for the tour (not including lunch) and does not specify the amount of time you would have in each place. THey advertise small tours of around 16 people and say that you will be allowed to "go around the fence and actually touch the stones"
My concerns are that....I hate waiting for buses to pick up other people (it seems that there are always delays) and i would hate to not have enough time to walk around the town of bath,

Do you guys recommend going it alone...perhaps taking the train? Or do you find value in tours such as these.

janisj

You can do Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath on your own. But would involve trains and local tour buses. You'd have to take the train to Salisbury, then a local tour bus to Stonehenge and back, then trains from Salisbury to Bath and finally a train back to London - so you would have very little time in Bath. Salisbury/Stonehenge is an easy day trip from London. Bath is an easy day trip from London. But all three is not so easy.

If the tour has inside access to the stones it either has to get there VERY early in the AM or after closing in the evening. Those are the times one can get inside the ropes.

The tours are expensive because you are paying mostly for the convenience of not having to schlepp from train to bus to train to train.

Are you very sure you don't want to drive? It would save you a ton of money and you could go where and when you want.

pauljagman

I did one of these tours with my family of 4 about 10 years ago. I think it was called the Stones and Bones tour. We were picked up in front of our Kensington Hotel by one of those mini buses. It probably did hold about 16. The tour took us to Stonehenge and then on to Glastonbury, the Tor, Chalice Gardens etc.

I don't remember what we paid for the tour but it included admission to Stonehenge. 160 US sounds awfully expensive for 1 person. It's nice having a driver if you are relatively new to intl travel and not real confident with driving on the 'wrong' side of the road. The driver will also add a lot to the experience. I remember tipping my driver very well because of his excellent service. But 160 US sounds fairly expensive if all they do is transportation.

I believe the tour company we used had other tours available too. (Magical Mystery tour, Bath, Sallisbury etc)

With today's technology - GPS - I would be more adveturesome and would consider renting an auto for a couple days and drive myself. I'm sure it is much less expensive than what you are paying to do so. Have a great time when you go and enjoy it.

Augusta78

I wish one of us felt comfortable driving as it would certainly offer us more independence. But alas, not only would driving on the opposite side of the road pose a problem, so would driving a manual vehicle : )

The company is stonehenge tours. Has anyone used them before? For that price, I would hope it would be more than just transportation and earphones. Has anyone taken a train to bath and then took a bus to stonehenge? How did this go? Did you enjoy Sallisbury? Thanks again.

nytraveler

I think a tour is the only way to do this in one day if you're not willing to rent a car. The public transit doesn't lend itself to those connections and you wouldn;t have enough time in any of the places. If you're willing to take 2 days, staying overnight in Bath, you could pull it off with public transit. But I would just rent a car.

yk

Last year, I traveled alone by train from London to Bath; spent an entire day in Bath, then took the train to Salisbury and spent 2 nights there. The next morning, I took the bus to Stonehenge; then spent my afternoon at Wilton House. The last morning, I spent the morning in Salisbury, then headed to Heathrow for my flight home.

Salisbury is a really lovely town, the Cathedral is amazing, and I love Wilton house as well. You can see my trip report here (starting at Bath):
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...omment-2006667

blakejared

The train system in England is great, so we used it instead of driving when we visited. It wouldn't be too tough to do this on your own... It would be better if you could allot more than one day... perhaps stay a night or two in Bath and explore the area.

janisj

"<i>It wouldn't be too tough to do this on your own...It would be better if you could allot more than one day...</i>" . . You would HAVE to take more than 1 day. There just isn't time to do it in one day.

London to Salisbury takes 1.5 hours, Salisbury to Bath takes approx 1 hour. R-T Salisbury/Stonehenge takes 1 hour - that is just for the bus ride, not the actual time at the stones. And the bus only leaves once an hour most of the year.

So if you left London at 0800, arriving in Salisbury at 9:30. The first bus to Stonehenge leaves at 10:00. Arrives 10:33. The first bus you could catch back to Salisbury leaves at 11:40 arriving at 12:11. An hour for lunch and 45 mins in the cathedral - the next train to Bath would be at 1:52 arriving at 2:45PM. You'd only have a few hours in Bath.

julia_t

Last time I was in Bath I saw a bus with the logo...

http://www.scarpertours.com/

I looked them up and they do reasonably priced tours from Bath - though not with inner circle access. But if you get a train TO Bath from London early one morning, you could take one of these tours and still see quite a bit of Bath that day.

Linda_C

The advice from nytraveler, janisj, and others is good. If you can't do the driving, a tour is your best option given time limits. So go with the flow (and the tour) if you want to see these wonderful places. That's the tradeoff with tours; you can see a lot but you may not get the time you want at each place. Touching/getting close to the stones can be a big deal for people, and as was noted means you are going early or later in the day. I'm not familiar with all the tour companies who run this or similar trips from London, but you won't get that opportunity with all of them. Salisbury and its cathedral are lovely.

adrienne

I would take the train to Salisbury and then get a local taxi to Stonehenge. Have the driver wait while you look at Stonehenge and then bring you back to Salisbury. I would not fiddle with the local bus system as you will wind up waiting for buses on each end. A taxi couldn't be very much money divided 3 ways and you are seemingly willing to pay $160 each for a tour so a few pounds for a taxi would be nothing. Salisbury is a great town and I would recommend spending the day there. I think I liked it more than Bath.

You could spend the night in Salisbury and continue to Bath the next day, returning to London that evening.

As others have said...both towns are too much for 1 day trip. Even with a rental car.

khunwilko

If you get into and actually get to touch the stones, i'd say that was a bonus in itself. The normal public admission does not include this nwadays - you only get to walk round the stones.
If you don't have a car then you really need some form of tour as trying to fathom out the UK public transport system will take another day out of you holiday.

BTW - driving in UK is very civilised, lanes and destinations are clearly marked and other motorists tend to be quite polite......they don't suffer fools gladly though.

- getting "switched round" in your brain doesn't take that much doing - the only time you would be at risk is on day 2 or 3 when you are feeling more relaxed and cheerily set off down the wrong side of the road.

hopingtotravel

Just to throw this out, you would not have to rent a manual.

We prepaid through Hertz for an automatic both trips. Neither time did they have our car. Once we were upgraded to a lovely Volvo sports wagon; once to a BMW. Both were a pleasure to drive. The upgrade was free.

Touching the stones would be magical--if you're an English lit major. If your'e just going because Stonehenge is 'a place to see', then I'm not sure. I didn't feel I missed anything by not touching them.

Augusta78

Thanks for all of the replies. We are still debating between perhaps taking a train to bath and then finding a tour to stonehenge from Bath PR going a separate day to stonhenge and salsbury. We are going to continue to research. (the tour described ended up being fully booked so it is no longer an option anyway)

Ozarksbill

Two comments: I don't think you are allowed to get up to touch the stones at Stonehenge. You might also consider seeing ancient stones at Avebury a short drive north. And how about Sarum a short distance from Salisbury and also Jane Austen's house at Chawton. Yes, Bath is worth a visit I think.

Ozarksbill [email protected]

janisj

"<i>I don't think you are allowed to get up to touch the stones at Stonehenge.</i>"

You can -- IF you take the inner access tours early in the AM or after closing, booked through English Heritage. But the morning visit isn't possible w/o staying in Salisbury the night before, and the evening one has its own transport issues.

Avebury and Sarum are definitely worth visiting - but one would need car or a specialized guided tour