Stonehenge Solstice and Equinox Access

Hours, prices and access verified by the Stonehenge London Tours team — last checked September 22, 2026

Four mornings a year English Heritage opens the monument field itself, and you can walk in among the stones. The dates are fixed by the sun. The access windows are published a few weeks ahead. Here is when they fall, and how you get there.

☀️ Summer solstice — the one everybody means

Access opens the evening before the solstice and runs through sunrise the next morning. You will be one of tens of thousands, and what you get is closer to a gathering than to a monument visit — drumming, dawn light and a very long night. No scheduled coach tour from London covers it, because the access window falls outside the hours any of them run. Plan your own way there, and plan to be awake for it. If you are driving, the car park needs a pre-booked, paid ticket — it sells out every year, and English Heritage tows vehicles left on the surrounding roads.

Next: 21 June 2027, with the solstice instant at 14:11 UT.

❄️ Winter solstice — smaller, colder, better aligned

The midwinter alignment is the more precise of the two. The sun sets along the axis and through the great trilithon. You share it with a fraction of the midsummer crowd, and you get a morning rather than an all-night affair. Since 2025 the car park has also needed a pre-booked, paid ticket for this date — it sold out ahead of the day in 2025, so book as soon as English Heritage opens it rather than assuming a space will be there.

Next: 21 December 2026, with the solstice instant at 20:51 UT. English Heritage confirms which sunrise the access morning falls on.

🌕 The two equinoxes

Day and night of equal length, in March and September. These are the quiet ones. You stand with a few hundred people rather than a few thousand, you wait no overnight queue, and you catch a sunrise at an hour you can actually manage. Unlike the solstices, parking is free and does not need to be booked ahead — you simply turn up. If the idea of solstice access appeals to you but the scale does not, choose one of these.

Next: 23 September 2026 and 20 March 2027. The autumn date has confirmed times: car park open 5:15am, field open as soon as light allows, sunrise around 6:54am, access ends 8:30am.

The dates, at a glance

These dates are calculated from the position of the sun and do not move. Wherever you are in the world you are looking at the same dates. Only your local time differs.

What each morning is actually like

Autumn equinox — 23 September 2026

The quietest of the four. Numbers are a fraction of the solstice crowds and the sunrise comes at a civilised hour, which makes it the easiest one to attend without staying locally the night before. Parking is free and does not need to be booked — the car park opens at 5:15am, the field opens as soon as light allows, sunrise is around 6:54am and open access ends at 8:30am.

Winter solstice — 21 December 2026

The shortest day of the year, and the alignment the monument is most precisely built on: the sun sets down the axis through the great trilithon. Cold, dark and far smaller than midsummer — and the one many people find more moving. Parking now has to be pre-booked and paid for (it sold out in 2025), even though standing among the stones stays free.

Spring equinox — 20 March 2027

Day and night of equal length, and the first access morning of the year with reliable light. It falls a week before the summer opening hours begin, so the standard day is still the shorter winter one. Like the autumn equinox, parking is expected to be free and unbooked — English Heritage has not yet published the 2027 access page.

Summer solstice — 21 June 2027

The big one. Tens of thousands gather overnight for sunrise on the longest day, and it is as much a gathering as a visit to a monument. Access opens the evening before and runs through the following morning. Parking sells out and must be pre-booked and paid for; entry to the stones themselves stays free.

Getting there when no coach tour runs

Managed open access falls outside every scheduled departure’s operating window, and no public transport runs to any of the four dates. That leaves your own transport, a taxi from Salisbury, or a private car booked for the night.

The two ways in are not priced the same. At the solstices, English Heritage sells a car parking ticket — £15 for a car, £20 for a motorhome — that has to be booked ahead and regularly sells out; it is a parking charge, not an entry fee, and standing among the stones stays free either way. At the equinoxes there is no charge and nothing to pre-book: you drive, cycle or walk in and park when you arrive.

If none of that suits you, book Stone Circle Access instead. You get a fixed sunrise or sunset slot, a small group, a guide and a coach from central London. Both departures that hold slots are compared here, and both refund you in full up to 24 hours ahead.

Where to check before you travel

• English Heritage — Autumn Equinox 2026: the confirmed access times for the next date above.
• English Heritage — Solstice at Stonehenge: the solstice hub, updated with each date's own access page nearer the time.
• English Heritage — Stonehenge: opening times, ticketing and the annual access announcements.
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre: the 1986 inscription covering Stonehenge, Avebury and the associated sites.

Verify the access window and the conditions of entry before you travel. The dates above are astronomical and fixed; the times and the parking arrangements are English Heritage’s, and they are published closer to each date.