Plan Your Visit to Stonehenge
Everything that decides how the day goes: when the field is open, what a ticket costs and why booking early is cheaper, how long the drive from London really takes, and what the weather does on an exposed chalk plain ninety miles from the city.
Opening hours — two seasons, one closing day
English Heritage runs Stonehenge on a summer timetable and a winter one, and the difference is an hour at the end of the day.
| Season | Open | Close | Last entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 March – 6 September | 9:30am | 6:00pm | 4:00pm |
| 7 September – 19 March | 9:30am | 5:00pm | 3:00pm |
| 25 December | Closed | ||
Two details are easy to miss and both change your afternoon. Last entry is two hours before closing, and the monument field itself shuts thirty minutes before the visitor centre does. Opening times around the summer and winter solstices are set separately each year, so check those dates against the solstice and equinox access programme before you plan around them.
Tickets — why the same slot costs three different prices
Entry is by timed ticket, and English Heritage prices it in advance tiers rather than at one rate. Book weeks ahead and you pay the lowest band; book on the day and you pay the highest, when there is availability at all. English Heritage and National Trust members go in free on production of a card, and English Heritage members bring children free too.
Because the pricing moves with the date and the tier, no single adult figure is worth printing here. Buy direct from English Heritage if you are already in Wiltshire. Coming out from London, a departure that includes admission holds the timed slot for you and folds it into one fare, which is why most visitors from the city book it that way.
Ticket, transport and timing in one booking
Every departure that includes admission holds your entry slot, runs the shuttle and gets you back to central London the same day. Compare what each fare actually covers before you pick.
Getting there from London
Stonehenge sits on Salisbury Plain, about ninety miles west of central London, and the drive takes roughly two hours each way on a clear run. There is no station at the monument and no bus from London that goes there directly.
By coach tour
The simplest option, and the one most visitors take. Departures leave between 5:30am and 10:00am from Victoria Coach Station, Gloucester Road, South Kensington, Grosvenor Gardens, Bulleid Way and Earl’s Court, depending on the operator. Several finish somewhere different from where they started, so read the end point as carefully as the start.
By train and the Stonehenge Tour bus
Take a South Western Railway service from London Waterloo to Salisbury, roughly an hour and a half, then the seasonal Stonehenge Tour bus from outside the station. It is the best independent route and it works, but it turns the visit into a full day and costs more than a half-day coach seat once you add both fares.
By car
The A303 runs past the monument and the visitor centre car park is signposted from it. Parking is free with a paid ticket. The famous view from the road is real, and it is worth knowing that it is a glimpse at speed rather than a substitute for the visit.
From the visitor centre to the stones
The circle is not beside the car park. A shuttle bus runs the gap continuously and it is covered by your admission, so it costs nothing extra on any departure that includes entry. You can also walk it across the fields, which takes longer and passes the barrow cemeteries on the way — the better version whenever the weather allows.
Once you are there the path around the stones is a level, surfaced circuit. The shuttle carries wheelchairs, and the visitor centre, the exhibition and the reconstructed Neolithic houses are all step-free.
How long to allow
| How you visit | Time at the stones | Whole day | What it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half-day coach from London | 2 hours | 6–6.5 hours | Circuit twice, audio guide, exhibition |
| Full day with Bath or Windsor | 1.5 hours | 9–12.5 hours | Circuit once, then a second landmark |
| Three-stop day with Oxford | 1 hour | 11–11.5 hours | Circuit once, no visitor centre |
| Stone Circle Access departure | 1–1.5 hours inside | 10.5–11 hours | Inside the stones, outside opening hours |
| Independent by train and bus | As long as you like | Full day | Everything, at your own pace |
An hour is enough to walk the circuit and take photographs. Two hours lets you do it twice, in different light, and still see the exhibition properly.
What the weather does out there
Salisbury Plain is open chalk downland with nothing between you and the wind. It runs several degrees colder than London in every season and the wind is the part people underestimate, not the rain. A windproof layer and closed shoes turn a bracing walk into a pleasant one.
Rain does not close the monument — it is a field, and every departure from London runs in it. Only the Stone Circle Access visits can be curtailed in genuinely wet conditions, and the guided walk beyond the walkway goes ahead in their place.
What to bring
- A windproof layer. An umbrella will not survive the plain; a hood will.
- Closed shoes with grip. The path is surfaced, the grass beside it is not.
- Your own earphones. The audio guide plays on your phone, and most coaches carry none.
- Food, or twenty minutes at the centre. There is a café there and nothing at the stones.
- A charged phone. The English Heritage audio tour is an app download, best done before you leave.
When to come
Early is quieter than late, and out of season is quieter than either. Cruise-ship days push the crowd into the late morning, which is exactly when the three-stop coach days arrive. A half-day that reaches the field soon after opening sees the thinnest crowds of anything running from London.
Winter light is the best light. The sun stays low all day, the sarsens take on the colour the photographs are famous for, and the field is emptier. Bring the windproof layer and it is the finest time of year to be there.
Next: what there is to see when you arrive, how to get inside the stone circle, or browse Stonehenge Tours From London from From $84.