June 10, 2025 • 29 mins
Stonehenge ranks among Britain's most iconic landmarks, drawing nearly a million visitors yearly to marvel at the mysterious stone formation that has stood for over 4,000 years. We share everything you need to know about visiting this UNESCO World Heritage Site, from transportation options to insider tips that will enhance your experience.
• Two types of stones make up Stonehenge - sarsen stones from 25 miles away and bluestones transported an incredible 150 miles from Wales
• The stones align perfectly with both summer and winter solstices, showcasing remarkable astronomical knowledge
• Visitors arrive at a dedicated visitor centre located 1.5 miles from the actual stones
• The excellent museum provides crucial context about the site's history and significance
• Free shuttle buses run every 10 minutes between the visitor centre and the monument
• You cannot touch the stones even with special inner circle access tours
• Weather protection is essential as you'll be completely exposed on Salisbury plain
• Multiple transport options exist, including train to Salisbury, plus tour bus, driving, or organised tours
• The nearby Avebury stone circle offers a complementary experience where you can touch the stones
• Book tickets in advance, especially during peak summer months, to guarantee entry
• English Heritage and National Trust members receive free entry
For more information about visiting Stonehenge and other UK destinations, join our UK Travel Planning Facebook community where we share tips, answer questions and help you plan your perfect UK trip.
📝 Show Notes - Episode 153
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode #109 – Day Tours with The English Bus: From London to Stonehenge, Bath & more
- Episode 104 – From Stonehenge to Canterbury & Beyond with Tailored Tours
- Episode 139 – Exploring Bath and Beyond: Unique Tours and Tips with Daniel Hancock
Need help planning your trip? Book your personalised itinerary consultation with Tracy and Doug Collins – UK travel planning experts – for tailored advice based on your travel style, interests, and timeframe. Book your consultation here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thinking about visiting Stonehenge.
In this episode, doug and Ichat all about how to plan your
trip, from how to get there andwhat to expect to the best tours
, tips for visiting and whetherit's really worth it.
If Stonehenge is on your list,this one's for you.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
Tracey Collins.
In this podcast, Tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
(00:37):
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Hello and welcome to the UK Travel Planner Podcast.
This week, we've got a fun andinformative episode all about
visiting one of the UK's mosticonic landmarks Stonehenge.
But I'm not going to helloDoug's here too.
Hello, because he's alsovisited a few times, and so we
thought this would be a goodchance to have a natter and
answer some of the most commonquestions we are asked about
(01:17):
visiting Stonehenge.
So we're going to talk aboutwhat Stonehenge is, why it's so
significant, how to get there,the best ways to visit and some
extra tips for first timers.
Plus, we're going to compareStonehenge with Avebury, which
is another stone circle we'veboth been to as well, so we
thought we'd definitely want totalk about Avebury as well.
So, whether you're visitingfrom London, bath or beyond,
(01:39):
this episode has everything youneed to know for a smooth and
memorable Stonehenge experience.
So the first thing we're goingto talk about basically is what
is Stonehenge and why is itsignificant?
So, doug, fill us in then.
What is?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Stonehenge.
Well, basically, it's aprehistoric stone circle located
in the southern English countyof Wiltshire in England yep and
well then, it was constructedbetween 3000 BC and 1600 BC and
is one of the most famousmonuments in the world and it's
a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I was going to say.
It's a UNESCO World HeritageSite as well, and I think it's
probably one of the most populardestinations that we have
questions about.
I think I read somewhere thatthey have nearly a million
visitors a year, which isincredible, yeah, absolutely
incredible.
So it's really famous becauseof a number of things.
(02:36):
So because it has alignmentwith the solstices, which we're
going to talk about in a second.
Basically, there's a lot ofmystery about how it was
constructed and, of course,effort it took to bring the
stones from so many miles, milesaway, so they all make it
hugely important.
So what do we know about theiralignment?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
okay, yeah, well, the effort.
Even in today's standards, itwould be a big effort to
actually put it together, so thestones align with the sun lies
on the summer solstice, which isthe 21st of June, and also on
the winter solstice, the 21st ofDecember, and considering when
it was built, it's prettyremarkable.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
It's crazy and also I have to say that if you are
planning to visit Stonehenge,this is not the time of year to
plan your visit.
So do not go there, or do nottry and plan a visit on the
solstices, because it isincredibly busy.
It's a very popular time ofyear, obviously, to visit and it
has quite significance for somepeople, so therefore, we would
(03:36):
really recommend that you don'tgo.
Now, what is it about thestones?
Because there's two types ofstones, aren't there?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
that's right.
Yes, there's sarsen stones,which are from the Marlborough
Downs, which is about 25 milesaway, and then there's the blue
stones all the way from wales,which is about 150 miles away
yeah, so it's incredible, isn'tit, to think that people manage
to move the stones that sort ofdistance, the size of them, and
I think that's the thing whenyou see the size of them.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
You just get kind of blown away and quite a lot of
people will kind of say oh.
A lot of british peopleactually say oh, stonehenge, or
whatever, whatever.
But I just think there's such amystique and a mystery around
it the realist, and when you'reactually standing nearby you can
actually almost feel.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
You know there's something magical about them, I
think yeah, no, I thinkabsolutely true.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So which is why?
Because I'm going to answer, infact, later about whether it's
worth going, but I've been anumber of times and I always
enjoy going to Stonehenge.
I think it's a an incredibleplace to visit.
It is different.
I'm actually just going tothrow this in here, because I
first went to Stonehengeprobably about 35 years ago, and
at that point you could walkright up to the stones.
(04:42):
There was literally me.
I parked up, just walked acrossthe road and the stones were
there.
Now it's a completely differentexperience and that's what
we're going to talk about next.
We're going to talk about whatit's like when you actually
arrive at Stonehenge and thosewere days before the visit
centre was put in yeah, andthat's what we're going to talk
about how things have changedover the last few years.
So what to know if you actually,when you arrive at Stonehenge
(05:03):
itself?
Okay, so I've been to thestones three times in recent
years and I've done it each timedifferently.
So I've been by, by car, I'vedriven my own car there, I have
been on the bus from Salisbury,which you and I did, and I've
also been on a tour with theEnglish bus, which I am going to
talk to you a little bit moreabout later.
So, but each of the timebasically, which I am going to
(05:23):
talk to you a little bit moreabout later, but each of the
time basically, you have thesame experience when you arrive,
in that you arrive at thevisitor centre.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That's right.
Yeah, if you pre-bought yourtickets and the presenter, you
can get quite busy there, though.
Yes, we arrived, and I think acouple of coaches had arrived at
the same time, so it can bequite busy.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
It can be incredibly busy and I would recommend that
you do buy your tickets ahead oftime.
If you're going to try andarrive and just buy your ticket,
you may end up not being ableto get a slot.
I would just say that.
So I would say buy a ticket.
Especially at busy times ofyear like the summer, it's
always busier at Stonehenge, itdoesn't matter when you go,
that's right.
So when you arrive, there's avisitor centre, now the visitor
(06:09):
centre.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
there's a cafe, there's public restrooms.
Well, the inevitable gift shopthere as well.
Yeah, there's a gift shop.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Actually, the gift shop has got some fantastic
things in it.
I will put some photos in theshow notes because I took loads
of photos of the cute thingsthey've got in the gift shop.
But depending on if you want tohave a little drink before you
go out, or depending on if you,if you know, if you have you
want to have a little drinkbefore you go out, or depend on
the weather, or if you want togo straight out to the stones
and you can walk them.
So the visitor center isactually a mile and a half from
(06:32):
the stones itself yeah, it is.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
We took the opportunity on that last visit
to have a good look around themuseum first, which I have to
say, I think it's recommended todo, because I just think it
fills.
You, say I think it'srecommended to do yeah.
Yeah, because I just think itfills you with awe.
I think you know.
Look at the size of thesestones.
How did they get them there?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah, I mean it talks about the whole area as well.
It's not just literally aboutStonehenge itself.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, and its importance?
Yeah, absolutely, and so youcan look around the museum, and
then outside there's someneolithic houses so you can go
and inspect those as well, andthere's a, there's a stone that
you can have a try at pullingwhich but it gives you an
example.
Like the size of it.
The sheer size is incredible,um, and then from there, there's
a shuttle service which willtake you so you can walk, but
(07:20):
there's a shuttle servicethat'll take you out to the
stones.
Now, we've always taken theshow.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
We've always taken the, but there's a shuttle
service that'll take you out tothe stones.
Now, we've always taken theshuttle.
We've always taken the shuttle.
Yeah, it's worth bearing inmind.
You can't actually seeStonehenge from the visitor
centre.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
No, that's a good point.
You can't.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
So you jump into the car park, you see the visitor
centre and don't expect you canbe able to see Stonehenge
straight away.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
No, you can't.
No, that's true, that's a goodpoint.
So you can walk.
It's about a mile and a half,I'd say.
So it takes about 15, 20minutes or so.
As I say, we've not walked it,we've always taken the shuttle
bus.
Don't worry if you miss ashuttle bus when you're standing
, because they come every like10 minutes.
There's a shuttle bus so youcan get up there and then, once
(08:06):
you get up and off shuttle bus,you'll see stonehenge.
Then, yeah, and then you've gotto.
You walk through up a path andthen you've got to keep within
designated areas.
Um, you're not allowed to goinside the kind of roped off
area unless you're doing aspecial tour, which are
available.
Otherwise you can't do that andthey're kind of early in the
morning or later and later inthe evening, those special tours
where you can have the innercircle access.
But generally, if you buy ageneral access ticket to
(08:28):
Stonehenge, you can't go withinthat kind of inner area You're
kept to the perimeter.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
It's all very clearly marked, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
But you've got a good view, oh yeah, yeah, you have a
really good view and you getvery close to the heel stone
actually, but you walk all theway around so you get all to see
the the stones.
Really well, um, you can'ttouch them.
And I'm just going to say thisyou cannot touch them.
Whether you do the inner circleaccess to or not, you're not
allowed to touch the stones.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Um, that's very important you take as many
photos and videos as you like.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Photos videos no drones are allowed.
You can't take dogs exceptguide dogs aren't allowed in
Stonehenge.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
The path is flat, isn't it as well?
It's a grass path, isn't it?
Around the perimeter?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, so it's covered in like a plastic mesh type of
stuff.
But if it has been raining itdoes get muddy.
That's one thing I will sayabout that path, because I was
there in January, early Januaryor late now, so late January,
February, and it was, it was alittle bit muddy so it's worth
taking a few uh items ofclothing, just in case the
weather does change well I would.
(09:31):
I would say that, and that'ssuch a real good tip to share
about.
If you're visiting Stonehenge,it's you're exposed, it's out in
the open.
If it's raining, you're goingto get wet.
If it's windy, you're going toget.
You know, you'll get blown away, which I did one time when I
went before in fact there'spictures of me in january and it
was very breezy.
It was, it was raining and itwas.
It was a bit chilly, but we'vebeen in summer I was just going
to say the opposite is true.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
We're actually there in summer and take a hat and
some sunblock yeah, because it,it can have a drink of water as
well yeah, and take water.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
But I will say the weather can change quickly
because I say I was there end ofjanuary, being in february, and
it was raining and the nextminute the sun came out and it
was so you just don't know, butit was cold, it was very cold,
and there's pictures of melooking like you know I'm right
very wrapped up with my layerson and bring a waterproof jacket
whatever time of year.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Actually, because I visit at different times of the
year and always have mywaterproof jacket with me and
some shoes with some good treadon, then, if you say it can get
a little bit slippery if it'swet, yeah, and a little bit
muddy.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, it was definitely uh muddy, but um, but
so all in all, really, youarrive at the visitor center,
you can spend a bit of timethere before you go out to the
stones, or you can get, you cango see the stones and then go
back to the visitor center, butI'd highly recommend that you do
spend some time looking aroundthe museum, having a look at the
neolithic houses.
You know, reading up aboutstonehenge, I would say give
(10:47):
yourself two hours, would yousay that's it.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
You're not rushed are there's nobody pushing you
around, no, no you can walk.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
You can walk round and round and round if you want,
you could just keep going roundand round and round and looking
at the stones, there's nobodykind of saying you can only be
here for five minutes, 20minutes, 20, half an hour,
whatever, um, and you can jumpon any shuttle bus back so to
get to stonehenge yeah, sothat's our next section that
we're going to talk about sowe've kind of talked about what
they are and their significance.
We've talked about what happenswhen you arrive.
(11:14):
So now the next section we'retalking about is actually how to
get there yeah so we're goingto talk about how to get there
from london first.
We are going to just cover howto get there from Bath as well,
because I know a lot of youmight be considering going to
Stonehenge from Bath because itis pretty easy.
So we're going to talk about afew options.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah, so the first one coming from London.
You'll be coming out to London.
Waterloo is the the stationfrom there, and so you'll about
an hour hour and a half trainfrom Waterloo to Salisbury.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Oh, so the first option is to take the train.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Well, these were me.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I was going to say you didn't mention, you just
kind of went into Waterloo.
Well, I'm a train man, so trainsare always the first option I
was going to say the firstoption is to take the train,
kind of jumped in and told youhow to do it.
But yes, london, waterloo,salisbury, it doesn't take about
an hour and a half, yeah, yeah.
And then, once you arrive inSalisbury, what you can do is
you can take a taxi if you wantto Stonehenge, or you can take
(12:09):
there's a kind of shuttle tourbus, which we've done and we
enjoyed that.
It was actually quite good,wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, it was a double-decker bus and yeah, and
there's commentary points aswell can have um earphones.
You can listen when they talkabout parts.
You know the trip on the way.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, it's also um, yeah, and so actually what it?
What's really interesting aboutthat tour bus as well is that
it's a loop, so, um, you can, itpulls into stonehenge.
You can get off at stonehengeand then I can't.
I think I don't know how manyevery half an hour or so, I'm
not 100, sure the time now, butit actually will come back to
Stonehenge and you can jump onit and then go back to Salisbury
to get the train.
Now, we did that a few yearsago when we were actually
(12:51):
travelling to Exeter fromWinchester and Portsmouth and we
decided to stop off atStonehenge.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
So we had our luggage with us.
So what did we do with ourluggage?
So, just outside soulsby trainstation, there's a turning
circle there and there's a hotelyeah um restaurant?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I think yeah, seconds away from from the station and
we left our luggage there yeah,yeah, I think it was a
restaurant, but it was thebottom of the hill and we just
left, we left our luggage thereand we we was on the bottom of
it about halfway.
It was about halfway down Iremember we bought tickets for
stonehenge on the bus as well,and this was June, so we managed
to get.
We bought the Stonehenge tourbus and the entry tickets to
(13:29):
Stonehenge.
I think you can have your ownentry tickets to Stonehenge and
just take the tour bus whichwill get you there.
But that's what we did.
We just booked it.
We didn't, we kind of winged it, just decided to add it in and
try it out and actually itworked out all right.
But I would say, if you plan todo that, do check, because you
might need to buy the ticketsahead of time.
(13:49):
But I think you can always buythem on the bus.
So that's what we did.
I think the whole route takesabout an hour to do the loop and
maybe about I don't know abouthalf an hour to get to the range
, or so I think it took us a bitlonger because there was a road
work.
Yeah, yeah, but it's worthhaving a look around salisbury
(14:09):
as well.
I'm just going to throw thisoff itself.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, the cathedral is yeah, oh yeah, absolutely so
you could do that.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
You could do that on a day trip from london.
We've talked about quite oftenabout day trips that you can
take by train, so you could goout to salisbury, go to
stonehenge and then go back tosalisbury and back to london.
You could do.
A coach is another possiblepossible way to do it, but
honestly it takes, it takes overthree hours just one way, so I
wouldn't recommend it.
That's probably my least.
So yeah well, least recommendedway to do it.
(14:36):
Well, the other way you coulddo it is by car, because I know
a lot of you will be consideringadding in Stonehenge when
you're a part of a road triparound the UK.
So one thing I will just say tothis if you plan to do this and
I've actually got friends thatlive near Stonehenge is just be
very careful with the roads,because they get very, very
(14:56):
congested and very, very busy,particularly around weekends and
public holiday times and schoolholidays.
So just be really aware of that.
There is free parking atStonehenge.
If you're an English Heritageor National Trust member.
If you've got your ticket aheadof time, you don't have to pay.
If you don't have a ticket andyou plan to buy at Stonehenge
(15:18):
and you've got a car, there is afee.
I think it's about five pound,but you can get a refund, uh,
when you buy your ticket, um,but it will, they will charge
you for parking if you haven'tgot your ticket before you
arrive yeah, so driving is aflexible option.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
I mean, that gives you more time.
You're not not not rushed yeah,that's it.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I mean, and a lot of people will choose to do that
and you know, I think it is itis a good option.
Another option from london isto take an organized tour.
Now, um, we have got uhpartners that we work with who
do this, so we've got mytailored tours.
If you're thinking about aprivate tour from london, uh, we
highly recommend with my teletours and I will put a link in
the show notes.
(15:57):
And for a small group tour, um,I'm going to talk about the
english bus in a moment, becauseI actually went out with them
in january and had an absolutelyamazing day, so I'm going to
talk about, uh, about how goodthat was, but I do want to just
throw throw this into thispodcast because I think it's
important.
There are a lot of tourcompanies that will offer, um,
(16:18):
larger tour companies that willoffer stonehenge bath and
windsor in a day, and really I'mgoing to say my opinion is that
that is too rushed, trying tofit Windsor in with Stonehenge
Bath and that's the feedbackwe've had from others as well
it's just, you're just not goingto get, you're going to really
get a fine visit around Windsor,and that that's.
(16:39):
And really Windsor deserves abit more time.
I mean obviously a rush visitmay suit some, yeah absolutely,
you know, I'm not I'm gonna saynot do it at all, I'm just
saying really consider itcarefully and if you can and if
you really want to do Bath andStonehenge and Windsor, is to do
Stonehenge and Bath on it, onit on a tour private to a small
(16:59):
group tour, and then do Windsoras a half day tour from london,
which is very or even justindependently from london.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
It's easy enough to do yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
So that's one thing that I would just say, that just
to be a bit more careful about.
If you're planning, like ifyou're really rushed and you
have very little few days andyou really want to do windsor,
then and you know, and you don'twant to pay for a private chair
, then then you know, considerone of those larger coaches, but
it would be my last option.
Um, one other option as well isthat you could um raise of xfa
(17:31):
cars could provide a driver forthe day as well.
So if you just want to drive it, take you out to stonehenge and
avebury, which we're going totalk about in a minute.
Um, you know, certainly he cangive you a coat to take you from
london um by car to stonehengeand avebury, and I will put
links in the show notes to bothmy taylor tours and uh for xfr
cars and just while I mentionedthat, the um, I mentioned the
(17:54):
trains from waterloo, equallyeasy.
If you're coming from bath, fromthe west, it's easy yeah, well,
I was going to talk about frombath as well, because, um, if
you want to do it from bath, Iwould recommend again, you could
um talk to daniel of bathinsider tours and he could do a
private tour.
He's got options from bath thatwould take you from bath to get
(18:15):
you to stone hand, but you cando it by train, which is what I
want you to kind of talk aboutyeah, it's just as easy.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, yeah, there's no issues, it's a very
straightforward train journey uhtakes over an hour.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Just about an hour, not much more and so if you do
the train from bath again, youcould pick up the um stonehenge
uh tour bus from outside thetrain station.
That's where it stops I think Ididn't say that before, but
actually you can pick the twobus up.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
It waits outside salisbury train station there's
like a car park turning circlein front of the station yeah,
yeah so easy to find it parksliterally outside the station
building yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
So I'm just going to talk a little bit about um my
experience with the english bus,because I did a tour with them
ended january, february, um,which was lovely.
They invited me to go out for aday.
So they are partners and I havegot a discount code, but you
have to go through the linkwhich I'll put in the show notes
and put the code on, which,again, will be in the show notes
.
But that was a.
It was a fantastic trip, smallcoach.
(19:10):
We went out to Stonehenge first,then to Bath and then we went
to a secret place which I'm notgoing to share with you because
it's a secret, but that wasfantastic.
It was a really, really goodday out.
We had the advantage of a guideand you know, I, you if you get
a stone, and you can have umearphones if you go, you know
independently, um, but I, I wantto know as much as I can about
(19:33):
it, and having a guide is reallygreat way to do it.
And also, we had the advantageof being able to visit bath as
well and enjoy a few hours ofbath, which was fantastic.
And then we went to the secretplace on the way back to London.
No stress, very easy picked upfrom Victoria just outside
Victoria train station in themorning and dropped off back
there later on in the day.
So I would highly recommendthat very, very good company.
(19:55):
We only work with the best.
So if you want more informationabout English Bus, please go
through the link on the shownotes, because they were amazing
and they do do other tours fromLondon as well that you can
check out.
But I really wanted to do a bigshout out for them because they
were.
It was just a brilliant,brilliant day yeah, I remember
you talking about that.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
You really enjoyed yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
It was really really good.
So we're just going to talk inthe next section a little bit
about Stonehenge versus Avebury,um so.
So let's talk about whatAvebury is.
So Avebury are also, it's alsostones, stone circles that's
right.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Uh, with big one, big difference yeah to Stonehenge.
Yeah, go on then you can touchthe stones you can.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
You can touch the stones.
You can go right up to thestones.
You can walk through the fieldsand there are.
There are more stones.
There just seem to the stones.
You can go right up to thestones.
You can walk through the fieldsand there are more stones.
There just seem to be stoneseverywhere.
When you go to Avebury, I wouldsay that sometimes in the
fields there's sheep, sheep,cows.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
And sheep dung Watch where you walk you have to watch
where you walk.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
But Avebury is, I don't know.
It's also a very special placeto go to.
You can actually combine it ifyou've got your own car or if
you're doing a tour.
Some tours will combine Aveburyand Stonehenge.
They're not very far apart.
I think it's about I don't evenknow a 25-minute drive between
the two.
You have to.
There's parking at Avebury andyou either have to have the
(21:19):
exact cash or you can pay.
I think there's a reception inthe old farm yard that you can
pay by card for parking.
There's a really nice pub aswell that you can go to and have
a pub lunch as well.
Actually it's about a 40-minutedrive, I think, between the two
of them, but I'd highlyrecommend it.
There's so many stones at Averythere is.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
And they're huge.
They are, and they're huge.
They are in separate locationsand you're walking through
neither well, where's the circle?
And you step back and you go ah, now I see it.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Okay, now I can see it and also I think the thing
about avery is like this thestones are all different sizes.
Um, they don't have the lintelsthat stonehenge have these are
standing standards these arestanding stones, um, but I'd
highly recommend going andhaving a look at avebury as well
, if you can.
As I say you can, you can findchairs that will include both.
(22:13):
If you've got a car, I, I wouldencourage you to do that, and I
know um, actually, xfa cars rizfrom xfa cars has taken people
out from london to stonehengeand then on to Avebury and then
back to London.
Yeah, yeah yeah, so somequestions, because we get some.
Those are some of thefrequently asked questions that
we get in our Facebook group andvia email, and the first one is
(22:36):
really controversial.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Well, yeah, is Stonehenge worth it?
That's.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, I think so I do too.
I'm quite passionate about itand I get a little bit of a
downer when I hear especiallyBritish people going, oh, it's
just a pile of old rocks.
I'm like it's just.
You know.
I have to say I'm an ex-historyteacher, so I'm not going to
say anything other than it'sabsolutely worth it.
I'm a little bit sad that overthe last 30 years it has become
(23:01):
so, so popular and so this is sobusy and but it does protect
the protected the stones.
Now English Heritage andNational Trust it went out my
head so English Heritage andNational Trust share ownership
of the some of the stones andthen the land, I believe.
So they actually look after thewhole site.
(23:21):
So if you are english heritageor national trust member, you do
actually get a free entry, Ibelieve, to stonehenge.
Yes, because we've had that.
So what about the best time tovisit?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
uh well, I was just going to add on to that.
First one is we've heard peoplea little bit doubtful about
going, and then when they'vebeen there, yeah they were wow
yeah I'm so glad I went yeah,that's true so yeah, backtrack
is on that one, no that's right.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I think the main thing really is you just have to
be prepared.
Because you need to think aboutthe weather, I think, and
because if it's pouring down therain, if you're not prepared,
you know you've got to beprepared for the weather when
you get there, because you'regoing to be out on the plane.
So you know it's it, it's youneed to just be aware of that,
um, and if you're prepared, Ithink you'll enjoy it.
(24:08):
And if you go to the museum, ifyou learn all about it, I think
it's fascinating yeah, you'vegot.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
You've got to delve into exactly what it is.
Yeah, right, so go back to thenext question.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Sorry because we get asked again when should I visit
and and how long should I go for?
Well, I would say early in themorning is best.
I mean, it's spring and autumn,it's going to be slightly quiet
and summer's busy, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I mean summer's incredibly busy.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Don't go during the solstices, which is said, and
give yourself about two hours.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, I think two hours is probably about fair.
Two to three hours it dependsif you want to go and have some
lunch there as well, because thefood's actually nice in the
cafe yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Yeah.
So I know we've kind of touchedon this before, but can I touch
the stones?
Absolutely, categorically noeven if you've booked a special
inner city to inner city innercircle tour even then you can't
touch them, right?
do I need to book ahead?
Well, okay, don't do themistake that doug and I did.
Well, it wasn't a mistake,because we did get tickets and
(25:05):
we jumped on the the uh, thestonehenge tour bus and got
tickets then.
But, honestly, I wouldrecommend in fact, you can book
the bus I think you can book thebus online ahead of time anyway
include the tickets in it.
So I really would look at thatbecause I don't want you to miss
out, especially in the summer.
It's less of an issue in thewinter, except around solstice
(25:26):
time.
But, um, I would look atbooking your tickets ahead of
time and don't don't do.
We winged it and I shouldn't betelling you that no, no, but
that's what we did, but we wereokay.
We kind of added it in at thelast minute, but, as I say, I
would recommend that you do that.
Um, what about combining itwith something else?
absolutely, yeah, yeah, that'sright, that's a good idea I mean
(25:46):
, you know it's easy enough tosee salisbury.
Um, if you're taking a tour,you're probably going to see
bath as well, and if you've gotyour own car, then definitely
look at doing bath and andcombining it with avebury as
well.
Okay, so let's end with the onequestion that we always answer
at the end of it, which is theone tip that you would share
with somebody visitingStonehenge for the first time.
(26:07):
So my tip I don't know ifyou're going to come up with a
different one.
My tip is actually to dress forthe weather.
Honestly, dress.
Make sure that you've got araincoat or umbrella raincoat
and umbrella.
Make sure you check what theweather's going to be like um,
and wear layers.
If it's in the summer, take ahat and put sun cream on um,
(26:27):
because you're out in the openand you're exposed, and they say
they run out, and I don't knowif you're a mile and a half from
the visitor center, so you knowyou've got to be aware that
you've got to be dressedcorrectly and think about your
footwear too.
Have you got a different tipthat you would share?
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I'll just reinforce what we said before really to be
really absorbed in the wholestone injects stonehenge
experience is to go around themuseum first and see what they
have to say about how the stonesgot there and what the
significance to believe ofstonehenge it was to the people
(27:00):
in that era yeah, I think that'sreally good.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Well, there's a two.
You've got two for the price ofone.
There you've got two excellenttips about Stonehenge.
So thanks for joining us againfor this week.
We will put links andphotographs in the show notes.
I'm hoping to also get somevideos on YouTube and our
Instagram.
There's definitely photographson Instagram of Stonehenge.
The times that I visited didn'tsee what I was wearing can see,
(27:22):
certainly in the end of January, when it was a bit when it was
a bit blowy what it looked like.
A few people have commented ona few of the photos, saying it
looked it looked freezing and itwasn't very warm.
But again, just mention aboutmaking sure that you dress
correctly.
So you can find information inthe show notes at uktravelplan
planningcom forward slashepisode 153.
(27:42):
But that just leaves me anddoug to say until next week,
happy uk travel planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the uk travel
planning podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uk travel planningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
(28:03):
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
Thinking about visiting Stonehenge.
In this episode, doug and Ichat all about how to plan your
trip, from how to get there andwhat to expect to the best tours
, tips for visiting and whetherit's really worth it.
If Stonehenge is on your list,this one's for you.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
Tracey Collins.
In this podcast, Tracy sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
(00:37):
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Hello and welcome to the UK Travel Planner Podcast.
This week, we've got a fun andinformative episode all about
visiting one of the UK's mosticonic landmarks Stonehenge.
But I'm not going to helloDoug's here too.
Hello, because he's alsovisited a few times, and so we
thought this would be a goodchance to have a natter and
answer some of the most commonquestions we are asked about
(01:17):
visiting Stonehenge.
So we're going to talk aboutwhat Stonehenge is, why it's so
significant, how to get there,the best ways to visit and some
extra tips for first timers.
Plus, we're going to compareStonehenge with Avebury, which
is another stone circle we'veboth been to as well, so we
thought we'd definitely want totalk about Avebury as well.
So, whether you're visitingfrom London, bath or beyond,
(01:39):
this episode has everything youneed to know for a smooth and
memorable Stonehenge experience.
So the first thing we're goingto talk about basically is what
is Stonehenge and why is itsignificant?
So, doug, fill us in then.
What is?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Stonehenge.
Well, basically, it's aprehistoric stone circle located
in the southern English countyof Wiltshire in England yep and
well then, it was constructedbetween 3000 BC and 1600 BC and
is one of the most famousmonuments in the world and it's
a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I was going to say.
It's a UNESCO World HeritageSite as well, and I think it's
probably one of the most populardestinations that we have
questions about.
I think I read somewhere thatthey have nearly a million
visitors a year, which isincredible, yeah, absolutely
incredible.
So it's really famous becauseof a number of things.
(02:36):
So because it has alignmentwith the solstices, which we're
going to talk about in a second.
Basically, there's a lot ofmystery about how it was
constructed and, of course,effort it took to bring the
stones from so many miles, milesaway, so they all make it
hugely important.
So what do we know about theiralignment?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
okay, yeah, well, the effort.
Even in today's standards, itwould be a big effort to
actually put it together, so thestones align with the sun lies
on the summer solstice, which isthe 21st of June, and also on
the winter solstice, the 21st ofDecember, and considering when
it was built, it's prettyremarkable.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
It's crazy and also I have to say that if you are
planning to visit Stonehenge,this is not the time of year to
plan your visit.
So do not go there, or do nottry and plan a visit on the
solstices, because it isincredibly busy.
It's a very popular time ofyear, obviously, to visit and it
has quite significance for somepeople, so therefore, we would
(03:36):
really recommend that you don'tgo.
Now, what is it about thestones?
Because there's two types ofstones, aren't there?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
that's right.
Yes, there's sarsen stones,which are from the Marlborough
Downs, which is about 25 milesaway, and then there's the blue
stones all the way from wales,which is about 150 miles away
yeah, so it's incredible, isn'tit, to think that people manage
to move the stones that sort ofdistance, the size of them, and
I think that's the thing whenyou see the size of them.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
You just get kind of blown away and quite a lot of
people will kind of say oh.
A lot of british peopleactually say oh, stonehenge, or
whatever, whatever.
But I just think there's such amystique and a mystery around
it the realist, and when you'reactually standing nearby you can
actually almost feel.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
You know there's something magical about them, I
think yeah, no, I thinkabsolutely true.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So which is why?
Because I'm going to answer, infact, later about whether it's
worth going, but I've been anumber of times and I always
enjoy going to Stonehenge.
I think it's a an incredibleplace to visit.
It is different.
I'm actually just going tothrow this in here, because I
first went to Stonehengeprobably about 35 years ago, and
at that point you could walkright up to the stones.
(04:42):
There was literally me.
I parked up, just walked acrossthe road and the stones were
there.
Now it's a completely differentexperience and that's what
we're going to talk about next.
We're going to talk about whatit's like when you actually
arrive at Stonehenge and thosewere days before the visit
centre was put in yeah, andthat's what we're going to talk
about how things have changedover the last few years.
So what to know if you actually,when you arrive at Stonehenge
(05:03):
itself?
Okay, so I've been to thestones three times in recent
years and I've done it each timedifferently.
So I've been by, by car, I'vedriven my own car there, I have
been on the bus from Salisbury,which you and I did, and I've
also been on a tour with theEnglish bus, which I am going to
talk to you a little bit moreabout later.
So, but each of the timebasically, which I am going to
(05:23):
talk to you a little bit moreabout later, but each of the
time basically, you have thesame experience when you arrive,
in that you arrive at thevisitor centre.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
That's right.
Yeah, if you pre-bought yourtickets and the presenter, you
can get quite busy there, though.
Yes, we arrived, and I think acouple of coaches had arrived at
the same time, so it can bequite busy.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
It can be incredibly busy and I would recommend that
you do buy your tickets ahead oftime.
If you're going to try andarrive and just buy your ticket,
you may end up not being ableto get a slot.
I would just say that.
So I would say buy a ticket.
Especially at busy times ofyear like the summer, it's
always busier at Stonehenge, itdoesn't matter when you go,
that's right.
So when you arrive, there's avisitor centre, now the visitor
(06:09):
centre.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
there's a cafe, there's public restrooms.
Well, the inevitable gift shopthere as well.
Yeah, there's a gift shop.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Actually, the gift shop has got some fantastic
things in it.
I will put some photos in theshow notes because I took loads
of photos of the cute thingsthey've got in the gift shop.
But depending on if you want tohave a little drink before you
go out, or depending on if you,if you know, if you have you
want to have a little drinkbefore you go out, or depend on
the weather, or if you want togo straight out to the stones
and you can walk them.
So the visitor center isactually a mile and a half from
(06:32):
the stones itself yeah, it is.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
We took the opportunity on that last visit
to have a good look around themuseum first, which I have to
say, I think it's recommended todo, because I just think it
fills.
You, say I think it'srecommended to do yeah.
Yeah, because I just think itfills you with awe.
I think you know.
Look at the size of thesestones.
How did they get them there?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah, I mean it talks about the whole area as well.
It's not just literally aboutStonehenge itself.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, and its importance?
Yeah, absolutely, and so youcan look around the museum, and
then outside there's someneolithic houses so you can go
and inspect those as well, andthere's a, there's a stone that
you can have a try at pullingwhich but it gives you an
example.
Like the size of it.
The sheer size is incredible,um, and then from there, there's
a shuttle service which willtake you so you can walk, but
(07:20):
there's a shuttle servicethat'll take you out to the
stones.
Now, we've always taken theshow.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
We've always taken the, but there's a shuttle
service that'll take you out tothe stones.
Now, we've always taken theshuttle.
We've always taken the shuttle.
Yeah, it's worth bearing inmind.
You can't actually seeStonehenge from the visitor
centre.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
No, that's a good point.
You can't.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
So you jump into the car park, you see the visitor
centre and don't expect you canbe able to see Stonehenge
straight away.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
No, you can't.
No, that's true, that's a goodpoint.
So you can walk.
It's about a mile and a half,I'd say.
So it takes about 15, 20minutes or so.
As I say, we've not walked it,we've always taken the shuttle
bus.
Don't worry if you miss ashuttle bus when you're standing
, because they come every like10 minutes.
There's a shuttle bus so youcan get up there and then, once
(08:06):
you get up and off shuttle bus,you'll see stonehenge.
Then, yeah, and then you've gotto.
You walk through up a path andthen you've got to keep within
designated areas.
Um, you're not allowed to goinside the kind of roped off
area unless you're doing aspecial tour, which are
available.
Otherwise you can't do that andthey're kind of early in the
morning or later and later inthe evening, those special tours
where you can have the innercircle access.
But generally, if you buy ageneral access ticket to
(08:28):
Stonehenge, you can't go withinthat kind of inner area You're
kept to the perimeter.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
It's all very clearly marked, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
But you've got a good view, oh yeah, yeah, you have a
really good view and you getvery close to the heel stone
actually, but you walk all theway around so you get all to see
the the stones.
Really well, um, you can'ttouch them.
And I'm just going to say thisyou cannot touch them.
Whether you do the inner circleaccess to or not, you're not
allowed to touch the stones.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Um, that's very important you take as many
photos and videos as you like.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Photos videos no drones are allowed.
You can't take dogs exceptguide dogs aren't allowed in
Stonehenge.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
The path is flat, isn't it as well?
It's a grass path, isn't it?
Around the perimeter?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, so it's covered in like a plastic mesh type of
stuff.
But if it has been raining itdoes get muddy.
That's one thing I will sayabout that path, because I was
there in January, early Januaryor late now, so late January,
February, and it was, it was alittle bit muddy so it's worth
taking a few uh items ofclothing, just in case the
weather does change well I would.
(09:31):
I would say that, and that'ssuch a real good tip to share
about.
If you're visiting Stonehenge,it's you're exposed, it's out in
the open.
If it's raining, you're goingto get wet.
If it's windy, you're going toget.
You know, you'll get blown away, which I did one time when I
went before in fact there'spictures of me in january and it
was very breezy.
It was, it was raining and itwas.
It was a bit chilly, but we'vebeen in summer I was just going
to say the opposite is true.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
We're actually there in summer and take a hat and
some sunblock yeah, because it,it can have a drink of water as
well yeah, and take water.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
But I will say the weather can change quickly
because I say I was there end ofjanuary, being in february, and
it was raining and the nextminute the sun came out and it
was so you just don't know, butit was cold, it was very cold,
and there's pictures of melooking like you know I'm right
very wrapped up with my layerson and bring a waterproof jacket
whatever time of year.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Actually, because I visit at different times of the
year and always have mywaterproof jacket with me and
some shoes with some good treadon, then, if you say it can get
a little bit slippery if it'swet, yeah, and a little bit
muddy.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, it was definitely uh muddy, but um, but
so all in all, really, youarrive at the visitor center,
you can spend a bit of timethere before you go out to the
stones, or you can get, you cango see the stones and then go
back to the visitor center, butI'd highly recommend that you do
spend some time looking aroundthe museum, having a look at the
neolithic houses.
You know, reading up aboutstonehenge, I would say give
(10:47):
yourself two hours, would yousay that's it.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
You're not rushed are there's nobody pushing you
around, no, no you can walk.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
You can walk round and round and round if you want,
you could just keep going roundand round and round and looking
at the stones, there's nobodykind of saying you can only be
here for five minutes, 20minutes, 20, half an hour,
whatever, um, and you can jumpon any shuttle bus back so to
get to stonehenge yeah, sothat's our next section that
we're going to talk about sowe've kind of talked about what
they are and their significance.
We've talked about what happenswhen you arrive.
(11:14):
So now the next section we'retalking about is actually how to
get there yeah so we're goingto talk about how to get there
from london first.
We are going to just cover howto get there from Bath as well,
because I know a lot of youmight be considering going to
Stonehenge from Bath because itis pretty easy.
So we're going to talk about afew options.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah, so the first one coming from London.
You'll be coming out to London.
Waterloo is the the stationfrom there, and so you'll about
an hour hour and a half trainfrom Waterloo to Salisbury.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Oh, so the first option is to take the train.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Well, these were me.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I was going to say you didn't mention, you just
kind of went into Waterloo.
Well, I'm a train man, so trainsare always the first option I
was going to say the firstoption is to take the train,
kind of jumped in and told youhow to do it.
But yes, london, waterloo,salisbury, it doesn't take about
an hour and a half, yeah, yeah.
And then, once you arrive inSalisbury, what you can do is
you can take a taxi if you wantto Stonehenge, or you can take
(12:09):
there's a kind of shuttle tourbus, which we've done and we
enjoyed that.
It was actually quite good,wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, it was a double-decker bus and yeah, and
there's commentary points aswell can have um earphones.
You can listen when they talkabout parts.
You know the trip on the way.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, it's also um, yeah, and so actually what it?
What's really interesting aboutthat tour bus as well is that
it's a loop, so, um, you can, itpulls into stonehenge.
You can get off at stonehengeand then I can't.
I think I don't know how manyevery half an hour or so, I'm
not 100, sure the time now, butit actually will come back to
Stonehenge and you can jump onit and then go back to Salisbury
to get the train.
Now, we did that a few yearsago when we were actually
(12:51):
travelling to Exeter fromWinchester and Portsmouth and we
decided to stop off atStonehenge.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
So we had our luggage with us.
So what did we do with ourluggage?
So, just outside soulsby trainstation, there's a turning
circle there and there's a hotelyeah um restaurant?
Speaker 1 (13:05):
I think yeah, seconds away from from the station and
we left our luggage there yeah,yeah, I think it was a
restaurant, but it was thebottom of the hill and we just
left, we left our luggage thereand we we was on the bottom of
it about halfway.
It was about halfway down Iremember we bought tickets for
stonehenge on the bus as well,and this was June, so we managed
to get.
We bought the Stonehenge tourbus and the entry tickets to
(13:29):
Stonehenge.
I think you can have your ownentry tickets to Stonehenge and
just take the tour bus whichwill get you there.
But that's what we did.
We just booked it.
We didn't, we kind of winged it, just decided to add it in and
try it out and actually itworked out all right.
But I would say, if you plan todo that, do check, because you
might need to buy the ticketsahead of time.
(13:49):
But I think you can always buythem on the bus.
So that's what we did.
I think the whole route takesabout an hour to do the loop and
maybe about I don't know abouthalf an hour to get to the range
, or so I think it took us a bitlonger because there was a road
work.
Yeah, yeah, but it's worthhaving a look around salisbury
(14:09):
as well.
I'm just going to throw thisoff itself.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, the cathedral is yeah, oh yeah, absolutely so
you could do that.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
You could do that on a day trip from london.
We've talked about quite oftenabout day trips that you can
take by train, so you could goout to salisbury, go to
stonehenge and then go back tosalisbury and back to london.
You could do.
A coach is another possiblepossible way to do it, but
honestly it takes, it takes overthree hours just one way, so I
wouldn't recommend it.
That's probably my least.
So yeah well, least recommendedway to do it.
(14:36):
Well, the other way you coulddo it is by car, because I know
a lot of you will be consideringadding in Stonehenge when
you're a part of a road triparound the UK.
So one thing I will just say tothis if you plan to do this and
I've actually got friends thatlive near Stonehenge is just be
very careful with the roads,because they get very, very
(14:56):
congested and very, very busy,particularly around weekends and
public holiday times and schoolholidays.
So just be really aware of that.
There is free parking atStonehenge.
If you're an English Heritageor National Trust member.
If you've got your ticket aheadof time, you don't have to pay.
If you don't have a ticket andyou plan to buy at Stonehenge
(15:18):
and you've got a car, there is afee.
I think it's about five pound,but you can get a refund, uh,
when you buy your ticket, um,but it will, they will charge
you for parking if you haven'tgot your ticket before you
arrive yeah, so driving is aflexible option.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
I mean, that gives you more time.
You're not not not rushed yeah,that's it.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I mean, and a lot of people will choose to do that
and you know, I think it is itis a good option.
Another option from london isto take an organized tour.
Now, um, we have got uhpartners that we work with who
do this, so we've got mytailored tours.
If you're thinking about aprivate tour from london, uh, we
highly recommend with my teletours and I will put a link in
the show notes.
(15:57):
And for a small group tour, um,I'm going to talk about the
english bus in a moment, becauseI actually went out with them
in january and had an absolutelyamazing day, so I'm going to
talk about, uh, about how goodthat was, but I do want to just
throw throw this into thispodcast because I think it's
important.
There are a lot of tourcompanies that will offer, um,
(16:18):
larger tour companies that willoffer stonehenge bath and
windsor in a day, and really I'mgoing to say my opinion is that
that is too rushed, trying tofit Windsor in with Stonehenge
Bath and that's the feedbackwe've had from others as well
it's just, you're just not goingto get, you're going to really
get a fine visit around Windsor,and that that's.
(16:39):
And really Windsor deserves abit more time.
I mean obviously a rush visitmay suit some, yeah absolutely,
you know, I'm not I'm gonna saynot do it at all, I'm just
saying really consider itcarefully and if you can and if
you really want to do Bath andStonehenge and Windsor, is to do
Stonehenge and Bath on it, onit on a tour private to a small
(16:59):
group tour, and then do Windsoras a half day tour from london,
which is very or even justindependently from london.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
It's easy enough to do yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
So that's one thing that I would just say, that just
to be a bit more careful about.
If you're planning, like ifyou're really rushed and you
have very little few days andyou really want to do windsor,
then and you know, and you don'twant to pay for a private chair
, then then you know, considerone of those larger coaches, but
it would be my last option.
Um, one other option as well isthat you could um raise of xfa
(17:31):
cars could provide a driver forthe day as well.
So if you just want to drive it, take you out to stonehenge and
avebury, which we're going totalk about in a minute.
Um, you know, certainly he cangive you a coat to take you from
london um by car to stonehengeand avebury, and I will put
links in the show notes to bothmy taylor tours and uh for xfr
cars and just while I mentionedthat, the um, I mentioned the
(17:54):
trains from waterloo, equallyeasy.
If you're coming from bath, fromthe west, it's easy yeah, well,
I was going to talk about frombath as well, because, um, if
you want to do it from bath, Iwould recommend again, you could
um talk to daniel of bathinsider tours and he could do a
private tour.
He's got options from bath thatwould take you from bath to get
(18:15):
you to stone hand, but you cando it by train, which is what I
want you to kind of talk aboutyeah, it's just as easy.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yeah, yeah, there's no issues, it's a very
straightforward train journey uhtakes over an hour.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Just about an hour, not much more and so if you do
the train from bath again, youcould pick up the um stonehenge
uh tour bus from outside thetrain station.
That's where it stops I think Ididn't say that before, but
actually you can pick the twobus up.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
It waits outside salisbury train station there's
like a car park turning circlein front of the station yeah,
yeah so easy to find it parksliterally outside the station
building yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
So I'm just going to talk a little bit about um my
experience with the english bus,because I did a tour with them
ended january, february, um,which was lovely.
They invited me to go out for aday.
So they are partners and I havegot a discount code, but you
have to go through the linkwhich I'll put in the show notes
and put the code on, which,again, will be in the show notes
.
But that was a.
It was a fantastic trip, smallcoach.
(19:10):
We went out to Stonehenge first,then to Bath and then we went
to a secret place which I'm notgoing to share with you because
it's a secret, but that wasfantastic.
It was a really, really goodday out.
We had the advantage of a guideand you know, I, you if you get
a stone, and you can have umearphones if you go, you know
independently, um, but I, I wantto know as much as I can about
(19:33):
it, and having a guide is reallygreat way to do it.
And also, we had the advantageof being able to visit bath as
well and enjoy a few hours ofbath, which was fantastic.
And then we went to the secretplace on the way back to London.
No stress, very easy picked upfrom Victoria just outside
Victoria train station in themorning and dropped off back
there later on in the day.
So I would highly recommendthat very, very good company.
(19:55):
We only work with the best.
So if you want more informationabout English Bus, please go
through the link on the shownotes, because they were amazing
and they do do other tours fromLondon as well that you can
check out.
But I really wanted to do a bigshout out for them because they
were.
It was just a brilliant,brilliant day yeah, I remember
you talking about that.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
You really enjoyed yeah it was.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
It was really really good.
So we're just going to talk inthe next section a little bit
about Stonehenge versus Avebury,um so.
So let's talk about whatAvebury is.
So Avebury are also, it's alsostones, stone circles that's
right.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Uh, with big one, big difference yeah to Stonehenge.
Yeah, go on then you can touchthe stones you can.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
You can touch the stones.
You can go right up to thestones.
You can walk through the fieldsand there are.
There are more stones.
There just seem to the stones.
You can go right up to thestones.
You can walk through the fieldsand there are more stones.
There just seem to be stoneseverywhere.
When you go to Avebury, I wouldsay that sometimes in the
fields there's sheep, sheep,cows.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
And sheep dung Watch where you walk you have to watch
where you walk.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
But Avebury is, I don't know.
It's also a very special placeto go to.
You can actually combine it ifyou've got your own car or if
you're doing a tour.
Some tours will combine Aveburyand Stonehenge.
They're not very far apart.
I think it's about I don't evenknow a 25-minute drive between
the two.
You have to.
There's parking at Avebury andyou either have to have the
(21:19):
exact cash or you can pay.
I think there's a reception inthe old farm yard that you can
pay by card for parking.
There's a really nice pub aswell that you can go to and have
a pub lunch as well.
Actually it's about a 40-minutedrive, I think, between the two
of them, but I'd highlyrecommend it.
There's so many stones at Averythere is.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
And they're huge.
They are, and they're huge.
They are in separate locationsand you're walking through
neither well, where's the circle?
And you step back and you go ah, now I see it.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Okay, now I can see it and also I think the thing
about avery is like this thestones are all different sizes.
Um, they don't have the lintelsthat stonehenge have these are
standing standards these arestanding stones, um, but I'd
highly recommend going andhaving a look at avebury as well
, if you can.
As I say you can, you can findchairs that will include both.
(22:13):
If you've got a car, I, I wouldencourage you to do that, and I
know um, actually, xfa cars rizfrom xfa cars has taken people
out from london to stonehengeand then on to Avebury and then
back to London.
Yeah, yeah yeah, so somequestions, because we get some.
Those are some of thefrequently asked questions that
we get in our Facebook group andvia email, and the first one is
(22:36):
really controversial.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Well, yeah, is Stonehenge worth it?
That's.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, I think so I do too.
I'm quite passionate about itand I get a little bit of a
downer when I hear especiallyBritish people going, oh, it's
just a pile of old rocks.
I'm like it's just.
You know.
I have to say I'm an ex-historyteacher, so I'm not going to
say anything other than it'sabsolutely worth it.
I'm a little bit sad that overthe last 30 years it has become
(23:01):
so, so popular and so this is sobusy and but it does protect
the protected the stones.
Now English Heritage andNational Trust it went out my
head so English Heritage andNational Trust share ownership
of the some of the stones andthen the land, I believe.
So they actually look after thewhole site.
(23:21):
So if you are english heritageor national trust member, you do
actually get a free entry, Ibelieve, to stonehenge.
Yes, because we've had that.
So what about the best time tovisit?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
uh well, I was just going to add on to that.
First one is we've heard peoplea little bit doubtful about
going, and then when they'vebeen there, yeah they were wow
yeah I'm so glad I went yeah,that's true so yeah, backtrack
is on that one, no that's right.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I think the main thing really is you just have to
be prepared.
Because you need to think aboutthe weather, I think, and
because if it's pouring down therain, if you're not prepared,
you know you've got to beprepared for the weather when
you get there, because you'regoing to be out on the plane.
So you know it's it, it's youneed to just be aware of that,
um, and if you're prepared, Ithink you'll enjoy it.
(24:08):
And if you go to the museum, ifyou learn all about it, I think
it's fascinating yeah, you'vegot.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
You've got to delve into exactly what it is.
Yeah, right, so go back to thenext question.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Sorry because we get asked again when should I visit
and and how long should I go for?
Well, I would say early in themorning is best.
I mean, it's spring and autumn,it's going to be slightly quiet
and summer's busy, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I mean summer's incredibly busy.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Don't go during the solstices, which is said, and
give yourself about two hours.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, I think two hours is probably about fair.
Two to three hours it dependsif you want to go and have some
lunch there as well, because thefood's actually nice in the
cafe yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Yeah.
So I know we've kind of touchedon this before, but can I touch
the stones?
Absolutely, categorically noeven if you've booked a special
inner city to inner city innercircle tour even then you can't
touch them, right?
do I need to book ahead?
Well, okay, don't do themistake that doug and I did.
Well, it wasn't a mistake,because we did get tickets and
(25:05):
we jumped on the the uh, thestonehenge tour bus and got
tickets then.
But, honestly, I wouldrecommend in fact, you can book
the bus I think you can book thebus online ahead of time anyway
include the tickets in it.
So I really would look at thatbecause I don't want you to miss
out, especially in the summer.
It's less of an issue in thewinter, except around solstice
(25:26):
time.
But, um, I would look atbooking your tickets ahead of
time and don't don't do.
We winged it and I shouldn't betelling you that no, no, but
that's what we did, but we wereokay.
We kind of added it in at thelast minute, but, as I say, I
would recommend that you do that.
Um, what about combining itwith something else?
absolutely, yeah, yeah, that'sright, that's a good idea I mean
(25:46):
, you know it's easy enough tosee salisbury.
Um, if you're taking a tour,you're probably going to see
bath as well, and if you've gotyour own car, then definitely
look at doing bath and andcombining it with avebury as
well.
Okay, so let's end with the onequestion that we always answer
at the end of it, which is theone tip that you would share
with somebody visitingStonehenge for the first time.
(26:07):
So my tip I don't know ifyou're going to come up with a
different one.
My tip is actually to dress forthe weather.
Honestly, dress.
Make sure that you've got araincoat or umbrella raincoat
and umbrella.
Make sure you check what theweather's going to be like um,
and wear layers.
If it's in the summer, take ahat and put sun cream on um,
(26:27):
because you're out in the openand you're exposed, and they say
they run out, and I don't knowif you're a mile and a half from
the visitor center, so you knowyou've got to be aware that
you've got to be dressedcorrectly and think about your
footwear too.
Have you got a different tipthat you would share?
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I'll just reinforce what we said before really to be
really absorbed in the wholestone injects stonehenge
experience is to go around themuseum first and see what they
have to say about how the stonesgot there and what the
significance to believe ofstonehenge it was to the people
(27:00):
in that era yeah, I think that'sreally good.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Well, there's a two.
You've got two for the price ofone.
There you've got two excellenttips about Stonehenge.
So thanks for joining us againfor this week.
We will put links andphotographs in the show notes.
I'm hoping to also get somevideos on YouTube and our
Instagram.
There's definitely photographson Instagram of Stonehenge.
The times that I visited didn'tsee what I was wearing can see,
(27:22):
certainly in the end of January, when it was a bit when it was
a bit blowy what it looked like.
A few people have commented ona few of the photos, saying it
looked it looked freezing and itwasn't very warm.
But again, just mention aboutmaking sure that you dress
correctly.
So you can find information inthe show notes at uktravelplan
planningcom forward slashepisode 153.
(27:42):
But that just leaves me anddoug to say until next week,
happy uk travel planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the uk travel
planning podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uk travel planningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
(28:03):
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
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