Stonehenge
2 hours here
A Neolithic stone circle on Salisbury Plain, about an hour from Southampton. Run by English Heritage, with a visitor centre a mile and a half from the stones.
Stonehenge is the best known prehistoric monument in Europe. The earthwork enclosure was dug around 3000 BC and the great sarsen stones were raised a few centuries later, so what you are looking at took shape over roughly fifteen hundred years — longer than the span between the Norman conquest and today. It stands in a UNESCO World Heritage Site that also takes in Avebury and the burial mounds spread across the surrounding downland.
You arrive at the visitor centre off the A360, which is where we set you down. The stones themselves are a mile and a half further on: a shuttle bus runs between the two continuously, or you can walk it across the fields in about half an hour and ride back. A marked path takes you around the circle — close enough to pick out the joints cut into the lintels and the stones that have fallen — although visitors do not walk in among the stones during normal opening hours.
The visitor centre holds an exhibition of objects found in the landscape, including human remains and grave goods from the barrows nearby, and a film that puts you in the middle of the circle. Outside it stands a group of Neolithic houses reconstructed from the evidence found at Durrington Walls up the road, usually with volunteers inside demonstrating how the builders lived. There is a café and a shop.
What you will see
- The stone circle, from the path that runs around it
- The Heel Stone and the Avenue, aligned on the midsummer sunrise
- The exhibition of finds from the surrounding landscape
- The reconstructed Neolithic houses outside the visitor centre
- Bronze Age burial mounds scattered across the downs, seen on the walk out
- The audio guide included with admission, taken at your own pace
Before you go: Stonehenge
- Admission is by timed ticket, booked in advance with English Heritage, and slots sell out in summer. Book yours first and tell us the time — we plan the drive around it.
- English Heritage suggest allowing at least two hours from arrival, which is what these journeys are built to give you.
- It is open downland with no shelter at the monument. It is colder and windier out there than in Southampton, so bring a coat whatever the forecast says.
- The path around the stones is surfaced and level, and English Heritage run accessible shuttles between the visitor centre and the monument. Check the details with them when you book, and tell us if anyone in your party needs step-free access.