My family and I will be in London 7/4 to 7/10/17 and planning a trip to Stonehenge. I have settled on an Evan Evans tour on 7/8 that offers a sunrise Stonehenge visit within the inner circle, a visit to Oxford, and a visit to Windsor Castle before returning to London at 3p. All for the princely sum of $600. The other option I am considering is that I have requested Sunrise/inner circle access directly from English Heritage. Which would require the four of us getting from Knightsbridge to Stonehenge by 530a. So, should I just fork over the cash to Evan Evans, or rent a car and drive? I've driven in England before, while not thrilled about it, I am open to it again. Any recommendations?
Posted by
3124 posts
I'd go with the tour since you're leaving & returning to London. There's no public transport from London that would get you there that early, so you would have to have a rental car, therefore probably pay for parking. And you'd have the stress of navigating to Stonehenge in the dark with the knowledge that if you're late, the shuttle bus leaves without you and you are out of luck.
We did the English Heritage direct booking but it was pretty stressful just to get the booking, let alone making sure we would arrive at the appointed hour. We had a rental car for several days and were based outside of London. We went to Stonehenge the previous day to enjoy the visitor centre and the henge from the outer, general visitor access perimeter; this gave us a good sense of the lay of the land and which road signs to follow.
If you're not all that interested in Oxford or Windsor Castle, there are other tours that focus squarely on Stonehenge, some including Woodhenge & Durrington Walls, Avebury, and/or Salisbury and Old Sarum. I believe Pat Shelley is one that's pretty good though can't vouch for it personally. See http://www.stonehenge-tours.com/
Posted by
Redding, California
244 posts
To visit Stonehenge from London was so easy! We took the train from london's Waterloo station to Salisbury. The train took 1 hour 20 minutes. We were a group of four so we got a discount on the train tickets. I purchased them at the train station that morning. Once we arrived at Salisbury we took the tourThe Stonehenge Tour. The bus picked us up right at the train station and dropped us at Stonehenge. It will also drop you at the cathedral and Old Sarum. You can purchase your ticket once you arrive at Stonehenge, very short wait for tickets! After we spent the amount of time we wanted to spend at Stonehenge we caught the bus back to the train station, then back to London! So easy and so much cheaper! If you really want to visit the inner circle, a tour from London might be your best bet. We had hoped to do that but decided that getting up that early wasn't something we wanted to do. After visiting Stonehenge I feel we made the right decision for us!
Posted by
3 posts
We are also going to Stonehenge on Boxing Day, either through Evan Evans or Golden Tours. Both DO NOT provide any commentary going or returning, so tossed up on which company to choose. They cost about the same. Any observations of the companies that would be helpful in our selection?