London to Stonehenge for a newbie on a budget

Absolutely that's the most economical way.

The tube- Tower Hill to Embankment (6 stops) change to Bakerloo or Northern lines southbound 1 stop- or bus 15 to St Paul's
Cathedral, change onto a bus 26 (using a free transfer).
The train- you should get an advance fare for £15.80 each on the 0920 train out and a train back for £10.80 each (I'm assuming the boys are aged 16+). If the trains are on strike and no effective service is offered you get a full refund.
The bus leaves from straight outside Salisbury station at least hourly and is just pay on the bus inclusive of Stonehenge admission, so if you can't get there you've lost nothing.
Or think about the night before and after in Salisbury, then you can do other things there as well, including but not limited to the Cathedral.
In the event of a train strike National Express run a coach from London Victoria at 1730, returning at 0950 for as little as £9 each, each way.

Although I stayed in Salisbury I’ve done the local bus out to the stones that isn31c mentions. Here is the website - no need to book ahead. They call it a tour but it’s really not. They play a video with info on the way out, otherwise it’s just transport. Very easy and enjoyable.

https://www.thestonehengetour.info/bus-timetable/

Thank you for the information. Stonehenge seems pretty easy to get to and navigate by ourselves. Now I'm looking at our itinerary and feeling as if we have limited time, but still want to go. We are possibly thinking of doing a tour that would cover Windsor and Stonehenge in the same day. This is becoming problematic. I only see them offered with Bath. We would rather just go to Stonehenge and Windsor. Any suggestions? I'm feeling overwhelmed.

I, personally, do not recommend trying to do the combo of Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath in a day tour. That is just so much to cover along with driving distance in between that you are giving everything the short shrift yet spending hours on the bus to get from here to there and back again.

Windsor also makes an easy 1/2 to full day trip from London that you can do on your own so I also would not recommend bundling it with Stonehenge if you can even find that offered.

It is very easy to find so many thing you want to see on your first trip that your head is spinning!

How many days will you be in London?

In 2018, London Walks did a great tour of Salisbury and Stonehenge. I highly recommend it, but I'm not sure they are still doing this day tour. They stopped some of them due to Covid, I think, and I'm not sure if they've started them all up again. Check the website if interested. Our guide was great!

Pam,
We are there for 4 days, so I'm trying to be economical with our time. There is so much to do. Stonehenge has always been a bucket list thing for me, so I feel like I have to. To do two 1/2 day trips in four days feels like I will miss out on London, that's why I wanted to combine. I do get what you are saying.

I can't find a Windsor and Stonehenge Tour- they always get lumped in with Bath or Oxford on an 11 or 12 hour whirlwind.
Both should be their own day to enjoy properly.
If you don't have that much time I would suggest dropping one or other, to your personal preference.
If you take a 3 site tour I think you will come back exhausted and disappointed.
If you want to do Windsor and have a night flight home, why not go to LHR in the morning. put your luggage in left luggage then nip out to Windsor either on the Greenline bus or on the train (changing at Hayes and Harlington, then Slough)- see other threads for details.
Then your full day out can be Stonehenge.

I definitely don't want to do with Bath along with them, 2 sites are enough in one day for me. Also to your point, I want to spend more time at each. So I guess if I don't do the only tour I've seen, thru Golden Tours, I will do it on our own making two half-day trips out of London. Not optimal, but I really want to see both.

MaryC. I looked and it doesn't look like London walks does that tour anymore. :(

isn31c- What trainline do you recommend taking and how far in advance should I purchase tickets? Thanks!

@kath27_99
I'm with you trying to find best way to do this day trip. I'm going at end of April with my two 20-something aged children. We all want to do Stonehenge, but of course one wants Salisbury as add-on, the other wants Bath. Looking at rail tickets, it would just be too costly and time consuming to do all 3 in one day. Like you, we only have 4 days in London, so time management is essential. What I have not been able to find and hope others will chime in on is the cost to take that bus from Salisbury to Stonehenge? Also, from what I've read, you see Stonehenge from a fair distance without paying for "inner circle" tickets. Does this sound right to the group?

@kath27-99- book with south western railway, around 10 weeks in advance. Currently bookings are open until 26 May (which is 11 weeks ahead from now, if my maths are right).
That said I have just looked in 2 weeks time and there are still good value fares then, right from the first train (which is at 0635, so you won't be on that one!!)
https://www.southwesternrailway.com/buy-train-tickets/ticket-search-results?openQTT=1

The Summer timetable for the bus is now out- note the short hours for Stonehenge on 20 June and the closure on 21 June-
https://www.thestonehengetour.info/bus-timetable/

Thank you! I'm looking at the train schedules now. If I'm staying around the Tower Bridge, where would I take the train from? I didn't quite understand that part. Thank you for your patience and information, I'm a clueless newbie.

on such a short trip, can you afford to give up one whole day to see the rocks? It's your call of course

From Waterloo station- the top post in this thread is about how to reach Waterloo from Tower Hill.
Waterloo is the only station with direct service.

I did wonder about trying to combine Windsor and Stonehenge in the day by train, but it just gets too complicated with changes of trains, and too expensive, as the advance fares are only available from Waterloo, not from other stations the train stops at en route to Salisbury. Timewise it could be done with an early start. I meant to check that this morning, then got diverted so have just done the exercise.

By the way, what ages will the teenagers be at date of travel? If one or both are going to be under 16 years old exactly there is a chance that this journey may work out cheaper with a Family and Friends' Railcard. It's quite close.

My kids are 17 and 15. I used the link above for rail and I put in both London Waterloo and London Waterloo East to Salisbury and nothing came up. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I tried April, May and June.

It's Waterloo you want. Waterloo East serves stations in Kent, and is a separate station accessed from Waterloo concourse.
I've set this up for you with your family group using a railcard, and hope it doesn't time out by the time you read it.

Use the edit button at top right to play around with the dates and times. This is set up on a random date in May.

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/buy-train-tickets/ticket-search-results?openQTT=1

It doesn't show well on this site, but I ran the identical search on my local rail website (northern rail) which shows that the total fare without railcard on this sample journey is £84,00, with it's £51.90 so add on the railcard cost and there is a £2.90 saving, but the railcard lasts a year.

To buy you'd click the 'continue' button at bottom right, then 'buy tickets' on the next screen. On the 2nd screen the plus bus for Salisbury and the London Travelcard options don't apply to you, so leave those unchecked.

I'm going to bed now-it's midnight here,

isn31c thank you so much for the detailed information. Unfortunately, for what ever reason I get the following error message no matter what date I put in.

Error message
We haven't been able to find any fares that meet your search. Please update your search and try again.
I have tried varies dates and combinations, with and without the rail pass. My husband also tried on his computer and received the same message. I don't know what we are doing wrong. I'm wondering if it's because we are in the U.S.? I'm stumped. Tried again this morning, same thing. Any suggestions? Again, thank you for your patience and detailed information.

I am stumped what is causing that.

Try using my local rail operator-Northern Rail- it's who I would use personally anyway for any UK journey.
"Buy tickets - No booking fees"

The page should open with a box at centre top which says- "Buy tickets - No booking fees".

On Northern Rail you can even use Pay Pal to pay for tickets, rather than a credit card.

While it pains me to say it if all else fails use Rail Europe- you pay in $, and prices seem to be about right. You just pay a commission, but you really shoudn't have to do that.

I know loads of people on here book through LNER with ease- so you could try them-https://www.lner.co.uk/

Thank you! That link worked. I very much appreciate your help.