Planning Independent Stonehenge Special Access Visit

If you are interested in private transport try Vic's taxi
http://www.vicstaxi.com/ . He is based in Salisbury and does transport from London and tours throughout Wiltshire. I am not sure of rates for what you are looking for but his LHR to Salisbury rate is very competitive.

Hi DTXgirl-
I had a similar experience (identical actually) and after a lot of searching, found no easy way to get home to London. We will be there at the end of May. So, I let go of my spots and reserved a group tour with inner circle access and I am super excited. I know it isn't what you wanted but if you search for my post you can see what others said about it. Maybe you will have better luck than me! :)

Here is my post:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/stonehenge-sunset-inner-circle-tour-with-public-transportation

First of all, if you visit Stonehenge with "normal" (not inside the circle) access, you are not far removed from the stones. There's an excellent audio guide included in the entry fee, there's a large and very attractive visitor centre with both indoor and outdoor exhibits, there's a nice shuttle bus to the stones but you can also walk all the way or part of it, etc. The gift shop and cafeteria are also very nice. If you allow time, you can also visit Woodhenge and Durrington Walls. There is plenty to see and do without having inner circle access.

Second, as you've decided to go through the effort of booking inner circle access with English Heritage, part of the bargain is that you have to be willing to make arrangements to get yourself there. For us with an early morning entry time, it meant having a rental car, getting up at 4:30 (because we were staying in Newbury for a variety of reasons -- otherwise we could have stayed somewhere nearer to Stonehenge), and navigating there in the predawn darkness. It was well worth it, but not everyone feels that way. If you consider the time & effort of getting there for normal entry is onerous, and you're very keen to visit the inner circle at sunset instead, then your end of the bargain is to rent a car or else hire a driver. There are some fairly nice motels and B&Bs in the Amesbury area so you would not have to come all the way from London.

BTW, inner circle access does not mean you can climb around on the stones, or even touch them. The shuttle bus driver gives a speech before you are allowed off the bus, stating that you cannot touch the stones, or lean against them, or lean your backpack against them, or kiss them, or lick them, or anything. Also, the visitor centre is closed so you will miss that unless you do another visit during regular hours -- which we did, the day before our inner circle access.

I hope this helps you weigh whether or not to go ahead with your inner circle access purchase.

P.S. I forgot to mention that inner circle access does not include an audio guide. When we went, there happened to be a university group at the same time, so we were able to overhear the professor's remarks as she pointed out things to the students. We had been there the previous day and listened to the audio guide, so a lot of what the professor said was already familiar to us, but we didn't mind hearing it again. Had we been there at another time, there might have been no interesting comments. And some people might have preferred a silent time to experience the stones without the professor, you never know.

Basically, inner circle access leaves all interpretation up to the individual.

I appreciate all the feedback!

@ Ferrin: thanks for the link to your post. I did search the forum before submitting my post; not sure how I didn't come across this!
@ jj.ashley: thanks for the tip!
@ epltd: I'm a bit bummed about not licking the stones LOL ;). But seriously, thanks for the input. Part of the appeal of the after hours visit is that I'm an amateur photographer, so seeing the stones without the masses of people, and at sunset, is especially appealing, especially since I've seen them (and the visitor center) during normal hours, and my husband is a bit indifferent on this topic.

It does looks like there are trains back to London well into the evening, so I think we're going to take the train up that afternoon (maybe arrive early and visit the cathedral and Magna Carta), arrange for a taxi (probably Vic's) to pick us up in town, drive us to the site and wait, then bring us back to the station where we can catch a 10:30 train back to London. It will be a long day, but hopefully worth the effort!

Just want to add that Magna Carta may or may not be back on display by May. The case (not the document) was severely damaged by a person wielding a hammer in October.

I'd watch the Salisbury Cathedral website for updated information.

https://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/visit/opening-times

Oh my ... good to know!! Thanks for the heads up on the Magna Carta!

They do have a Magna Carta facsimile in the Chapter House and the Chapter House is well worth seeing along with the wonderful Cathedral.

Be sure to spend some time in the Chapter House looking at the carvings. There is one carving of a fellow who probably had Bell's Palsy. Very interesting and such human touches! The scenes around the Chapter house are bible stores so look for the really nice Noah's Ark and animals. Then the next panel to the right shows a very drunken Noah!