I was wondering whether there is any advantage to buying tickets in advance for Stonehenge. Can I just buy them there depending on the weather of the day? Or is it a zoo? Will be staying in Salisbury.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6813 posts
Like the answer to so many of life's questions, the answer is "it depends."
When are you going - will it be busy then or not? How flexible are you about your time?
If you buy in advance, you have a firm time, you just need to be there (more or less) on time, and you can count on getting in then. Don't buy in advance, and it's a bit of a roll of the dice. If they're not very crowded, you may be able to just get tickets for whenever you show up. If they're slammed, you may have to wait a while. Do you feel lucky?
Posted by
Orlando Area - Florida USA
80 posts
I don't see an advantage to buying tickets in advance but I do see an advantage on getting there as early as possible. I did the MadMax tour and we got there at 9:00 when there were only about 100-200 folks. If you get there any later, you will have the cruise ship crowds. We spent about an hour at Stonehenge which was plenty. Go over to Avebury as well. There you can walk around the circles. I admit it is just a rock, but to see the size and realize that they were moved over 1,000 years ago by humans is awe-inspiring.
Posted by
Long Beach, California, USA
3398 posts
We went in the month of July and I was glad we had purchased our tickets in advance. It was swarmed with people and the line to purchase tickets was huge...we got to bypass all of that with no wait to enter the site.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14822 posts
Are you driving to Stonehenge or are you taking the Stonehenge Tour bus from Salisbury? If you are taking the bus there is an option to purchase a combination ticket which includes the bus + entry to Stonehenge and Old Sarum (and the Cathedral if you wish). As I understand it you can purchase on the day. No direct experience yet as I'm doing it in Sept, lol.
Posted by
OP
Seal Beach, CA, USA
37 posts
We are staying in Salisbury and will have a car. I assume we would drive to Stonehenge early morning. Would like to take in more than Stonehenge, possibly Avebury (been there once before and liked the easy access and lack of crowds). Sounds like the safest bet is buying tickets in advance to avoid a crush at the ticket window. Is there an advantage of taking the bus from Salisbury and avoiding parking/traffic issues? I would like to see Sarum. Not sure about the cathedral.