Tour of Avebury

Half a day is plenty. We got there by car and just walked around.

If you just want to walk the Avebury stone circle, it's a mile and not too rugged going so you can complete it in half an hour if you don't stop to take photos, have conversations with other tourists, etc. My half-hour estimate includes parking in the gravel lot, walking from there to the stone circle, and the same in reverse at the end of your circuit. The stone circle is open dawn to dusk with no tickets or anything. The car park has a gate and hours are posted, so do check the signs to avoid getting locked in for the night.

However, the village of Avebury also has a museum and a manor house, with gardens as well as interior spaces to see. If you want to visit those in addition to the stone circle then you could easily fill up half a day. You'll want to check the hours of opening.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/avebury

If you'll be needing lunch or dinner or a snack, the Red Lion Inn pub is good and affordable.

http://www.haunted-britain.com/red-lion-inn-avebury.htm

I've been to Avebury many times over the years, both before and after it was "touristified". The first time I went on a school trip and there were still a few hand-rails and paths and so on but you could walk pretty much anywhere at your own pace and there didn't seem to be too many people there. The next time I went they'd introduced some kind of museum and cafe affair to go with it but it was still a fairly relaxed place. However I did go recently and, faced with the option of paying £5 for parking when we knew we were only going to be there for a few minutes, we buggered off.

I never really felt anything "magical" there - I sensed a faint air of the physical age of the stones the first time I went there which intrigued me. I suspect, however, with more people and more traffic around these days and the fact that there's a road stright through the middle of them, any magic has long disappeared.

Thanks so much. We will not have a car, and since it's 2 hours by bus, should we book a tour or take a taxi?

If I understand correctly, you'll be based in Salisbury, is that right? If there is a tour you can book, that would probably work nicely as you won't have to worry about getting off the public bus at the right stop, making the connection in Devizes, or catching your bus back to Salisbury. The regular public bus is undoubtedly cheaper if that is your top priority, but it looks like the Salisbury-Devizes leg only runs every 3 hours so you would need to check the schedule carefully. If you only have half a day, a tour or even the expense of a taxi would be your most efficient (though not cheapest) choice.
https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Salisbury-England/Avebury

Unlike the previous comment about Avebury being not very magical, we enjoyed it very much -- maybe especially because we happened to be there in sunny, dry weather.

We had a car and visited Stonehenge and Avebury on the same day. I really enjoyed the awesome drama of Stonehenge, my wife and daughter preferred the intimacy of Avebury. We visited on a fine English summer day in early June, (that is, we experienced freezing, horizontal rain).

I was a little surprised by the 5-pound parking fee. We met a helpful and loquacious docent in the little trailer near the parking lot. He was a lot of fun. We just walked among the stones. You can just walk up and touch them. Some folks were having truly "religious" experiences while touching the stones. Wear waterproof shoes and watch out for the sheep droppings. We skipped the tour of the buildings, (as I understand it the contents are historically accurate reproductions rather than actual artifacts). In all, we probably spent 90 minutes.

I don't know about the logistics of public transportation, but, my instincts say that it would be just too complicated to make the trip without some form of personal transportation, (car, tour or taxi).

Thanks for all your advice. I found a taxi for 60 for both ways, and a tour for 220 (for 4 of us). Big price difference. Can we walk to the Silbury Hill and the museum from the stones. If we take a taxi, is there a place to eat lunch in walking distance. What about the Pub in Honeybee? Is anyone familiar with that Pub?? Thanks so much

Thank you so much for your comments. Since we don't have a car, our visits to all those villages may be limited, but I will check out the bus to Marlborough, and then maybe get a taxi from there to Avebury

If you spent a night in Bath on the correct day of the week(you would have to check the Mad Max website), you could take a 1/2 day Mad Max tour from there that goes to Avebury, Lacock and Castlecombe-definitely the easiest way to do it without a car.

Castle Combe and Lacock are delightful villages so that would be a worthwhile tour. I was surprised at the lack of crowds in both villages when we visited. Great pubs too.
The bonus for us Aussies in the UK is we feel comfortable driving. Europe on the otherhand not so much being on the wrong side for us.
We enjoyed Avebury very much, very relaxed environment to explore at your own pace.

Hi -

You can walk down to Silbury Hill from Avebury. You can see it in the distance, not far away, from parts of the circle. It’s also right next to the main road, so take care down there. It looks like a path runs up Silbury Hill, but there are signs up (or there were last time I visited) requesting that you DON’T climb it, to protect it and save it from being loved to death.

If you want to climb follow the path on the other side of the road uphill to reach West Kennet Long Barrow. As mentioned above it’s worth the comparatively short stroll up to visit and last time I was there you could poke about in it. Mind your head though!

Have a great trip!

Ian

With regard to the "magicalness" or otherwise of Avebury, last year we were visited by an old work colleague of ours, travelling from Southern Africa. She insisted that Avebury was a much better experience than Stonehenge, so we drove the two hours up to the site. After exactly 10 minutes, she looked up and said "Is this it? Is this all there is?"

I like Avebury, but prefer Stonehenge - particularly if you walk from the visitors centre, up the hill and alongside the Cursus and some of the old barrows,

Avebury is on the 49 Stagecoach bus route between Swindon and Trowbridge via Devizes. The buses are hourly and the journey takes about 30 minutes from Swindon to Avebury and an hour between Trowbridge and Avebury. Swindon has frequent trains from London Paddington, while Trowbridge has at least hourly trains from Portsmouth, Southampton and Salisbury, and a half-hourly service to Bath and Bristol.

So getting to Avebury by public transport is easy, but journey times may be long.

Visitors to Avebury should be aware that they encounter sheep as well as sheep droppings. The land is also uneven and the whole site is not as manicured as Stonehenge. That could add to the magic of the site.