train ticket to Salisbury/Stonehenge & Bath

Direct trains to Salisbury leave from Waterloo station, not Paddington. You will need to check times at www.southwesttrains.co.uk/. There is a regular bus service from Salisbury to Stonehenge. You can find times at http://traveline.info/.

You can get a bus to Stonehenge at Salisbury train station, the ticket is around £17.00, that includes entry to Salisbury Cathedral and Old Sarum. You can get off the bus at Stonehenge and stay as long as you want and get the next bus, then go to Old Sarum. http://salisburyandstonehenge.net/stonehenge/salisbury-to-stonehenge Here is another one that is good.....http://www.thestonehengetour.info/

In this case I'd opt for a bus tour. They're cheap and much more convenient than trying to make your connections by train. The three sights are a pretty standard tour. I didn't take one to see these sights but I'm sure people here can give you some good ideas.

A couple years ago this was a standard tour several times a week with Evan Evans day trips. Don't remember the price. I do remember it was a full day leaving early and getting back in late afternoon,
early evening.

Jenny, The London to Salisbury leg is more expensive because they don't seem to have any advance tickets available, just anytime and off-peak. Advance tickets are for one particular train, say the 9 a.m. rather than the 9:15 a.m., are much cheaper than other tickets.
You might want to look into the bus tours though if you're going to have to take a bus from Salisbury to Stonehenge anyway. It seems like a lot of separate journeys to coordinate in order to do it on your own, though certainly do-able.

We just did the bus tour last week with Evans and Evans - I am not a big fan of group tours at all - but I do think it was the right choice considering we just had to get on the bus and not worry with connections etc... we left form Victoria Station - but that is because it was during the Olympics - usually they have several pick up points - if you are staying where you could access any of the points I'd get on the bus closest to the last stop out of town - otherwise you go around picking people up - All in all I was pleased with it - seeing Stonehenge was nice - SHORT - but I don't think I would have wanted anymore time there anyway - Bath - well I could have had more time there for sure! And Windsor too -
but we can always go back - and there were so many other things we wanted to see - that it was a good compromise.

On this subject, we'll be in London in Dec. and was considering this bus tour.
But then I was thinking that renting a car and going on our own might be better. 5 adults, thought? Ideas?

Tim, you could take your party of 5 on a similar day trip by car in December. Thoughts, as requested - Most cars in Britain are relatively small, will your party be comfortable in the car for so much driving? In December you may have sunshine but you will be more likely to have overcast, heavy overcast, rain or frozen precipitation. Are your drivers prepared for this? In December the days are very very short. Will you be happy driving in the dark? With sunset around 4pm if there are heavy clouds or precip it can be quite dark in mid-afternoon. Luckily if you are returning to London from the west the low sun (if any) will be behind you. Will you be driving in central London? If so, you'll need to pay the Congestion Charge. It has to be paid the same day or it doubles and redoubles. Will you have a GPS? I'm assuming that this is a day trip and you will be returning to London to return the car. If you have to contemplate 5 in a car plus all their luggage you may need to rethink your car size - luggage storage can be difficult if you have much.