A Stonehenge Visit - What To Expect

The Stonehenge visitor centre opened in 2014, Stonehenge Stone Circle is approximately a mile away from the centre. You can either walk to Stonehenge or take the shuttle bus that connects the visitor centre with the monument. At the visitor centre are car parks, the exhibition, A Cafe,  A gift shop, collection point for multi-language audio guides, and toilets 
www.visit-stonehenge.com - Visitor Centre


Tickets to Stonehenge can be purchased online here -  

An entry ticket covers the visitor centre, shuttle, and access to Stonehenge and its landscape.

Most tours from London will have included you entry ticket within their total tour price. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are allocated time slots. If you have a heritage pass or are a National Trust or English Heritage member and are entitled to free entry you still need to obtain (free) tickets in advance.

When you arrive at Stonehenge, you will be at the new visitor centre
purpose built in 2014, away from Stonehenge itself. Your visit starts here and is the access point to Stonehenge and its facilities. For those that arrive using their transport, the car park is next to the visitor centre

It is free for people purchasing tickets to enter Stonehenge, there is a charge if you are not. If you come by tour bus, your coach will go to the coach park about 200 yards from the visitor centre.

Groups on tour buses are treated separately to independent visitors arriving by car. Those on tour buses will be taken directly onto the shuttle bus us and taken immediately to the Stonehenge monument, returning to the visitor centre.

What's at the Visitor Centre
The new visitor centre contains around three hundred archaeological treasures, which were used or buried at Stonehenge, these are part of the exhibition. There are outdoor exhibits with Neolithic houses, and you can attempt to pull a stone! The information will give you an insight into how Stonehenge was constructed, the people and theories on its use. There is an education centre for groups to use.

Please visit The Gift shop, here there is an extensive range of books, gifts, and souvenirs. Something to remember your visit or send to a friend. 

Hungry? - Visit The Cafe
There is an 110 seat capacity indoor cafe with counter service. The café serves hot and cold drinks, soup, sandwiches, cakes, salads and other sweet and savory snacks.

Toilets
Mens, Ladies, Accessible Toilets, and Baby Changing facilities.

Shuttle Visitor Centre To Stonehenge Itself
When you book a ticket for Stonehenge you select a 30 minute slot time slot, this is the time you report to the ticket desk at the entrance to Stonehenge. This helps manage the numbers and flow at the site.
At any time you can board the bus shuttles from a boarding point outside the exhibition. The time slot you chose for entry has no impact on the time you can board the bus shuttles; these are flexible.

A kiosk makes available audio guides at a small charge in a number of languages before boarding. You can choose whether you want to visit the exhibition centre first (recommended) or board the shuttle straight to Stonehenge itself.

If you arrive by tour bus, you will collect your audio guide device as soon as you get off the coach at the coach park and another bus will take you straight to Stonehenge. You then return to the visitor centre which you visit after viewing Stonehenge.

At the Stonehenge monument site, please be aware there is no shelter or toilets. The site is exposed to the weather, and we recommend that you plan your visit with this in mind. We publish the weather forecast to help you plan this, also not the wind chill factor.

Stonehenge gets busy.
Stonehenge is busy throughout the year and between about 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM daily many of the tour coaches from London arrive.
There is a similar peak of coaches at early/mid afternoon. 

How long will my visit be? 

Organised coach/bus tours will have a timetable, and this will determine your length of visit it will give you ample time to see Stonehenge and the visitor centre. You can expect a visit to be 90 minutes to 2 hours. You could stay much longer as there are many Neolithic monuments of genuine interest with walking trails between them all over the Stonehenge landscape. If you have a special interest, you could spend all day here.

Audio guides

Organised tours include the Audio guides these are available in ten languages, (English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Dutch and Swedish).
If you are visiting independently, collect and pay a small fee for your audio guides before boarding the shuttle. If you arrive on a tour coach, you will collect them on disembarking the coach at the coach park.

How Close To The Stones Will I Get?
Standard entry during normal opening hours, will not allow you to walk up to the stones, or enter the Stonehenge Circle. The monument is roped off, and you will be about ten metres from the stones

Private Access/ Inner Access/Special Access 
There are tours that allow you to walk up to and be among the stones at Stonehenge outside public opening hours. These are called Special Access visits. These allow a maximum of 26 people, at one time into Stonehenge going beyond the barriers and walking amongst the stones. Many of the tour operators have a day combined tour from London that includes morning or evening special access and other notable places like Bath, Windsor, Oxford and other areas. English Heritage has places for these tours if you intend to arrive independently, you will need to apply for these in advance.
Shuttle To Stonehenge

Inside Stonehenge Exhibition

Stonehenge on a sunny day

Stonehenge Visitor Centre - Pull a stone

The distance from Stonehenge with normal access tickets

Inside the Visitor Centre at Stonehenge