The tunnel is not coming. The scheme that would have buried the main road beside the stones has been cancelled and its planning consent revoked, so the traffic, the noise and the stonehenge free view through the fence from the public byway all stay as they are. That matters more than it sounds, because a decade of guides were written on the assumption that the road would disappear and the setting would change. It has not, and the look from the verge is still there for nothing. What it does not give you is the walk around the circle at close quarters, and that is the decision worth making before anything is booked.
Paid entry buys a roped path around the circle at a respectful distance, the visitor centre and a free shuttle, and it runs entirely on timed slots. That applies to members too: English Heritage and National Trust membership covers the admission, but a slot still has to be reserved in advance and the card shown on arrival, which is the thing that most often surprises people at the gate. Parking is charged separately for anyone without membership. Last entry falls two hours before closing, which bites hardest in the darker months when the site shuts earlier anyway. Above all that sits stonehenge inner circle access, sold as the Stone Circle Experience, a small group walk among the stones outside normal hours, with a longer version taking in Woodhenge and Durrington Walls; it opens for booking roughly a year ahead and tends to set the travel dates rather than fit into them. Book through English Heritage itself rather than a reseller, and compare hotels and guided trips around Salisbury Plain once the slot is held.
Where you sleep decides whether this is a stop or a day, and the useful stonehenge hotels sit in four towns. Salisbury keeps coaching inns and mid range hotels in the streets under the cathedral spire, with the tour bus leaving from outside the station. Amesbury is closest of all, with small guesthouses and pubs with rooms near the visitor centre and the river below Amesbury Abbey. Marlborough runs to market town hotels along its broad High Street, the right base for the avebury stone circle a short drive away, which is larger, threads through a village and costs nothing to walk into. And Bath holds grand Georgian hotels around the Royal Crescent for anyone building a wider loop.
Before the transport, the paperwork. Most visitors now need a British electronic travel authorisation before boarding, including citizens of the European Union, the United States and Singapore, while Irish citizens are exempt. It is applied for through the official app, usually approved within minutes, valid for multiple trips over two years, and worth doing days rather than hours ahead in case a case goes to review. Then the route, which works as a rail and transfers trip as easily as a driving one. The salisbury trains from London Waterloo reach the city in well under two hours, and the Stonehenge Tour bus runs from outside the station to the visitor centre and back by way of Old Sarum, through the year on seasonal timetables. Car hire earns its keep only if Avebury, the barrows and the long barrow at West Kennet go into the same day. From the visitor centre the stones are a walk of twenty to thirty minutes across open downland, along the old processional approach that gives the best sense of scale, or a free shuttle every few minutes; published distances for that walk disagree with one another, so judge it by the time rather than the mileage. Compare car hire against rail and guided day trips while the route is still loose.
Season decides what light is available. In the winter months the gate opens well after sunrise, so a sunrise photograph is simply not on offer with a standard ticket; it comes either from an inner circle slot or from the free managed openings at the solstices, when the barriers come down, tens of thousands walk in overnight and the car park has to be booked and paid for separately. Managed openings run at the equinoxes as well. Against all of which a clear midwinter weekday is the quiet triumph, with the plain nearly empty, the light low all day and the stones looking like themselves rather than like a queue. Personally, I would take a midweek winter slot and walk rather than ride the shuttle, and keep the inner circle for a trip planned a year out instead of forcing it into this one.
Q: Can you see Stonehenge for free?
A: Yes, from the public byway beside the site, through a fence and at a distance, and that view is staying now the tunnel scheme has been cancelled. The ticket brings you onto the path around the circle, and the circle itself is free to walk into at the managed solstice openings.
Q: Do members need to book a slot?
A: Yes. English Heritage and National Trust membership covers the admission, but a timed slot must still be reserved in advance and the card shown on arrival. Members park free, everyone else pays for parking.
Q: Can you walk among the stones?
A: Only on the Stone Circle Experience outside normal opening hours, or at a managed solstice opening. The experience costs a great deal more and opens for booking about a year ahead.
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