gkrnjlr

I'm looking at two different tours that include Stonehenge. One is a private tour that takes us up close to the rocks, behind the roped off area. The other tour is a small group tour. If we do the small group tour how close will we be able to go to the rocks? The roped off area?

UKtravelbear

you really need to ask the tour organisers how close you'll get.

Skatering

IMO Stonehenge is one of the biggest anticlimaxes in the UK's huge list of tourist attractions. The roped-off area is quite a distance from the stones and the entry fee is ridiculous.

You can also see them from the A303 if you drive past them.

So to echo the above, ask the tour company. But I personally wouldn't pay a tour company at all to go. If I wanted to see them, I'd rent a car and add a brief stop alongside some of the other things in the region (Cheddar Gorge and Lulworth Cove are two places I've taken American friends to see with a Stonehenge stop).

RichardInSF

When I took my first European trip many decades ago, visitors to Stonehenge could walk among the stones. Gradually over the decades in the name of preservation, visitors have been pushed further and further away to where now I tend to agree with Skatering's comments above.

Note that members of either English Heritage or National Trust get free admission. This is the only location in the UK where both get in as far as I know, otherwise they are mutually exclusive.

AlwaysonBA663

I've taken a few friends from overseas to Stonehenge, and combined it with a few of the following: Shaftesbury (Gold Hill panorama, also a good opportunity to stop for a cream tea or a pint, there's a pub with a really good view), Salisbury Cathedral and Stourhead National Trust house and gardens

CDTraveler

This American would agree.

My first trip to England I could walk among the stones and touch them. Leaving for England this week w/ teen son who is a British history buff. I asked if he wanted to see Stonehenge, and his reply was basically why bother, I can see it much better on the travel DVD's.

MoreMilesPlease

Unless the tour specifically says you can "walk amongst the Stones" you will not be able to. The best thing is to ask the tour operator. The tours that allow access inside the Stones are early morning or late afternoon/evening after the regular hours. So any tour during regular operating hours will not be inside the stones.

If you are only going to go once and are really interested the I suggest doing the inside the stones tours. It is very neat to actually walk inside and you get great pictures.

The roped off walkway is far enough away from the stones you don't really get the feel of being inside.

I'm not sure I would pay for a tour just to go the the stones. From London take the train, see the cathedral, catch the bus to Stonehenge and do it yourself. Cheaper and you get to decide how much time you spend everywhere. To actually walk among the stones you have to be on one of the special tours that allow this.

Tisbutascratch

You don't have to be part of a small group or have a private tour. What you do need is the means to get to & from Stonehenge outside normal hours.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/v...access-visits/

Personally I'd go to Avebury.

WorldLux

Last time I visited Stonehenge, I just walked up to the London Walks meet point at Waterloo, paid the small fee (given that you travel by train and bus) and just followed the guide, who had lots of things to say about Salisbury and Salisbury
Cathedral.

Stonehenge is certainly nice to look at. I visited at least twice in the last decade (on both occasions I was passing through with my car so I used it as a stop off). It's definitely not my favorite UK sight and it probably wouldn't make my top 50 of the UK.

flatlander

If you're going to make the effort to go to Stonehenge early or late, and have your own transport, then I do recommend going to Avebury as well. The Red Lion pub in the center of Avebury is a fine watering hole.

michelin

We toured both Stonehenge and Bath through archaeologistguidedtours.com and found it to be extremely worthwhile. They do relatively small groups and the guide was very knowledgeable and personable. They also get you in early enough that you get a reasonable look at the site.

Giggleswick

I sometimes wonder what kind of an all-singing, all-dancing attraction people are expecting at Stonehenge. If you're at all interested in prehistory or archaeology, it's certainly one of the major sites. It's big. It has a complex history of phased construction over the course of about 1500 years (Neolithic to Bronze Age). It's in the midst of a major archaeological landscape--the excavations at Durrington Walls, Woodhenge, the Cursus, and a whole lot of recent discoveries. It presents interesting questions about prehistoric ritual, transport, and construction, and the newish visitor center has lots of artefacts and explanations.

But if you're not really interested in that, it is, after all, a roped-off circle of stones and may very well disappoint.