Sitting in a grassy field in the Wiltshire countryside 90 miles west of London is a true historic enigma. It’s a collection of standing stones, some topped with stone lintels, arranged in a circle 300 feet in circumference. It’s called Stonehenge. It’s been standing in that field since prehistoric times, and questions of how and why it was built remain a mystery. This British icon is a world heritage site that draws a million visitors every year. Because of the wear and tear on these ancient stones, most visitors are no longer able to freely roam the monument's inner circle. Access can, however, be arranged on special tours by select private companies.
Stonehenge is managed by English Heritage, a group established in 1984 to oversee many historic sites throughout England. Because past Stonehenge visitors damaged the stones by chipping pieces away to keep as souvenirs, the area around the stone circle was fenced off in 1978 to prevent further damage. Free access to the inner circle today is allowed under strict conditions on the summer solstice from around 7 p.m. June 20 to around 8 a.m. June 21. Outside of that, visits to the inner circle aren’t allowed during normal operating hours, but are available early in the morning, an hour or so before opening, or late in the afternoon, just after closing. English Heritage requires that inner-circle visits must be pre-booked and paid in advance. Visits last an hour, and only 26 people are allowed in at a time. Touching the stones is strictly prohibited.
Many Tour companies will take you to Stonehenge for an early or late inner-circle tour from either Salisbury or London. Salisbury Stonehenge Guided Tours picks up visitors in the Salisbury City Center for a visit to Stonehenge by way of Durrington Walls, an ancient Neolithic festival site. Histouries’ Wessex Guided Tours offers inner-circle tours from Salisbury, Bath or London. Stonehenge Tours leaves from London and offers a tour that combines a visit to the nearby Roman Baths, along with either breakfast or an early dinner at a 13th-Century inn in the town of Lacock. The also have a tour that combines a visit to Windsor Castle and Oxford with an early or late visit to the inner circle of Stonehenge.
Veltra and Viator Tours offer similar jaunts to Stonehenge for a look inside the circle, combined with visits to Lacock, the picturesque village seen in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” and the elegant Georgian architecture of Bath. Veltra’s tour includes a look at the Roman Baths hot springs, said to be the best-preserved Roman spa from ancient times. Viator offers breakfast or diner at The George, a 14th-century pub in Lacock, as part of its tour. These all-day excursions last from about 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Veltra Tours leaves from the Victoria Coach Station in London. Viator Tours picks up guest from selected London hotels.
Visitors who can’t arrange an actual inner-circle tour can see Stonehenge from the inside at the Stonehenge Visitor’s Center. The center features a circular theater with 32-foot screens that present a 360-degree, computer-generated view of Stonehenge's inner circle. The center also offers exhibits like the forensic reconstruction of a Neolithic man’s face on a skeleton found buried at the site, along with displays of more than 250 prehistoric objects found around Stonehenge. Since English Heritage closed A334, the road that ran near Stonehenge, the center shuttles visitors to monument.
