Stonehenge Admission Ticket

We went to Stonehenge with our two dogs. We're English Heritage members, so no extra charge for our ticket, but had we not been members, it would have been a rather eye-watering £35. Given that we usually renew our membership when places like BuyAGift have discounts on prepaid English Heritage membership, I'd strongly urge anyone considering membership to look into that route if you're not in a hurry to join up. We pay between £65 and £80 per year for both of us by doing it this way. Parking was ample, although it was a quiet-ish day thanks to the fact that the heavens had opened and it was raining heavily. Again, as members, parking was free as long as we displayed our membership car sticker. National Trust members need to go to the ticket kiosk and give their car registration number, and they'll manually add you to the exemption list so that you don't get charged. If you're not a member of EH or NT, or one of their affiliated organisations, it's currently £4 to park. We visited with our two dogs, and we knew there would be things we couldn't do. There is a shuttle bus, which takes you the 1.5 miles from the visitor centre to the stones. You can't go on that with dogs, so you have to walk. The walk is okay, if a little boring. It would have been nice to see some information boards along the way, for example. While the road to the stones is wide, there is no footpath as such - simply a white dividing line which pedestrians are meant to walk inside of, and buses are meant to keep away from. This might be worth knowing if you're walking there with exuberant kids, or excitable dogs. Bus drivers take no prisoners, and will rattle past you at speed. I'm sure it's well within the legal speed limit, but it is a little unsettling when they're so close and there's nothing to physically separate you from an 11 ton bus. A pavement or railings would have been nice, and considerably safer. At the other end of the walk, you find the bus "station", where the courtesy buses drop off their passengers. There is a member of staff here, who checks that people walking in have paid for admission. If not, you're relegated to the public footpath which runs along the top side of the site. It seems like a perfectly decent view, and if we didn't have membership, I'd have been happy with it. If you have a dog, the bus station area is where you have to wait. Today, in the pouring rain, it was not pleasant. There are three or four benches, which were already soaking wet. There is no covered area at all. If it's rainy, you'll get soaked. I imagine that if it's sunny, you'll get baked alive. The many people waiting for the next shuttle bus were getting soaked and looked miserable. The poor member of staff checking tickets was getting soaked. Me and my dogs got soaked, as I had to stay with them while my husband went ahead to walk around the stones. Come on English Heritage - if you're charging £35 to come in, you can afford a few canopies to protect your customers from the rain or the sun. Having traded places with my husband, I got to walk down to the stones. It was fine. English Heritage haven't done anything special with the site, except a few flimsy rope barriers to keep you from getting up to the stones. There were some cheesy advertising-type boards around the site, suggesting some silly poses you could do to make it look like you had Stonehenge in the palm of your hand, a bit like when you go to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and you try to make it look like your hand is pushing the tower over. Honestly, I was struggling to see what the £35 justified. There was a large crowd of people standing by what would have been the entrance of the henge, which made it difficult to get near that part of the site. There were no staff members encouraging people to move on or make space, other than one lady who was loitering near the start of the walk around the circle. On our walk back to the visitor centre, we both agreed that it was something you should see, but neither of us felt it was special enough to come back and do again. Perhaps if you're more spiritual than we are, you'd get more out of it, but we did feel it was a bit of a missed opportunity, and EH were relying very much on the reputation of a special historic site. Thumbs up to all the staff though - I've noticed a few other dog owning visitors complain that staff were rude or abrupt, but that wasn't our experience at all. The ticket kiosk staff explained what we could do when visiting with dogs, and what having dogs with us meant we could not do. The staff member checking tickets at the gate was perfectly polite, and suggested that rather than standing about and waiting for my husband, I could walk the dogs around a nearby dog-friendly field. We had done our research beforehand, and there were no nasty surprises. If you're reading this, you're probably doing your research as well.

Huge tourists here. We were with a tour group so tickets were already organised. Didn't seem to hard to get walk-in tickets. Parking could be quite a walk away. Plenty of toilets. And a large cafe. Then you either walk 45 mins to the Columns or queue for the shuttle bus. It was a very hot day so we took the bus. Distinct pathways to follow; information boards,

Nice experience,amazing place to visit.

I’m a National Trust member and English Heritage too so didn’t pay (btw if you ask the lovely membership sellers at the exit from the car park into the site, they’ll sort free parking for you). But even if I had, this would have been worth it. My personal experience was that the enormous numbers of visitors were managed really well, I had one short wait for a shuttle bus and stepped straight on to the other. The site itself is large so doesn’t feel overly crowded although the visitor centre was crammed. I was a little surprised by how many people seem interested only in getting a photo so it looks like Stonehenge is in their hand, or on their back, or on their head, but each to their own. The EH staff up at the monument itself were extremely knowledgeable and courteous. I have wanted to see Stonehenge for 50 years and it didn’t disappoint.

Interesting to see. Enjoyed visiting this historic place. Purchasing our tickets ahead made entrance quick and easy

My husband has always wanted to visit Stonehenge. He’d seen it from the road but never close up. It was our 34th wedding anniversary. All staff were very kind and helpful. One member of staff offered me his coat. I wish I’d said yes. The shuttle bus has a ramp for people in wheelchairs to use. If you have poor mobility they loan out wheelchairs for free. There are 2 disabled toilets, the 2nd one has a winch to help people to get on and off the toilet. The cafe is quite large and reasonably priced but needs to be a little bit bigger. Loved it from start to finish a great day. Thank you very much.

We have an English Heritage membership, without it it would have been £70 for 2 adults and 1 child. It is a very expensive attraction to visit, but it is unique. You cant get really close but close enough for a decent picture. As a memeber we didnt pre book and it was fine, very busy but plenty parking. If youre a member make sure you put your EH car sticker in the windscreen for free parking. If not then you need to use the Ringo app to pay £4. There is a cafe, gift shop (exceptionally expensive), exhibition and plenty space for a picnic. Dogs are welcome but cant get up to the stones. There is a 2km walk to the stones but there is also a shuttle but that is included in your admission. Overall, a worthwhile visit, definitely a one off.

Amazing!! So thrilled we were finally able to visit. It’s amazing to see the actual sites you learned about in school.

I've driven past here a few times, it's always busy, keep that in mind.

Try and go early to beat the crowds. Walk around the perimeter while you marvel and wonder about the placement of the stones thinking “How did they do that!”