Stonehenge: Day Trip From London

There is so much to see and do in London, from gardens and parks to palaces and museums, great shopping, great eating, tons of history and lots of modern stuff, too.

But there are also some truly amazing things you can discover outside of London. And one of the most amazing is standing on Salisbury Plain…where it has been standing for over 6,000 years.

https://youtu.be/KHAe8Fz4vu8

Back to the Stone Age...Like, Literally

Stonehenge. This is one of the oldest monuments in The world and certainly one of the oldest things left still standing in Europe. Stonehenge predates the great Pyramids of Egypt and it predates all writing in Europe. 

We don't know why it was built. We're not too clear about who built it. But we do know it is exceptional. So today, let's travel to the early Bronze Age. Let’s go look at Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is one of the most recognizable monuments in the world. The version we can still see partially standing today was completed around 3,000 B.C.E. to 2,300 B.C.E.

It was a massive project that wasn't centuries in the making. It took millennia.

To get from a plain, empty field in England to the impressive stone megalith we see today took around 2,000 years.

In its original form, Stonehenge was actually made of wood. Tall, wooden posts were erected here around 4,500 B.C.E., probably by early European farmers known to historians as the Funnelbeaker culture.

The name was given to them because of their style of pottery. They were the first farming culture in Northern Europe and we know they used this site because shards of their distinct, funnel-shaped pottery have been found here.

The remnants of the tall timber posts they stood up here remain in the ground for scientists to study and ponder over 6,000 years after the fact.

We don't know why they built it, what they used it for, what it meant to them. But we know it was incredibly special, because they spent generations building it. 

Centuries after the wooden posts were put in place, stone was brought in across a great distance. They hauled massive stone blocks and slabs across the land, which is an even more impressive feat when you consider they were not yet using the wheel.

Who exactly put the stones in place is more questionable. A new group had arrived to England at this time, the Corded Ware culture, and they started using Stonehenge extensively after they arrived. But did they put the stones in place, or was it the farmers who were still here, perhaps a combination of the two groups?

It's unlikely we'll ever know. But we do know Stonehenge was an architectural marvel in its day, erected with huge slabs of rock that stood without the aid of any mortar or cement. 

It was so well put together, some of the giants remain standing to this day. Others have toppled, but Stonehenge sits remarkably intact when you consider it has been standing here since the start of the Bronze Age.

It is well worth seeing if you're visiting London. You can take a day trip or half day trip to see it. I took a group bus tour out here and it was a huge highlight for me. Not just a highlight  of the trip,  a highlight of my life.

Full disclosure, I went to London to see Stonehenge, so it is special to me. 

How to Get There

It takes about two hours by car or about three hours by bus to get to Salisbury Plain, where Stonehenge is located. You can take a train, which will cost around 30 dollars per person and take about an hour and a half.

However, Stonehenge is still a 20 minute drive from the train station, which I consider to be too far to walk. I suggest doing a group day trip out here. I had a very good experience with mine and they handle everything, so it's much easier.

Admission to Stonehenge is about 25 dollars per person. If you do a day trip package, the admission price will be included. 

There is a path that will take you all the way around Stonehenge, so you can see it from different angles. There are boundaries protecting the monument to keep you on the path. You can't go right up and touch Stonehenge or walk around inside of it. 

But you can get pretty close to it and there are some fun photo points around the path with suggestions for cute poses.

Near the ticket office, you will find a small building where they have an exhibit that will tell you more about the history of Stonehenge, both as an ancient monument and as a modern day tourist attraction.

There's also a gift shop. No matter what you go see in England, there is a gift shop. The British Museum alone has multiple gift shops. England doesn't miss a trick.

But even after you roll off a bus and walk past people posing with their cameras, even though the modern world is still all around you, you can feel the majesty and magic of those ancient rocks. You almost expect to see a Druid priestess to appear in the circle.

You can feel the history of it and when you're close to it, the sheer size of it feels overwhelming. The ancient world feels close here. It's a pretty powerful experience, and one I highly recommend. 

There are very few places you can go in the world to get close to something that was built before the pyramids of Egypt, something that's thousands of years older than the English language itself. So, take a day trip outside of London and get a look at this amazing place!

Now, Voyager, sail forth to seek and find.