Is it worth paying for Stonehenge or just for car park?

[coconut0]

DD (aged 7) & I are driving home from Somerset to London tomorrow and will be going past Stonehenge. She is interested in it & has read up on it after passing it last year in the car. I know it will cost us about £15 to go in, but looking at Trip Advisor people seem to be of the opinion that it's not worth it. My question really is: should we stop and pay to go in, park in the car park & pay a fiver then walk to see the stones closer up, or just look when we drive past at 1 mph as everyone likes to slow down when they drive past. I'd really like your honest opinion. Thank you.

Really not worth it. We are members of the national trust so it was free but I would not have been able to justify the cost of a family ticket otherwise. You can't actually drive past anymore I don't think (well not so close anyway) as they have built a new road and a visitors centre.

However I would definately recommend a national trust membership. I think our annual family ticket was £90 for the year, which is a bargain as there are so many places.

I wouldn't bother with the tour unless you've got hours to spend queuing.

We went last year and the queue was on the visitor centre side of the road, it goes under the road and then to the site

Thanks for that. I'm now thinking of going to Avebury Henge instead. Any views on that?

I thought it was absolutely fantastic and deffo worth the money. It's an ancient man made monument, why wouldn't you want to visit it at least once in your life?

I thought it was magical.

Oooh, now Avebury is really spooky! Well, I thought so. Definitely worth a visit - it went all cold when we walked from the outside of the ring to the inside. I can still remember it 30 years later.

Stonehenge, whilst it is amazing, is more of a tourist attraction now, IMO. The commentary is verbose (and a bit dry) and other visitors get in the way. And, of course, you can't get anywhere near the stones. I was only saying this morning that the best bit of Stonehenge was watching the hares boxing in the field nearby.

However, we regularly drive past Stonehenge so that makes a bit less special.

The stones are a sight to behold for sure, you can use the car park and walk over the road and still get a pretty good view even with the fence in the way

There is a charge for Parking, but if you use the toilet you get more for your money

We did Avebury last weekend and the kids loved it. We have NT membership so it wasn't expensive, but we paid a bit extra for a guided tour of the stones which was very informative. The kids loved the museum in the barn, it was hands on and they dressed up and did some crafty stuff. There are some great walks from Avebury to other monuments if you want to make a full day of it.

Oh and you can touch the stones at Avebury, and even sit on some of them.

The new visitor centre is amazing. Well worth it I'd say

And the prehistoric huts are fab

Jennyontheblocks - we always visit the toilet wherever we go - have a phobia of not being to find one for the next zillion miles if I don't go to every one I see - probably a name for a phobia like this!

Avebury is way better, IMHO. You can get up close to the stones and properly explore. If you have energetic children, they can run up and down the enormous banks to their hearts' content. It's a whole landscape- I'd recommend stopping at Silbury Hill, then crossing the road to walk up to West Kennet Long Barrow too.

One word of caution- the evil feckers have slapped a £5 flat rate charge on the car park. Which is rather vexing if you only wanted to stop for an hour . (the layby next to Silbury Hill is on the A4, and free, FYI).

Ok girls, mind made up, Avebury it is. Thank you so much for your help.x

I second Avebury (really annoying about the car park, which is very poorly surfaced) and West Kennet Long Barrow. I think Stonehenge is a rip off and refuse to pay an extortionate amount. We parked up intending to go, but the queues were horrendous and it seemed very disorganised. Someone told me you can get quite close to Stonehenge by going up a small road or lane off the A303, I think it is byway 12 and has a small car park near it. I will try this myself next time.

The White Horse near Cherhill used to be a good and free walk when I lived in the area.

All the people saying park in the car park, cross the road and look through the fence - that road has gone, there's a new visitor centre much further away. I'm an archaeologist and I can't wait to take DH and dd there. It is an amazing site (especially if you explore the surrounding landscape which is just packed with archaeology) and I can't wait to see it without that fucking awful road, fence and portacabin spoiling the setting. I think the visitors' experience now is much better than before (not difficult!).

There is a drove crossing the A303 just before Stonehenge, on which you can park. I used to access it from the now-closed B road that went right past the stones, and it was an absolutely ideal stop off for my trips up country- we could use the Stonehenge toilets and then go and have a picnic/run next to a round barrow. Joining the A303 from it would be hairy in the extreme though- it would be literally 0-60 in about 2 seconds. I have seen it done though by an idiot.

You could also park at Woodhenge, about 1-2? miles away, and walk to the stones- I think.

apparently stonehenge is a public right of way. if you dont take the shuttle bus and just walk to the site.