Best way to see Stonehenge: free footpath vs paid ticket vs VIP tour
The funny thing about visiting Stonehenge is that although tickets on the day cost a whopping £35, there’s a public footpath that runs right along the edge of the site where you can see the stones for free. So is it worth paying to visit Stonehenge, or should you opt to visit Stonehenge for free?
I visited Stonehenge this summer and tried out all the ways to visit, from the free footpath to the standard visit and even the pricey Stone Circle Experience which takes you inside the inner circle. In this post I’ll go through the pros and cons of each one, show you exactly what you can see and give you tips for your trip.
Contents
How to visit Stonehenge for free
Cost: Free
Convenience: 2/5
Experience: 3/5
Drive past on the A303
The easiest and quickest way to see Stonehenge for free is just to drive past it. The A303 runs 165 metres (about 540 feet) from the stone circle and you can clearly see it from the road. There are roundabouts at either end of the Stonehenge stretch so you can drive up one way and down the other if you like.
However, it’s a dangerous road, and there are often accidents caused by people looking over at the stones, so I don’t recommend it.
Use the public footpath to see Stonehenge for free
There’s a footpath that runs right along the northern edge of the Stonehenge site, and at points you’re just over the fence from paying visitors. The entrance to the footpath is just to the left of the bus stop from the visitor centre, and while you can’t walk around the stone circle like you could if you’d bought a ticket, you can still get a really good view for free.
I knew how close the footpath was before I visited, but I was still surprised by how good the free view actually is. The biggest issue was being able to take photos; as Stonehenge is busy all day, you’re almost certain to have someone stood in front of you. The free footpath is open 24/7 though, so you could deliberately visit outside the normal opening hours.
The other downside is the walk to get to Stonehenge. There’s no direct road access, you can’t use the shuttle bus from the visitor centre and there’s nowhere to park within a mile of the stones. You have a few options to get to the footpath:
- You can pay £4 to park at the visitor centre (Google Maps link) and then walk 1.6 miles along the old road. Only Stonehenge buses are allowed to drive down there and you won’t be able to use them without a ticket.
- Alternatively, you can park by the side of the road in Larkhill, at the corner of Willoughby Road and Fargo Road (Google Maps link) and walk 1 mile directly south towards the stones. This is a residential area for the army base so if you do park here, make sure you’re being considerate.
- You could combine Stonehenge with nearby Woodhenge on a 5 mile circular walk. There’s a small, free car park and on-street parking at Woodhenge (Google Maps link). Entry to Woodhenge is free.
- There are regular Stonehenge shuttle buses from Salisbury, but they are quite pricey at £15-25 per person. The X2 bus route from Salisbury to Devizes has a few afternoon services which stop at the Stonehenge visitor centre for a much more reasonable £3 each way.
Be a member of the National Trust or another affiliate organisation
If you’re a member of English Heritage, the organisation who looks after Stonehenge, entry to Stonehenge is included in your membership.
It’s not super well-advertised, but you can also visit Stonehenge for free (including the exhibition, visitor centre, shuttle bus and path all the way around the circle) if you’re a member of the National Trust, CADW, Historic Scotland or a few other affiliate organisations. You’ll need to enter a code at the checkout when you book your ticket.
Visit during a Solstice or Equinox
Stonehenge is a sacred site for many people, and so there’s free access to Stonehenge, including inside the stone circle, for the Summer and Winter Solstices, and Spring and Autumn Equinoxes. You can park at the visitor centre and walk down to the site; the shuttle bus operates for people with accessibility needs.
It does get incredibly busy; around 25,000 people visited for the Summer Solstice in 2025. There’s more information, including the free opening times on the English Heritage website. You can see what it’s like to visit Stonehenge for the Solstice in this BBC News report.
The regular Stonehenge ticket
Cost: At least £27
Convenience: 5/5
Experience: 4/5
The normal paid visit costs between £27.03 (adult ticket, booked in advance, no donation) and £35 (adult ticket, bought on the day, including a donation). A family ticket for two adults and up to three children costs between £67.57 and £87.50.
For that, you get:
- Closer access to the stone circle compared to the free footpath and the ability to walk all the way around the stones, but not to go inside the inner circle. On the opposite side of the Stonehenge to the free footpath, the visitor path gets a lot closer to the stones than it does on the other side.
- Access to the visitor centre and exhibition.
- The free shuttle bus from the visitor centre to the stones – you can still walk if you want to.
It doesn’t include the £4 charge for parking, unless you’re an English Heritage member with a car membership sticker. National Trust, CADW, CSSC and Historic Scotland members can park for free as well but you have to give your number plate to the admissions desk (although I completely missed this as a National Trust member and haven’t had a fine!).
So is it worth paying for Stonehenge tickets? It’s nice to be able to walk all the way around the stones, and I was definitely able to get better photos of the stone circle than I was on the free footpath. At one point the path gets pretty close to the stone circle.
The walk from the visitor centre to the stones is fairly long, and I didn’t want to park outside someone’s house in Larkhill, so the shuttle bus is very helpful. It’s also the best way to visit if someone in your group will find the walk difficult.
The buses run continuously between the visitor centre and Stonehenge, and we never had to wait more than a few minutes to get on a bus.
Being completely honest though, I really didn’t rate the exhibition. It’s quite small – smaller than the cafe – and gets very busy especially if the weather is bad, like it was on our visit.
It starts with a 360 degree experience which aims to replicate the feeling of being inside the stone circle but doesn’t really succeed, and once inside the exhibition proper it’s difficult to get close enough to see the displays as there are just so many people.
There are some replica huts outside the visitor centre so you can imagine how the people building Stonehenge would have lived.
If you want to find out more about Stonehenge before or after your visit, I recommend watching one of the many excellent documentaries on YouTube or visiting the Stonehenge exhibit in Salisbury Museum.
Read more: 12 things to do in Salisbury
Stonehenge Stone Circle Experience – Inner circle tour
Cost: At least £70
Convenience: 4/5
Experience: 5/5
The Stonehenge Stone Circle Experience tour is eye-wateringly expensive for just an hour at the stones (although you do have regular ticket access for the rest of the day), but it’s so worth it. I wasn’t convinced before I visited, but it really is special.
Inner Circle tours take place at the beginning or end of the day, so it might mean an early start (I had to be there at 7.30am, which is why I’ve docked a point for convenience!). You take a shuttle bus from the visitor centre to the stone circle with your guide, then the guide drops the rope barrier and you can enter the circle and get up close to the stones.
The guides give an introduction to the site and point out the most interesting features, then they’re on hand to answer any questions as you explore.
You can read my full review of the Stonehenge Stone Circle Experience tour for all the details, but I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. It’s going to sound strange, but the stones don’t look real from a distance; up front you can really appreciate their size and weight, and the morning sun shining into the circle was absolutely magical.
If you like the sound of taking a tour inside the stone circle, make sure you book well in advance. You can book on the English Heritage website or there are a few tours from London.
Summary
I loved my Stone Circle Experience at Stonehenge and would recommend it to everyone as the best way to visit Stonehenge, but it is definitely pricey, and the dates and times might not work for your trip.
If you’re ok with the walk from the car park, then I think the view from the free footpath is absolutely fine. You can see almost everything you’d see if you’d have a paid ticket, and I wouldn’t be too devastated about not getting to visit the exhibition.
It can definitely be worth buying the normal Stonehenge tickets if you want the easiest, most convenient visit. If you’ll be visiting other English Heritage sites over the next year then you should definitely consider buying an annual pass; with Stonehenge being one of English Heritage’s most expensive sites, it could work out cheaper overall. There aren’t many English Heritage sites near where I live in Manchester so National Trust membership works out cheaper for me, but there are loads of brilliant sites like Whitby Abbey, Framlingham Castle and over 400 more.
Which option would you choose for visiting Stonehenge?
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