Although I started the journey from Bristol, it can also be done in the same way from London with roughly the same timings. There are tours available to Stonehenge, but it’s probably best to get a group together and rent a car. From Bristol, it takes about 1 hour 30 minutes to get to the Stonehenge site. There’s ample free parking available at the site outside the visitor center. This is an English Heritage site and tickets cost 22.80 GBP1 for non-members. Becoming a member gives you free entry to Stonehenge among several English Heritage sites. Since I planned on doing other day trips, I became a member which costs 5.25 GBP a month (for 12 months) or a one-time payment of 63 GBP for 12 months. There’s also a discount on the membership if you’re a student. Once we got our tickets, we picked up an audio guide which is included with the ticket for a self-guided tour. Then, you have the option of a 25-minute walk to the site or waiting for the bus which takes 5 minutes to get there. Once at the site, the trail is easy to follow. There are numbered signposts along the trail which you can input into your audio guide.
Construction is believed to have occurred in multiple phases which the audio guide goes over. What we see now are large stones laid out in a circular form with an outer circle and inner horseshoe. The entrance lines up with the sun in the summer and winter solstice. Several remains have been found at the site which suggests it may have been an important burial site. It took us about 45 minutes to go through the site with the self-guided tour. We then headed back to the visitor site where there is a small museum with artifacts and more information. There’s also a cafeteria/restaurant where you can get food and drinks.
It was now around 1.30 PM so we headed to Oxford which is about 1 hour 30 minutes away. Free parking is difficult to find around the city center, but there are several paid car parks available. We found a car park near Oxford castle so first headed there for a couple of pictures. Then we went for a walk around the city, coming across several of the old university buildings. Once it got dark, we walked back via the main high street stopping by a rooftop restaurant. It was then a 1 hour 30 minute drive back to Bristol.
