Can tourists walk in and around Stonehenge?

Answer 1

Ordinarily visitors can't get closer than about 7m as they are kept on a roped-off path around the monument.

However, it is possible to arrange Stone Circle Access visits by pre-booking with English Heritage via the form listed at the Related Link attached to this answer.

Stone Circle Access visits last for an hour, either before or after regular opening hours, and cost around £15 per person (there are discounts for English Heritage members). A maximum of 26 people are allowed in for each hour's visit, but you don't have to bring a whole group of 26 people yourself - if there are only a couple of you, you may find you're in with another small group or you might (if you're lucky) have picked a slot where you're the only ones there.

Be aware that these Stone Circle Access visits are booked up months in advance.

There are four more opportunities to get inside the Stone Circle itself during the year - on the dawns of the Solstices and Equinoxes.

These events are called "Managed Open Access" and the famous one is the Summer Solstice where the monument is completely open from 7pm on the night before solstice to about 10am on the morning of it. On June 20th/21st 2009, about 35,000 people attended.

It's important that you always check the exact dates of the Managed Open Accesses in advance of attending, because the access dates are not guaranteed to be the same as those listed in any particular diary for "Vernal Equinox", "Summer Solstice", "Autumnal Equinox" and "Winter Solstice". It's largely due to the way the different calendar that is used by the pagan community works, with days running from dusk to dusk rather than midnight to midnight.

For example, in 2010 the instant of astronomical Winter Solstice is/was at 23:38 UTC (~GMT, UK time) on the 21st December, but the Managed Open Access is/was on the dawn of the 22nd December. So although a diary will say that the 21st is the Winter Solstice, the access is/was scheduled for the following morning's dawn in that year.

Please also be aware that if weather conditions are such that the monument area is waterlogged after heavy rain or treacherously slippy due to ice or snow, then access to the Stone Circle may not be possible either for booked Stone Circle Access visits or at Managed Open Access events. This is because the buried Archaeology of the site is close to the surface beneath the very thin chalk soil and is easily susceptible to damage.