How many visitors stonehenge

Accommodation Occupancy: Latest results. Other accommodation research. Accommodation Stock Audit. Accommodation Occupancy: Archive. Besides pointing out that experiencing the stones today is infinitely better than it was not that long ago, I suggest a few tips for visiting Stonehenge that I believe will enhance your experience and appreciation of the site.

Stonehenge is a popular tourist attraction, and has been for a long time. A lot of people make their own way to the site, but it is also a popular stop on many day trips from London and other cities around the south west of England, including Southampton, Bath and Oxford.

As an aside, there are all sorts of day trips and tours that include Stonehenge in their itineraries. Your options are many, see this comprehensive list of the various day trips and tours that include Stonehenge. With this great range of affordable coach tours come many people.

And the first coach loads start arriving at Stonehenge around 10 am in any numbers. When the early arrivals leave, those that originated in nearby cities such as Southampton and Bath, the next group start arriving. And so on.

From 10 am to about 3 pm, there is a steady flow of coaches. Stonehenge receives over one million visitors a year. During peak periods, there are over 9, visitors a day with queues stretching from the ticket office to the car park — just under one hundred metres.

For this reason alone, at busier times of the year you are strongly advised to buy a timed entry ticket in advance. If you are visiting more than just Stonehenge, there is another option. For residents of England, you could buy National Trust or English Heritage membership, which gets you free entry to Stonehenge and many other benefits. For non-residents, there is a 9 or Day Overseas Pass — which gets you free entry to English Heritage properties including Stonehenge. For those driving themselves to Stonehenge, the Visitor Centre and car park is situated on the B, easily reached via the A Be warned, however, that the A particularly the single-laned stretch between the intersections with the A and the A — the Amesbury Bypass can get extremely busy throughout the year.

Currently, this is the main route across the south of England to and from Cornwall and Devon. If the traffic is too much, you could park at Woodhenge just off the A and then walk about an hour to Stonehenge across National Trust land seeing many other prehistoric features on this landscape.

At a leisurely pace, it will take about an hour to walk to the Visitor Centre — necessary to validate your tickets. Alternatively, avoid the A and take the back route following The Packway to the B There are three options for reserving your timed entry to Stonehenge in advance and online.

Residents of England can buy National trust or English Heritage membership, overseas visitors can buy a 9 or day pass, or you can get yourself a timed entry ticket to Stonehenge:.

To beat the crowds, I recommend getting to Stonehenge as early as you can. From the beginning of June until the end of August , gates open at 9 am. From the beginning of September to the end of March gates pen at 9. Once you are there, get the shuttle to the stone circle.

The land belongs to National Trust and there is much archaeology and wildlife to be seen. The Stonehenge Visitor Centre is located about a mile away from the stones themselves. This is also where the car and coach parks are located. The car park is free for people purchasing tickets to enter Stonehenge, there is a charge if you are not. A shuttle bus included in your ticket price will take you down to see the stones, if you prefer not to walk.

They run very frequently so if you turn up you will never have to wait more than a few minutes. The visitor centre hosts the Stonehenge exhibition, cafe, gift shop and toilets. If you are arriving independently, this where you pick up your tickets and audio guides.

If you are arriving as part of a tour you will form a queue to go through round the side of the building and from there will join the shuttle bus to take you to the stones. If you wish to see the exhibition you can leave yourself some time at the end to come back and see it. The Stonehenge Exhibition contains over archaeological treasures, which were used or buried at Stonehenge, including pottery, tools, jewellery, and even human remains.

The exhibition gives a good grounding into understanding into the various theories of how it was thought Stonehenge was built and why, along with insights into the people who used Stonehenge. Outside there are reconstructions of Neolithic houses and demonstrations of how the stones were transported. The gift shop offers an extensive range of books, gifts and souvenirs, many made in the UK exclusively for Stonehenge. Note, it doesn't serve meals. Child sized portions are available. There are plenty of toilets and also baby changing facilities.

Pushchairs are allowed onto the site. The Stonehenge monument area itself has no shelter, even at the shuttle terminus , no toilets and no refreshments. The site is very exposed, its better to bring that extra layer and unless there is no cloud in the sky think of what you will need if an unexpected shower of rain comes along, with no shelter from the elements available. During normal opening hours you cannot walk up to the stones themselves.

In the 17th century, archaeologist John Aubrey made the claim that Stonehenge was the work of the Celtic high priests known as the Druids, a theory widely popularized by the antiquarian William Stukeley, who had unearthed primitive graves at the site. Even today, people who identify as modern Druids continue to gather at Stonehenge for the summer solstice. However, in the midth century, radiocarbon dating demonstrated that Stonehenge stood more than 1, years before the Celts inhabited the region, eliminating the ancient Druids from the running.

Many modern historians and archaeologists now agree that several distinct tribes of people contributed to Stonehenge, each undertaking a different phase of its construction. Bones, tools and other artifacts found on the site seem to support this hypothesis. The first stage was achieved by Neolithic agrarians who were likely indigenous to the British Isles. Later, it is believed, groups with advanced tools and a more communal way of life left their stamp on the site.

Some have suggested that they were immigrants from the European continent, but many scientists think they were native Britons descended from the original builders. If the facts surrounding the architects and construction of Stonehenge remain shadowy at best, the purpose of the arresting monument is even more of a mystery. While historians agree that it was a place of great importance for over 1, years, we may never know what drew early Britons to Salisbury Plain and inspired them to continue developing it.

There is strong archaeological evidence that Stonehenge was used as a burial site, at least for part of its long history, but most scholars believe it served other functions as well—either as a ceremonial site, a religious pilgrimage destination, a final resting place for royalty or a memorial erected to honor and perhaps spiritually connect with distant ancestors. In the s, the astronomer Gerald Hawkins suggested that the cluster of megalithic stones operated as an astronomical calendar, with different points corresponding to astrological phenomena such as solstices, equinoxes and eclipses.

More recently, signs of illness and injury in the human remains unearthed at Stonehenge led a group of British archaeologists to speculate that it was considered a place of healing, perhaps because bluestones were thought to have curative powers. Stonehenge has undergone several restorations over the years, and some of its boulders have been set in concrete to prevent collapse.

Meanwhile, archaeological excavations and development of the surrounding area to facilitate tourism have turned up other significant sites nearby, including other henges. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!