Larson adventures: Taking your family to Stonehenge from central London

In this post: How to get to those famous stones dating some 5,000 years old? And more importantly, is it worth it?

Back in September we crossed another item off of our long "to-do" list of things to accomplish while here in London: visit that mysterious, historic, magnificent place called Stonehenge.

When we told the kids we were going to go see some huge rocks, their interest was immediately sparked.
"Cool! Can we climb on them?" asked the 8-year-old.
"Wow...can we rock climb and jump off?" asked the 13-year-old.
"Rocks? What else is there to see?" asked the 11-year old.

As the responses came forth - "No, you cannot climb on them, or jump on them, or even touch them for that matter. And no, there's nothing there but the rocks...." The sparky looks on their faces quickly faded.

Lengthly explanations of the amazing significance and mystery behind the rocks didn't seem to help either.

But it was going to be a small outing, really. Only an afternoon. And Grandpa and Grandma were with us to add to the fun.

Again, all of this exploring was to be done with no car - relying solely on public transport!

Following my fool-proof guidebook "Best Day Trips from London" (Frommers), we took the train to Salisbury. We left London Waterloo at 13:15 and arrived in Salisbury at 14:45. Then we simply walked a few steps outside the rail station to find "The Stonehenge Tour" (www.thestonehengetour.info) bus right where it said it would be. We paid the entrance fee (60 pounds for a family) and boarded...easy easy! The bus embarked at 3:00 and we were on our way. Enjoying the views of Salisbury's medieval streets, glimpses of the largest spire in England atop the Gothic masterpiece which is Salisbury's Cathedral, then onto picturesque countryside fields, all the while enjoying a nice commentary played through the bus speakers, we eventually came to what felt like the middle of nowhere in particular, but yes, indeed, there in the middle of farming fields, standing there like giants, were the massive, famous stones. It's almost bizarre to come across them like that, so forlorn and abandoned-like. And yet they are certainly not lonely, the masses were there as always, buses streaming in, people piling up in proper British queue for the entrance...

Another reason to take the Stonehenge Bus tour is the bypassing of all those people waiting in the entrance line once you get to Stonehenge. Yes we just walked right in, no lines, no paying - because our bus tour included the price of admission. Now you can take a bus from London, but let's face it, it takes hours just to get OUT of the city in a bus, whereas the train bolts you high-speed to Salisbury.

Once past the admission, you tunnel under the local road to the opposite side where the magnificent rocks stand. Listening to the audioguide (included in admission), slowly encircling the rocks, learning about their mysterious history and background, wondering how the gigantic stones made it from over 100 miles away, this eerie, quiet experience with a group of complete strangers who are the other tourists also pondering the site can be somewhat underwhelming or somewhat profound - it depends on your personal response. What prompted the people to build this place? and what for? Astronomical observations? A burial ground? Religious rituals? As you strangely and silently visit this prehistoric site with the throes of other tourists, it's not hard to comprehend why it is one of the most famous sites in the entire world.

I believe we were there for about an hour. The opportunities for photography are amazing, as long as the British weather is in your favor! Boarding the tour bus for the return, the commentary continues and you are brought through some very lovely countryside areas of Salisbury on the way to Sarum, an ancient earthwork dating to 500BC and later occupied by Romans, Saxons and Normans, once the site of a busy town and castle but now ruins. Unfortunately we missed the entrance cut-off (17h) so we were unable to visit the site, but it looked interesting and worth 30-60 minutes of exploring. We were not disappointed however because we had hoped to make our last stop of the day the magnificent Salisbury Cathedral. The Gothic beauty with its piercing spire reaching 404 ft holds one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta. The city is worth exploring on foot. Flowers frame many of the city's medieval streets which are lined with pubs, antique shops, restaurants, half-timbered inns and residences.

Returning back to the rail station, we easily made a 18:30 train which landed us back in London at 20:00, an hour earlier than expected. I would have loved to stay and linger in that beautiful city, but on a Sunday evening, work and school days are creeping into the thoughts and the dreamy afternoon spent in a fairy-tale historic visit needed to come to a close.