UK’s Sidequests: Stonehenge & Salisbury

In June 2017, we took advantage of WOW Air’s 5th Birthday Sale and bought one-way tickets from Toronto to London, UK for only $75 CAD per person. For the return flight, we chose to leave from Stockholm, Sweden for only $110 CAD per person.

Here is the 2nd part of the blogs we will be sharing of this trip, #nextdeparturedoesuk!

Stonehenge is a must-see if you are visiting the UK. If you are already planning to see it, we recommend also seeing the nearby city of Salisbury.

How to Get There

Salisbury is part of Wiltshire County and only an hour and a half train ride from London. We took the Southwest Train from Clapham Junction station all the way to Salisbury’s only train station. Be sure not to make the mistake of using your Oyster card (London’s public transit card) to get there. Instead, you need to Southwest Train tickets which are separate from the Oyster card.

Salisbury

Salisbury is a quite small town. It was easy to walk to the city center from the train station. It had charming little shops and patio bars lined up on the streets. I recommend The Old Ale and Coffee House to grab a pint, it has great decor and a nice backyard terrace. There is a historic gate which serves the entrance to Salisbury Close. The Close is a quiet square that is lined with 18th-century houses which you can visit such as the Mompesson House and the Wardrobe Regimental Museum.

After we passed the Close, the giant Salisbury Cathedral emerged from the trees. I was shocked at how big it was. It holds Britain’s tallest spire which you can go up to with brilliant views of Salisbury. The fascinating cathedral holds the oldest working clock in the world and even more impressively, a copy of the original Magna Carta, an 800-year-old document that was known to be the first human rights charter.

Where to Stay

Wyndham Park Lodge is where we stayed. As soon as our tired bodies walked in we were greeted by a grand smiling welcome by Suzanne, the guesthouse owner, who made us very relaxed. The hotel is cozy and very clean. Suzanne cooks up a brilliant breakfast for you the next day, with freshly ground coffee. It was a charming and comfortable stay which we highly recommend! For info on rates and reservations, please visit www.wyndhamparklodge.co.uk

Stonehenge

The next day we were off to Stonehenge. We hopped on the Stonehenge Tour bus that has 2 conveniently located stops: one in the city center of Salisbury and one right outside the train station. It is a double decker green bus that provides an audio guide on the history of Salisbury, Stonehenge and Old Sarum. Bus timetable and ticket information can be found at www.thestonehengetour.info. We arrived at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre which is a few miles away from the actual Stonehenge site. There are buses to bring everyone to the site or an option for the 25 min walk. You can’t actually approach the 5000-year-old stones as there is a rope path to follow. You can look at it from all angles. It was truly remarkable how well preserved they were given their age. Greenest of grass, bluest of skies and pre historic monument before us. We spent about an hour there before heading back. 

Salisbury and Stonehenge can be done in a day trip but I highly recommend to stay the night so that you can get to Stonehenge first thing in the morning to beat the crowds of tourists.

For more information on Salisbury and Stonehenge, please visit www.visitwiltshire.co.uk 

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