Avebury Tours FAQs
The questions people actually type before they come, answered from the National Trust's and English Heritage's own pages and from the guided days themselves. The short version: the stone circle is free, and everything else is not.
Tickets and admission
Do you need a ticket to walk into the stone circle?
No. The stone circle is free and open in daylight hours, with no gate, no booth and no booking. What you pay for at Avebury is the car park, the museum and the manor.
What are Avebury ticket prices in 2026?
There is no charge for the stone circle itself. The National Trust car park is £8 a day, the Alexander Keiller Museum is £7 for an adult and Avebury Manor and garden is £14. Those are the three prices to plan around.
How much is parking at Avebury?
£8 for a car all day, or £5 after 3pm. Coaches pay £30, or £20 after 3pm. Blue Badge holders, motorcycles and National Trust members park free.
How much is the Alexander Keiller Museum?
£7 for an adult, £3.50 for a child aged five to seventeen and £17.50 for a family. One ticket covers both the Barn Gallery and the Stables Gallery. It is free to National Trust members.
How much is Avebury Manor?
£14 for an adult, £7 for a child and £35 for a family, and free to National Trust members. The manor opens at 11am and the garden at 10am.
Is Stonehenge included in a guided day?
On three of the guided days the Stonehenge admission ticket is in the fare. On the rest you pay English Heritage separately at the gate or online. Every card and the comparison table say which is which.
Do National Trust members pay anything at Avebury?
Not for the car park, the museum or the manor. Membership also covers entry to Stonehenge, which English Heritage confirms for National Trust England members. It is worth checking before you book a tour that excludes the Stonehenge fee.
Can I buy a combined Avebury and Stonehenge ticket?
No such ticket exists. Avebury needs no ticket at all, and Stonehenge is sold by date and time through English Heritage. A guided day that bundles the Stonehenge admission is the closest thing to a combined ticket.
Opening times and planning
What time does the stone circle open?
Dawn to dusk, every day of the year. English Heritage describes it as open at any reasonable time during daylight hours. The car park runs 9am to 6pm, which is the practical limit if you are driving.
Does Avebury close in winter?
The stone circle does not close at all. The Alexander Keiller Museum and Avebury Manor keep shorter seasonal hours, so check those before a winter trip. The bank, the ditch and the stones are there whatever the date.
How long do you need at the stones?
An hour walks one half of the circle at a steady pace. Half a day covers all four quadrants, the museum and lunch. A full day adds Silbury Hill and West Kennet Long Barrow, which is the visit most people wish they had made.
When is Avebury quietest?
Early morning and the last hour of daylight, when the coach parties have gone. Weekdays outside August are noticeably calmer than weekends. Because the site never closes, there is no opening rush to beat.
Is Avebury open on Christmas Day?
The stone circle is, because it has no gate. The museum, the manor and the shop follow National Trust seasonal closures. Check the official page before travelling on a public holiday.
Can you visit Avebury at night?
The site is open during daylight hours and there is no lighting. If you want stones after dark, the evening guided day is built around after-hours access at Stonehenge instead.
Getting there
How do you get there from London?
Roughly two hours by road each way. The guided days leave central London between 7:30am and 9:30am and return the same evening. There is no direct train, which is why almost everyone from London goes by coach or car.
Can you get there by public transport?
Yes. Stagecoach West bus 49 runs daily between Swindon, Avebury and Devizes, stopping at the Red Lion in the middle of the village. Bus 42 from Marlborough runs Monday to Saturday with no Sunday service.
What is the nearest train station to Avebury?
Pewsey is closest at about 11 miles but has no bus link. Swindon at 12 miles is the useful one, because bus 49 runs from there. Chippenham is 14 miles and Trowbridge 20.
How far is the stone circle from Bath?
Under an hour by road, which is why the Bath departures are the shortest guided days. That leaves more of the day for the stones and less of it on the motorway.
Where do coaches park at Avebury?
In the main National Trust car park south of the village, at £30 for the day or £20 after 3pm. Space is limited, which is one reason the coach days arrive at set times.
Is there parking at Avebury?
Yes, in the National Trust car park off the A4361 just south of the village, postcode SN8 1RF. It opens at 9am and closes at 6pm. There is no free roadside parking in the village itself.
On the day
Can you walk among the stones?
Yes, and it is the reason to come. There are no ropes and no marked route, so you can walk up to the sarsens and put a hand on them. That is not possible on a standard Stonehenge ticket.
Is Avebury bigger than Stonehenge?
Considerably. The henge is about 347 metres across and its outer circle held roughly a hundred stones, against Stonehenge's thirty or so uprights. Part of a village stands inside it, which gives you the scale straight away.
What are the concrete markers at Avebury?
They are Alexander Keiller's, set during his excavations in the 1930s. Where his team found the socket of a stone that had been destroyed or buried, they marked the spot with a concrete plinth. Knowing that changes what you are looking at.
Can you take dogs to Avebury?
Yes, on a lead, across the whole site. Dogs are not allowed inside Avebury Manor or the Circles Café, with the usual exception for assistance dogs. There is livestock grazing in the quadrants, so keep the lead short.
Is Avebury wheelchair accessible?
Partly. The National Trust describes the site as partially accessible, with steps and uneven ground in places, and offers free mobility scooters. Several of the guided days take a folding wheelchair, and those are marked on their cards.
Is there anywhere to eat at Avebury?
There is a café and a thatched pub, both inside the circle and both small. When the coach parties arrive together they fill up quickly, so eat early or bring something with you.
What should you wear at Avebury?
Shoes that cope with wet grass, and one more layer than you think. The site is open chalk downland with no shelter and the wind crosses it unbroken. There is nowhere to hide from rain between the quadrants.
The guided tours
Are Avebury tours worth it if the site is free?
The fare buys the driving, the guide and almost always a second monument in the same day. Getting to Avebury from London without a car is slow, and most days pair the circle with Stonehenge, Bath or the Cotswolds. If you are already in Wiltshire with a car, going independently is the honest answer.
What is included in a guided tour?
Transport and a guide on every one of them. Three include the Stonehenge admission ticket and one includes Avebury parking. Lunch is excluded on almost all of them.
Can I cancel an Avebury booking?
Most of the guided days refund in full if you cancel at least 24 hours ahead. Two are final sales that cannot be refunded or changed, and both say so on their own card. Check the line under the price before you pay.
Do I need an Avebury reservation in advance?
Not to stand in the stone circle, which needs nothing at all. For a guided day, yes, especially between June and September when the small-group departures fill first.
Which tour gives the most time at the stones?
The Glastonbury departure, at four hours inside the circle. After that come the two-hour stays on the London coach day, the evening special-access day and the private Sacred Sites route.
Still deciding?
If the question you have is which day to book, the Avebury tours comparison on Avebury Tours puts every departure side by side on hours at the stones, group size and whether the Stonehenge ticket is included. If it is whether to come at all, the honest answer is on the visiting page: the circle costs nothing and you can walk into it any day of the year, and getting there covers the bus.
Ready to pick a day?
Guided tours from London, Bath, Salisbury and Glastonbury, compared on what they give you at the stones rather than on price alone.
Sources
Checked on 5 September 2026. Hours and prices are the operators' and the National Trust's own, and they change — the official pages are the place to confirm before you travel.