Amesbury

Abbey Church of St Mary and St Melor

Amesbury is a town in Wiltshire, England. As the closest town to Stonehenge, it makes an excellent starting point for a visit to the ancient monument by car or on foot.

Understand

Bluebells on Lord's Walk

Get in

By car

The A303 trunk road runs past Amesbury. From the east, it's high-speed dual-carriageway all the way from the M3 (junction 8 - 28 miles), but from the west there's a 5-mile stretch of single-carriageway through the village of Winterbourne Stoke and past Stonehenge. The combination of bottleneck and the "rubberneck effect" of the ancient monument means traffic on this section is typically at a crawl, so factor this in to your journey planning.

From Salisbury, the A345 makes for a direct 8-mile drive.

By public transport

The nearest railway station is Salisbury, which is served by trains from towns and cities across southern Britain, including London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. See Salisbury#By train for more details.

Salisbury Reds offer bus service from Salisbury on their X4, X5, and activ8 lines. Fares are £4.30 adult single, £6.60 adult return (2021) and can be paid with cash or contactless.

The active8 line also has service from Andover.

Get around

The Amesbury HOPPA Community Bus offers local bus service.

The historic High Street area is very walkable.

See

• 1 Abbey Church of St Mary and St Melor, Church St. The parish church, a grade I listed building whose history goes back centuries. (updated May 2021)
• 2 Bulford Kiwi, Canberra Drive (not numbered). Kiwis longing for home, might want to do a pilgrimage to the Bulford district, where a 130-m-high image of a Kiwi bird (covering 1½ acres!) was carved in the chalk rock by New Zealand soldiers waiting to return home after the end of World War I. Free.  

Do

Lord's Walk

• 1 Bluestone Vineyards, Amesbury Rd, SP4 0EW, ☏ +44 7984709011, info@bluestonevineyards.co.uk. A wine estate run by the McConnell family that produces a handful of limited edition wines each vintage with the aim of crafting Wiltshire's finest English fizz. Guided tours around the vineyard are offered with or without a tasting experience. (updated Dec 2024)
• 2 Lord's Walk, Countess Road (north of High Street). A peaceful nature trail through the woods along the River Avon and up on the ridge nearby. The path more or less forms a loop – after a half hour or so of walking, it deposits you on the same road you started from. Along the way you might meet people fishing or walking their dogs. Free. (updated May 2021)

Go next

• Salisbury – the tallest cathedral spire in Britain and the best-preserved copy of the Magna Carta await you in Wiltshire's handsome county town.
• Stonehenge – it's possible to walk the roughly 3 miles (5 km) from Amesbury to the Stone Age site of the megalithic cultures Stonehenge, passing through beautiful countryside and other ancient monuments including Woodhenge and many burial mounds.