Observatories

I decided to spend a little extra money and booked the Special Access Stonehenge Tour with Astral Travels. They have a choice of Sunrise or Sunset tours and we chose the Sunrise. They picked us up at our hotel at 5:45am in a comfortable mini-bus. Our tour guide Louise was very pleasant and informative. After stopping at a roadside stop for coffee and breakfast, we proceeded to Stonehenge (about an hour's drive outside of London). Being able to take pictures of Stonehenge before visiting hours was key. Astral lets everyone take pictures of the stones before walking into them so that you get great shots of Stonehenge minus any people. Then they allow you to spend an hour walking amongst the stones while Louise explained some of the more pertinent aspects of the site. Champagne toast afterwards and then off to a short stop in Salisbury. All in all, it was a spectacular experience. We were back in London by 1:30pm. Highly recommended!

We purchased Special Access tickets to Stonehenge directly from English Heritage. It was a wonderful experience. We went in March 2006 and there were about 20 people there. The tickets are 12 GBP each.