VERDICT: WE GAVE 3 OUT OF 5 TICKETS AND HERE’S WHY!
This guide forms part of our complete UK Travel Guide, featuring scenic road trips, iconic destinations, practical travel advice and honest first-hand travel experiences from across the United Kingdom.
This article is part of our English Counties Travel Guide. We’ve explored some of England’s most popular counties and regions, from Cornwall and coastal Dorset to Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, Merseyside and Greater London. Along the way, we’ve discovered historic cities, royal landmarks, spectacular coastlines and unforgettable road trips. Explore our firsthand county travel guides to help plan a better, more informed English vacation.
Top places by county to visit:
- Cornwall – St Mawes
- Dorset – Lulworth Cove
- Hampshire – Portsmouth
- Somerset – Bath
- Wiltshire – Stonehenge
- Merseyside – Liverpool
- Berkshire – Windsor Castle
- Greater London – Westminster Abbey
Walk Freely Amongst 4500 Year Old Neolithic Stones
We have had the opportunity to visit Avebury many times over the years. It is a very different experience to Stonehenge. We enjoy both experiences, however Avebury Henge is informal and very relaxing. It is also very close to other historic sites. Definitely worth a visit when you are in Wiltshire.
Spreading across open countryside and wrapping around a living village, Avebury Henge is one of the most extraordinary prehistoric sites in the world. Larger, older, and more immersive than many visitors expect, Avebury offers a rare chance to walk freely among ancient stones in a landscape that has barely changed for thousands of years.
Avebury Henge is a vast Neolithic monument built around 2600 BC, making it over 4,500 years old. It consists of a massive circular earthwork; a ditch and bank nearly a mile in circumference, enclosing the largest stone circle in Britain. Within this outer circle once stood two smaller inner circles, creating a complex ceremonial space on a monumental scale.
Unlike many prehistoric sites, Avebury is not fenced off. The stones stand in fields, along footpaths, and even beside village houses, allowing visitors to wander freely and experience the monument up close. Archaeologists believe Avebury was a major ceremonial and social gathering place, used for rituals tied to seasons, agriculture, and community life rather than defence.
Avebury is closely linked to Stonehenge as part of a wider Neolithic ceremonial landscape in Wiltshire, and both are included within the same UNESCO World Heritage designation. While they were built in roughly the same period, they served different experiences and purposes. Watch Stonehenge videos here:
Stonehenge is smaller, highly engineered, and carefully aligned with solar events such as the solstices. Avebury, by contrast, is vast, open, and less rigidly structured. Where Stonehenge feels controlled and symbolic, Avebury feels communal and lived-in. Visitors observe Stonehenge from a distance; at Avebury, you walk among the stones, touch history, and feel part of the landscape. Together, they reveal different expressions of Neolithic belief, ceremony, and social organization.
Silbury Hill (Video) and the Nearby Burial Mounds
Just a short walk from Avebury stands Silbury Hill, the largest man-made prehistoric mound in Europe. Built around 2400 BC, Silbury Hill rises over 30 metres high and required an enormous amount of labour, yet its purpose remains unknown. It was not a burial site, and no definitive explanation has ever been proven, adding to its enduring mystery. Watch Video:
Nearby, visitors can also explore ancient burial sites such as the West Kennet Long Barrow, one of Britain’s best-preserved Neolithic tombs. These burial mounds form part of the same sacred landscape, reinforcing the idea that Avebury was surrounded by places linked to ancestry, ceremony, and memory.
Together, Avebury Henge, Silbury Hill, and the surrounding burial monuments create one of the richest prehistoric landscapes in Europe, a place where mystery, scale, and accessibility combine to offer a deeper, more personal encounter with ancient Britain.
Planning your trip?
Before you go, don’t forget to book the essentials:
- 🏨 Hotels & unique stays
- 🚗 Rental cars
- 🎟️ Top-rated tours & attractions
- 📶 eSIMs for easy connectivity
- 🛡️ Travel insurance
- 🎒 Packing Lists
- 🎒 Travel gear from The Venturio
With every trip, we offer feedback to travel companies along with honest views for you, the reader. We rate adventures on a scale of one to five tickets, judged on quality, service, memorability, and price. A perfect ‘Ticket Rating’ of a five-ticket score means the experience was flawless and we’d eagerly return. Your desire to go back is the ultimate measure of a trip’s worth. Exclusive to My Return Ticket.