To make a long story short: Absolutely! If you are in London and have time for the excursion to Stonehenge and thus to the Neolithic, then let's go!
Because: There are places I always wanted to go to. One of these places is certainly Stonehenge in England, a ca. 4500 years old "magic" place, built in the Neolithic and in use in the Bronze Age, not sure what for.
A fantastic conglomeration of giant stones. UNESCO World Heritage Site, and certainly one of the most famous world cultural heritages worldwide.
Sometime I had a week of air and time, and wanted to go to the sea. So to England, this eternally underestimated and at the same time fixated on its metropolis London, great tourist country. On the way to the sea in Cornwall lies the incredible Stonehenge, relatively unspectacular in a meadow in rolling hills, right next to the country road.
Getting to Stonehenge from London
The journey to Stonehenge with the rented car from London is very simple: Fly to London, ideally to London Heathrow, because then you don't have to drive around or through the city with the destination Stonehenge.
From Heathrow it is only a pleasant honk on the M3 freeway resp. Road A 303, and you can London, shame on you, so also skip completely.
Westward it goes from London or. out of LHR, and after only ca. 2 hours drive near Amesbury from the M3 freeway to Stonehenge via the A303 country road. In Amesbury there are some acceptable to good hotels at affordable prices, as well as a nice Tesco supermarket for the self-caterers.
Take the train from London to Salisbury station, from there shuttle buses will take you to the Stonehenge Visitor Center.
The important info about Stonehenge at a glance: Entrance fees, opening hours
Stonehenge itself is very well signposted, and is located just off the A303 road, parking and visitor center as well.
The entrance fee for Stonehenge for adults is currently (July 2022) 21.80 pounds, children up to 17 years pay 13 UK Pound.
Families with two adults and up to three children pay £56.60, families with one adult and up to three children pay £34.80 UK.
Parking costs 5 pounds, but is charged with the entrance ticket
Those who organize their visit to Stonehenge in advance online and buy tickets here at English Heritage will pay slightly less than for the walk on ticket, £19/adult, £11.40 child and £49.40 for the family ticket (two adults, up to three children)
Stonehenge opening hours: from 9:30 in the morning the monument is open, last admission is up to two hours before closing at 7 pm, so until 5 pm.
It is advisable or almost obligatory to book your ticket online in advance, as recently a time-based access system has been introduced. Last admission is two hours before closing, at 19 o'clock Stonehenge is closed. In the original, it's worded like this:
"Entrance to Stonehenge is now managed through timed tickets and advance booking is the only way to guarantee entry on the day and time of your choice. By booking in advance you will also benefit from an advanced booking discount".
Trip to Stonehenge with day tour from London
I recommend, for all individual travelers, to arrive also early, before the day visitors from London arrive, because then it gets crowded. Which also answers the question if you can visit Stonehenge with a day trip from London: Yes, you can.
Most London hotels have tour brochures on display, and if you're tired of the city or short on time, don't miss out on a trip to this unique European monument. Because Stonehenge is certainly that: unique.
Prices per person for organized trips to Stonehenge from London are around 60/70 Euro, including entrance fees.
For esoterics applies: Place there of the science. Bye bye Astrologers
Nowhere else in Europe can you admire a Bronze Age monument of such magnitude. And when you stand in front of it, you wonder what moved and motivated the people of the Bronze Age to drag these huge stones from more than 400 km away to this rather inconspicuous hill.
The question of the motivation of the construction seems to me in the first place also independent of the technical questions: how did they manage to build 2500 years v.u.Z. Shaping, transporting and erecting stones weighing several tons?
For me the question of "why" and "for what" Stonehenge was built is less important: Man seems to be very motivated to search for answers to spiritual, transcendent questions.
For me, Stonehenge is a monumental attempt to answer the spiritual questions of the Bronze Age cultures of the area, ultimately inspired by the same motives as the construction of the European cathedrals in the Middle Ages, or the temples of Angkor Wat, or the pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico.
At Stonehenge, you can no longer walk between the stones of the monument as you used to, but you move around the stones on a circular path. With a bit of luck you can still take good pictures without crowds of people, as you can see in the photo above. The walking distances are very short, the parking lots are close to the visitor center. There are guidebooks available in print as well as audio guides.
All further info about Stonehenge you can get on the official info page of the British cultural property administration English Heritage