Salisbury City Guides

About

Salisbury City Guides are a team of professional Blue Badge Guides based in and around the city of Salisbury. The UK’s Institute of Tourist guiding Blue Badge is the highest guiding qualification in the UK.

We can offer you offer a range of tours in and around Salisbury and we offer the tours in  French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish as well as English.

•    The medieval City of Salisbury.  A “new town” only built in 1220, its original street plan still in place, along with timber framed houses dating back to the 13th and14th century. Visit its Georgian Guildhall and sit in the court room where people were sentenced to transportation to Australia in the 19th Century.  Visit the home of a 15th century troublemaker which is now a multi-screen cinema and view a spectacular example of a 15th century Doom Painting  set within a remarkable example of late medieval gothic church architecture.  From 1 April to 31 October we run a 90 minute highlight walk around the City. It starts from the Salisbury Information Centre in Fish Row, tickets are available in advance from the Information Centre on 01722 342860 or you can just walk in on the day. Maximum 25 in one group. Price is £6 for adults £3 for children under 16 and Students with valid ID card. . Between November and March we only run the highlight walk at the weekend. 

•    Classic Ghost Tour - come and hear about our amazing collection of ghosts, wizards, witches and the violent death of the Duke of Buckingham.  This fun walk takes place every Friday from the Salisbury Information Centre in Fish Row, May to September starting at 8pm paying the guide on the night or booking with the Information Centre in advance on 01722 342860. Price is £6 for adults £3 for children under 16 and Students with valid ID card. 

We also offer more detailed tours for those who want to go a little deeper or have a special interest. For example:

•    Salisbury Cathedral with its magnificent Spire. The Cathedral is unique as the bulk of it was built in a short period of time between 1220 and 1258. The tower and the spire were added nearly 100 years later with consequences which are a delight to see!  It also houses one of the most spectacular modern installations in a British Cathedral linking the artistry of the 13th century with that of the 21st Century - a simple baptismal font that thrills all who see it. The Cathedral is home to one of the four original 1215 copies of Magna Carta. The Cathedral is set within a stunning 80 acre Close containing fine examples of medieval and Georgian architecture and worth a tour in its own right.

•    Salisbury is a superb starting point for tours out into Wiltshire where you can step back in time and explore prehistoric Britain at the iconic Stonehenge, just 30 minutes away. Or the village of Avebury, just an hour away, is one of the greatest marvels of prehistoric Britain. It is a superb example of a henge and set within it is the largest stone circle in Britain. Close by is Silbury Hill, the largest man made mound in Europe, built 4.400 years ago and whilst there pop into an even older  Stone Age Long Barrow - a communal burial chamber at West Kennet built 5600 years ago. Let our expert guides bring this remarkable landscape to life for your group. 

•    The original Salisbury, before the new town was built, was sited at Old Sarum, just 10 minutes away from the centre of Salisbury, but a world away. It is an Iron Age hill fort with ramparts overlooking modern Salisbury and contains the ruins of a Norman Castle and two Norman Cathedrals. Come and hear its remarkable story covering the Iron Age, The Romans, The Normans and politics in the 19th Century. 

We can also offer tours to Winchester, Bath, the New Forest, Hardy Country and local market towns.

Our prices for these more detailed walks and tours which would normally be over half or a full day can be found on our website. If you want to create something more bespoke we would love to help you put something together so please call or email us.

We welcome school groups and are experienced in interpreting our tours for children. 

Accessibility

We also welcome groups with special needs where we can take into account individual disabilities. Please talk to us and we will put something together to suit your particular needs and requirements. We can accompany your coach visit to Salisbury and make it more memorable/special by providing a guide with real local knowledge' with a 90 minute tour.