Aldershot is a garrison town in the English county of Hampshire. The Home of the British Army has plenty of military heritage to discover.
Aldershot is south-west of London.
The M3 London - Southampton motorway passes through Farnborough, Aldershot's northern neighbour. You should exit at junction 4, then follow the signs along the A331 Blackwater Valley Road past Farnborough to Aldershot. Alternatively, to the south of Aldershot is the A31 Hog's Back Road which links Guildford (for the A3) with Winchester.
Aldershot's station is served by reasonably frequent South Western Railway trains from London Waterloo (55 min, 2 per hour), Clapham Junction (48 min, 2 per hour), and a number of regional destinations: Alton (20 min, 2 per hour), Ascot (30 min, 2 per hour), Camberley (16 min, 2 per hour), Farnham (5 min, 4 per hour), Guildford (17 min, 2 per hour), and Woking (18 min, 2 per hour). If coming from Reading on Great Western Railway, change at Ash for an Ascot-bound train; Aldershot is the next stop.
The electrified third rail of the line that runs through Aldershot is the first in the world to be directly powered by a bank of trackside solar panels, as part of a pioneering pilot scheme.
About north of Aldershot, Farnborough Main Station has a wider range of longer-distance services, with trains from Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton (and airport), Portsmouth, Bournemouth, and Poole. Farnborough also has quicker and more frequent trains from London Waterloo (35 min, 4 per hour) and Clapham Jct (25 min, 3 per hour). Bus route 1 connects Farnborough Main to Aldershot in about 20 min, and there are also always plenty of taxis waiting.
Aldershot is served by numerous Stagecoach bus services from nearby towns, including Camberley (1, 3), Farnborough (1), Farnham (4, 5, 16, 17, 18, 19), Fleet (7), Guildford (Kite) and Haslemere (19). The most reliable timetables and maps for these services are published by Surrey County Council.
All of these routes set down passengers or terminate at Aldershot Bus Station 📍, which is on Station Road, GU11 1HQ.
Aldershot is well served by airports. For travellers coming directly, the closest airports are:
Just to the north of Aldershot is Farnborough Airport 📍 (IATA: FAB), which is a major base for private and business aviation.
Aldershot is a small town and it is very easy and quick to get around on foot or by car. The town centre has lots of signs, maps and information boards for pedestrians. Mostly you won't need a vehicle, though getting across the garrison to the military museums from the town centre is a bit of a slog. Parking is widely available, though you will be hard-pressed to find anything free.
Buses departing from the bus station serve various neighbourhoods of Aldershot before continuing the journeys elsewhere:
Aldershot has both hackney carriages (black cabs), which can be pre-booked or hailed on the street, and minicabs, which must be pre-booked. Hackney carriage fares are regulated by the borough, and use a meter: weekday daytimes cost £3 base fare, plus £0.20 for every travelled. Evenings and weekends cost £3.60 base fare, plus £0.20 for every travelled; after 11PM, this goes up to £4.50 base fare, plus £0.30 for every travelled. These fares are correct as of March 2020. Minicabs' fares are unregulated, so prices can be negotiated.
Aldershot Military Museum, Queens Avenue, 51.26963°, -0.75063°, +44 1252 314598. Daily 10AM–5PM. It tells the story of Aldershot Military Town, and the civil towns of Aldershot and Farnborough. £2 adults, £1 children/concessions, free car parking
Wellington Statue, Claycart Road, GU11 1QB (1½ miles west of town centre; follow Wellington Avenue (A323) to the Wellington Roundabout, take the second exit and pick up brown signs), 51.253388°, -0.7799°. Visit any time during daylight hours. Aldershot's most famous landmark, a huge statue of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, two-term prime minister and hero of the Battle of Waterloo, sitting astride his ever trusty steed Copenhagen. The statue was originally commissioned to stand atop the Wellington Arch on London's Hyde Park Corner, but was grossly out of proportion for this task and became a national laughing stock. So it was quietly moved down to Aldershot, where it remains, impressive but ignominious, hidden among the trees and rhododendrons on the fringes of town. Free 2020-10-24