The annual ImberBus Day, where a fleet of old buses is allowed into the Salisbury Plain military grounds, has published the bus timetable and pricing details.

ImberBus is a standard London bus route that runs just one day a year, weaving its way through the sealed-off military lands of Salisbury Plain, past burnt-out tanks and military bases to an abandoned medieval church in the middle of a military training village before scattering off to various random outposts all around the firing range and local villages.

It’s surreal, and delightful, hugely popular, and the sort of thing everyone should do at least once in their life.

Imberbus will take place on Saturday 15th August, and they’ve frozen the fare at a simple £10 for adults and £2 for children, which gets you unlimited trips on any of the buses plying the route. Pay on the day – you don’t book tickets in advance. Cash is preferred as it’s faster, but they usually have a few card machines.

When you arrive, you’ll probably see an exceptionally long queue outside Warminster station, but it moves very quickly – remember the average bus can take 80 people at a time, and with a fleet of around 40 buses, there’s plenty of capacity.

On the day, buses will run between Warminster and Imber – and then from there they fan out to the far-flung corners of the plains and to the small villages that dot its borders.

The villages open their cafes, town halls, and churches for the day, while in Imber itself, there is the old church and often pop-up displays and exhibitions. And of course, the deserted village, abandoned when the military took it over, is now used as an urban training ground.

The Imberbus 2026 page is here.

If you’ve never been to ImberBus, it’s one of the most delightful days out you will ever have.

Getting to ImberBus

If using public transport, the best option is to catch a train from Waterloo station to Warminster via Salisbury. Buses will then depart from outside Warminster station every 10-15 minutes.

However, as you’ll need to change trains at Salisbury station, rather than buying a return from London to Warminster, it’s usually cheaper to buy a return to Salisbury and a separate return from Salisbury to Warminster, as splitting the tickets saves money.

Also, if you add a Network Railcard, that saves a third off the fare on the London to Salisbury leg, so it’s even cheaper.

There is also a dedicated heritage train service from Waterloo to Warminster run by UK Railtours, and details are here.