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July 31, 2008

Guide to Audio Tours

With the proliferation of the iPod and portable MP3 players, audio tours have become an increasingly popular way to explore new places when traveling to tourist destinations. They're cheaper, less obtrusive, and often better than taking a guided walking tour or bus tour of a city. We thought we'd put together a comprehensive resource of the audio tours available throughout the world (most of them we don't have up on the site yet so we're linking directly to them).

Best & Most Comprehensive Audio Tour Sites:

Over 100 Audio Guides from Tourcaster now featuring numerous Free City Guide Podcasts on iTunes

Over 400 Audio Guides from Heart Beat Guides With 25% of the Tours Available for Free

Lodingo Travel Guides Featuring the Most Comprehensive Selection of Downloadable Audio Tours

AudioGuide2go.com Search Portal to Audio Trails Guides and Tours on the Web

So here are all the walking tours we can find, starting with U.S. cities:

U.S. Cities:

Soundwalk Tours of New York City Neighborhoods

Sounds for Sights Audio Tours for New York City covering Lower Manhattan, Rockefeller Center, South Street Seaport, and Times Square

CentralPark.com Audio Tours Podcast

Frommer's Day by Day Audio Walking Tours Free Audio Tour & Map of Greenwich Village in NYC

Made in NY: Walking Tours of Film and Television Locations in New York Podcast on iTunes

Sidewalk Guides of Washington, D.C.

Downtown LA Walks Podcasts Covering Downtown LA in the areas of Arts and Culture, Shopping, Historic Downtown, and International Downtown

Scott's L.A. Audio Driving Tours of Pasadena, Hollywood, and Los Angeles

Stroll San Francisco Audio Tours

CityStoryWalks of San Francisco

The Chicago Poetry Tour Podcast on iTunes

Mp3TravelGuides.com Featuring Tours of Portland and Seattle

Guide Me Tours Denver Travel Guides

Rocky Mountain Audio Guides Tour of Denver

VisitDetroit.com Audio Tours Covering Downtown & Midtown Detroit

Discovery Audio Tours on iTunes Featuring 80 CityGuides and Museum Tours for Destinations across the U.S.

Audissey Guides Podcasts Includes Free Tours of Boston, Chicago, Miami Beach, Seattle, and New Orleans

CityListen Audio Tours Includes Tours of New York, Chicago, and San Francisco

CarTours Self-guided Interpretive Audio Driving Tours Includes Tours of Lewis and Clark Trail, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, The North Cascades Highway, and The Olympic Peninsula

Museum of the Open Road (MOTOR) American Highway Tours

Ride With Me Audio American Highway Tours

Cape Treks Cape Cod Audio Driving Tours

Untravel Media Boston Walking Tours

Glacier National Park Podcast

Travel Audios U.S. National Park Audio Tours covering Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Glacier National Park in Montana, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

Waypoint Tours Includes Tours of Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco, Grand Canyon National Park, and Sedona Arizona Red Rock Country

Walkabout Audio Tours Includes Tours of the Grand Canyon, Sedona Area, & Northern Arizona

Acoustiguide Free Audio Tours Covering Cities and Museums throughout the United States with numerous Acoustiguide Podcasts on iTunes

AudioSteps Walking Tours for the Digital Age - Includes Tours of New Orleans, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco, & Washington, D.C.

European Cities:

Rick Steves' Audio Tours Podcast Includes Free Tours of Paris, Versailles, Orsay Museum, and Louvre Museum

Soundmap London Audio Walks Includes Tours of Brixton, Camden, Brick Lane, King's Road, Soho, a free Sweeney Todd Audio Tour

AudioExplore Walking Tours of Cities in Ireland Includes Tours Dublin & Cork

audiotravel Walking Tours of Cities in Germany Includes Tours of Cologne & Munich

iAudioguide European City Tours Includes Tours of Barcelona, Berlin, London, Paris, & Rome

StrollOn Audio Guides of European Cities Include Tours in London, Paris, Prague, Amsterdam, and Venice

MPTours Includes Three Tours of Rome

noambit.com Tours Featuring Tours of Florence, Prague, the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial, and the Alhambra in Granada, Spain

Helsinki Sightseeing Tram Audio Guide

The Antenna Audio Tour of Historic Gardens in London & The Antenna Audio Tour of Literary Houses in London

Walk & Talk Series by Gildan Media Includes Walk & Talk Paris, Walk & Talk Rome, Walk & Talk Venice, & Walk & Talk Florence

Footnotes Audio Walks in London

London Audio Tours

Free Audio London Walks Podcast by LondonWalks.org

Free Paris Audio Guide Podcast by CityZeum.com

Frommer's Day by Day Audio Walking Tours Free Audio Tour & Map of Da Vinci’s Paris

Discovery Audio Tours on iTunes Featuring 80 CityGuides and Museum Tours for Destinations across Europe

MP3 City Guides Includes Tours of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Edinburgh, Florence, London, Paris, Prague, Rome, Vienna, Venice, and York

AudioSteps Walking Tours for the Digital Age Includes Tours of Bath and Bristol, London, Granada, Florence, Rome, Berlin, Paris, & Prague

Play & Tour MP3 City Guides Includes Tours of Amsterdam, Atenas, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Budapest, Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Marrakech, Paris, Prague, Rome, Seville, Venice, & Venice

Walki Talki Audio Walking Tours Includes Tours of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Edinburgh, Geneva, London, Madrid, Munich, Paris, Prague, Rome, and Venice with short, concise capsules about major European destinations on their Walki-talki Podcast

A History of Scotland Audio Walks Podcast covering Edinburgh, Finlaggan, Stirling, Dunfermline, and Kilmartin Glen

Podtours Includes Tours in Austria, Italy, France, England, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Austria

iJourneys Tours of the Wonders of Italy Includes Tours of Amsterdam, Rome, Barcelona, Florence, Paris, Pompeii, Salzburg, Venice, Vienna, and Innsbruck

Seville Spain Audioguide

Acoustiguide Free Audio Tours Covering Cities and Museums throughout Europe with numerous Acoustiguide Podcasts on iTunes

Jane's Smart Art Guides Covering Art Destinations in Italy

PocketVox Audio Guides and Walking Tours Included Tours of numerous cities in Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, and more

Talking Trip Includes Tours of London, Barcelona, and New York

Artineraries Includes Tours of Assisi, Edinburgh, London, Ostia, Padova, Paris, Rome, Torino, and the Vatican

CitiesInSound.com Includes Tours of London, Edinburgh, Rome, and Paris

iPodCityWalks Includes Tours of London, Florence, and Paris

Audio City Tours Includes Tours of London, Amsterdam, Salzburg, Paris, and Oxford

Sound Travel Walking Tours Includes Tours of Florence, London, Paris, Rome, and Venice

Walk Talk Tour Includes Tours of London, Edinburgh, York, and Manchester

Cool City Walks Includes Tours of London, Brighton, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Barcelona, and Rome

Tourist Tracks MP3 Walking Tours Includes Tours of Bath, Brighton, Cambridge, Canterbury, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Ely, Glasgow, London, Manchester, and Oxford

Budapest Audio Guide

ChooseMalta.com Valetta Walking Tour

ZeVisit Free Audioguided Tours Mostly in France

CitySpeaker Audio Guide Includes Tours of Rome, Paris and London

Hear’s A Journey European Driving Tours in Tuscany & Provence

Audio Tor Oslo Audio Guides

Other World Cities:

DayOut Audio Guides of New Zealand

Tours of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico from Tek Trek

MPTours Includes Three Tours of Buenos Aires

Auditour Guides of Buenos Aires

Walk The Talk Tours of Hong Kong and Macau

Colombia Audio Tours Includes Tours of Bogota, Cartagena, and Medellin

City Surf Toronto Walking Tours

Content Creation's Sounds & The City Audio Tours Includes Tours of Singapore, Mumbai, Beijing, Seoul, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Dubai

Acoustiguide Free Audio Tours Covering Cities and Museums throughout the World with numerous Acoustiguide Podcasts on iTunes

Tokyo Realtime Audio Guided Walking Tours

Sonusland Audio Tours Covering Tours of Puerto Varas, Chile and other Latin American destinations

Museums:

Discovery Audio Tours on iTunes Featuring Museum Tours for the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Guggenheim Museum (New York), de Young Museum (San Francisco), and more

Acoustiguide Free Museum Tours Site and Acoustiguide Podcasts on iTunes Including the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco), the Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth), The National Portrait Gallery (London), and numerous other museums around the World

Artineraries Includes Art Tours in Assisi, Edinburgh, London, Ostia, Padova, Paris, Rome, Torino, and the Vatican

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) Special Exhibition Podcast

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) on iTunes U

Museum Masterpieces: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Teaching Company DVD Course

Museum of Modern Art (New York) Podcast

MoMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York) Think Modern Lectures Podcast

Museum of Modern Art (New York) on iTunes U

Whitney (Museum of American Art, New York) Focus Video Podcast

American Museum of Natural History (New York) Podcast

Brooklyn Museum on iTunes U

National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.) - Behind the Scenes Podcast

National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.) Video Podcast

Smithsonian American Art Museum Podcast and all Smithsonian Podcasts on iTunes

The International Spy Museum (Washington, D.C.) SpyCast Podcast

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, D.C.) on iTunes U

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Podcast on iTunes

Philadelphia Museum of Art: Exhibition Minutes Podcast and all Philadelphia Museum of Art Podcasts on iTunes

The Cleveland Museum of Art Podcast

Indianapolis Museum of Art on iTunes U

Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) on iTunes U

LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Podcasts

MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles) Audio and Podcasts

SFMOMA (San Francisco) Artcasts Podcast

Museum of the African Diaspora (San Francisco) Podcast

Rick Steves' Audio Tours Podcast Includes Free Tours Versailles, Orsay Museum, and Louvre Museum

Museum Masterpieces: The Louvre Teaching Company DVD Course

The Grand Tour - The National Gallery, London Podcast

The National Gallery, London Podcast

Museum Masterpieces: The National Gallery, London Teaching Company DVD Course

Tate Modern (London) Paint Podcast

Tate Modern (London) on iTunes U

Let us know if we missed any at suggestions@learnoutloud.com!