Audio Walking Tours to discover London

Exploring on foot is a great way to experience all the magnificent sights and sounds that London has to offer.

You ca enhance your exploration by downloading one (or more) of the ‘Cities in Sound’ audio guides to your mobile phone.

The high quality audio tours blend music, interviews and city sounds with a professional commentary.

There are many audio walking tours available for download.

·         Cuban Cigar Walk London

This Cuban Cigar Walk was recently selected by TimeOut to do one of the 101 top things to do in London. You need to be 18 years of age to do this walk.

The walk visits the four best Cuban Cigar stores in London.The walk includes extracts from the book ‘Churchill’s Cigar’, read by the author.

Between these four Cuban cigar shops, you will also have the opportunity to see the very best that London has to offer. These other attractions include exclusive clubs, a Royal Palace, the site of the Beatles last live performance and some wonderful shopping scenes.

You could extend your walk to the Churchill Museum Cabinet War Rooms or relax and have a drink. The walk comes with a list of the best places for you to enjoy any cigar you may have bought while exploring.

The walk takes approximately 2 hours to complete but this time includes some serious cigar sampling. It takes an extra 20 minutes to walk to the Churchill Museum.

The Starting point of the tour is at the Churchill and Roosevelt statue at the junction of Bond Street and Old Bond Street. The nearest Underground to this starting point is Green Park station.

There are a few options to download this audio tour; the Android app is £4.99, the Apple app is £4.99, the MP3 download is £10 and you can book an Accompanied Walk for £35.

·         Flightseeing

See London from the air, via the London Eye, the most popular commercial tourist attraction in London. As you take your ‘flight’, the audio guides will explain what you can see.

The key sights they will point out to you are; the Houses of parliament, Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing Street, the British Museum, City skyscrapers and the homes of the British Secret Services.

This audio tour lasts approximately 30 minutes. It can be completed on any day as long as the London Eye is open.

The nearest Underground stations to the London Eye are Westminster and Waterloo which are both easily accessed via the Circle and District lines from the hotels near London Heathrow airport.

The audio flightseeing tour is available for MP3 Download at a cost of £8.

·         Bankside

Bankside, along the South bank of the River Thames, represents a pulsing beat to London. It is the place where trade, money-making and merry making are stirred together.

This varied walk takes in the trendy Borough Food Market, Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge, Francis Drake’s sailing ship ‘Golden Hinde’, the ancient Clink Prison, Shakespeare’s Globe (old and new), the new ‘Wobbly Bridge’ and the most popular contemporary art gallery in the planet.

The walk usually lasts around 45 minutes. There are some accessibility challenges such as the cobbled streets of the market and there are some steps, although these steps could be avoided.

The starting place for this tour is the corner of Bedale Street and Borough High Street, SE1. The nearest Underground station to this starting point is London Bridge Station.

This walk can be completed any day but the Borough Food Market’s best days are Friday and Saturday.

This walk is available for MP3 Download at a cost of £8.

·         London Bridges

Onn this audio walking tour you will enjoy some of the finest views in London while you criss cross the Royal River Thames from Big Ben to Tower Bridge. The audio tour will explain all about the passage of bridge building over the Robber Thames from Roman times to present day.

You will also learn about London Bridge and it’s ‘Drawbridge Tower’ that became known for its gruesome display of severed heads.

The walk passes many historic buildings including St. Paul’s Cathedral, the new Globe Theatre, Hays Galleria and Tate Modern.

This tour lasts about 90 minutes if you don’t stop, but you need to factor in the many great attractions you will see along the way. It would almost be impossible to complete this tour without stopping.

The walk is not suitable for wheelchair users. There are many steps on each of the bridges so the walk could prove too challenging for some.

The meeting point for this tour is at exit 3 of Westminster tube station at the foot of Big Ben so the nearest tube station to the starting point is Westminster. This tour would provide a visitor to London a fantastic insight to the city and the starting pint is easily reached via the Underground from any of the budget hotels in Hounslow.

The MP3 Download for this tour is £10.

·         Westminster

Take a stroll through Westminster, the centre of British politics, church and royalty and the home of the nation’s historical psyche.

On this tour you will see Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Churchill’s Wartime Underground Bunker, 10 Downing Street and London’s Military Parade Ground, Horse Guards. The tour finishes in the beautiful St. James’s Park.

The starting point for this tour is outside exit 4 of Westminster tube station, opposite Big Ben. The nearest tube station to the starting point is Westminster station.

This audio tour lasts approximately 55 minutes. The tour can be completed any day but the best time of day to complete this tour is in the morning so you can be finished by 11am to see the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at Horse Guards.

You can download the MP3 Download for this tour for £8.