Austin Self-Guided Driving & Walking Audio Tour Guide
Description
Uncover the charm of Austin with this self-guided driving & Walking tour. Begin at beautiful Mount Bonnell and wind your way to the lively downtown, discovering skyscrapers, lush green spaces, and quirky shops. Dive into the city’s history, filled with music legends, conflict, and a distinct Texan culture. There's no place like Austin, with its eclectic arts scene, delectable food trucks, and beautiful views. NOTE: This is primarily a driving tour, but also includes a short, quarter-mile walking portion in downtown Austin. Purchase one tour per car, not per person. Everyone explores together! After booking, check your email/text to download the separate Audio Tour Guide App by Action while connected to WiFi or mobile data. Enter the password, download the tour, and enjoy it offline. Follow the audio instructions and route from the designated starting point. New, Lifetime access, no expiry. Use it anytime, on any trip, as many times as you want.
Tour Options
Itinerary
One of the things that made Austin a prime candidate to become the capital of Texas was its place along the Colorado River. This allowed lush greenery to bloom in an otherwise harsh and challenging environment, and the park up ahead showcases exactly that. Note: The tour is over 19+ miles long, with more than 20+ audio stories, and takes about 3-4 hours to complete. New, Lifetime access, no expiry. Use it anytime, on any trip, as many times as you want.
Coming up in a minute is the Pennybacker Bridge Overlook, offering excellent views of the Colorado River and what locals simply refer to as the “360 Bridge.”
This is Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, home to over 200 acres of preserved wilderness and three miles of hiking trails. The preserve requires a small fee on weekends and holidays, but is free and totally open during weekdays.
Just ahead is the Zilker Botanical Garden, featuring 28 acres of local and exotic flora. Here you can see native succulents, prehistoric plants, and even a Japanese garden!
This three-acre, spring-fed pool is a favorite swimming spot among locals, but it’s also much more than that! Here, you’ll also find a miniature train for kids and a community theater that puts on free shows for the public.
See the big Paramount sign? That marks the historic Paramount Theatre, and it’s over 100 years old! This Austin landmark got its start in 1915, when architect John Eberson designed what was originally called The Majestic.
Here’s what happened: In 1842, Austin was technically the capital of Texas. But it was a frontier town, seemingly at risk of being seized by Mexico at any moment.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- How To Access: After booking, you’ll get an email and text with setup instructions and password (search “audio tour” in emails and texts). • Download the separate tour app by Action • Enter the password sent by email and text. • MUST download the tour while in strong wifi/cellular. • Works offline after download.
- How to start touring: Open Action’s separate audio tour guide app once onsite. • If there is just one tour, launch it. • If multiple tour versions exist, launch the one with your planned starting point and direction.
- Go to the starting point No one will meet you at the start. This tour is self-guided Enter the first story’s point and the audio will begin automatically Follow the audio cues to the next story, which will also play automatically. Enjoy hands-free exploring. If you face audio issues, contact support. Stick to the tour route & speed limit for the best experience.
- Travel worry-free: Use the tour app anytime, on any day, and over multiple days. Start and pause the tour whenever you like, taking breaks and exploring side excursions at your own pace. Skip anything you don’t care about or explore bonus content for everything that interests you
- Savings tips: Driving tours: purchase just one tour for everyone in the car
- New, Lifetime access, no expiry. Use it anytime, on any trip, as many times as you want.
- Audio Setup: Connect your phone to your car's stereo system using Bluetooth, USB, or AUX. For the best experience, consider using headphones for walking tours. Audio playback is compatible with Apple CarPlay, with navigation features coming soon. Support for Android Auto is also on the way.
- The tour requires a supported mobile device for navigation. Please use an iPhone with iOS 15 or later, an Android device with Android 9 or later, or an iPad/tablet with GPS and cellular service.
- Your password can be used on the same number of devices as travelers booked. Enter the same password on each device.
Reviews(27)
It works quite well but we had some difficult times reconnecting with where we were actually at. Especially downtown by the Capitol.
Thomas, I’m glad my Austin Audio Tour worked well overall, but I’d love to understand more about the difficulty you had reconnecting near the Capitol. Were you following the suggested route when it lost track of your location, or had you taken a detour? Downtown areas with tall buildings can sometimes briefly interfere with GPS, but needing to manually reconnect shouldn’t be frequent. If you’re open to sharing a few more details, it would help me look into this and improve the experience. You can also reach out directly—I’m happy to walk you through it and make sure everything works smoothly next time.
Convenient. Good info on downtown, but expected more on neighborhoods in the surrounding areas. We were happy to have it as an option since the hop on hop off wasn't available.
Kimberly, I’m so glad you found my Austin Audio Tour convenient and enjoyed the stories while in downtown! I understand you were hoping for more coverage of the surrounding neighborhoods, and I really appreciate your feedback—it’s invaluable as I work to improve the tour. If you’re looking to explore more of Texas, I highly recommend checking out other self-guided tours, such as the Guadalupe Mountains, San Antonio, Big Bend, and Houston.
It wasn’t always clear where to turn -we kept turning on the wrong road or missing things. In fact it gave us an incorrect turn at one point…it told us to turn right at the light at the end of the bridge. We did so but then saw that we were supposed to have gone two blocks straight ahead and turned left! Toward the end there were so many things all at once that it couldn’t tell the whole story of each. It should have told us to pull over each time. We eventually just pulled over and listened to all of it. It was informational though and we did learn a lot. Just too many glitches that we were really frustrated.
Christopher, I’m glad to hear that you found my Austin audio tour informational and that you learned a lot. I apologize for the confusion with the directions—missing turns or getting incorrect instructions can be frustrating. I’ll pass this on to my team to look into the issues and improve the clarity of the directions. I also appreciate your note about pulling over to listen—it’s a great tip for future travelers. If you need any assistance, I’m available daily from 9 to 6 EST and happy to help.
This was a great experience. We could take our time to explore the different stops on the tour. The app is easy to work.
Chelsea, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed my Austin audio tour and that the app was easy to use! It’s great that you could explore at your own pace and make the most of each stop. If you're ever exploring a new city or national park, check out my 100+ Self-Guided Driving & Walking Tours Bundle for more flexible, engaging adventures. Cheers to your next journey!
Evan , great guide and story teller. Learned a lot about history . Lots of fun, great recommendation for places to have lunch/donner
Hi, I’m Glad to hear you enjoyed my Austin tour and had fun along the way. Happy the stories added to your experience and helped you discover some good spots for lunch or dinner too. If you're planning more Texas adventures, don’t miss my other tours, such as those in San Antonio, Houston, Big Bend National Park, or the JFK Assassination tour in Dallas.
The Austin Tour info often would not play when it was supposed to, and tour was repeatedly interrupted by construction detours and it was impossible to see too many landmarks. A great concept but frustrating; they need updates with Austin construction and events. I took pictures of detours preventing touring.
Dawn, thanks for bringing the construction to my attention. My tour is able to account for longer-term detours but some of the temporary/quick ones are hard to catch. Since you didn’t have the intended experience, I’m more than happy to issue a refund and offer a replacement tour for your future travels.
I loved the self-guided aspect and reasonable price. While somewhat superficial, the information was worth hearing. Though I did not mind it, the amount of walking at the end was not clear up front. Also, the recommended parking garage downtown is also event parking, so you may end up paying $20 for 1 hour, more than you paid for the tour. On Saturday at noon, there was plenty of parking available on Congress Street, much closer to the route. Also, the pacing of the presentation was sometimes slow, causing me to miss some of the marked sites.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the self-guided aspect and found the price reasonable on the Austin Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour. I appreciate your feedback about the walking portion, parking tips, and pacing; those are really helpful points. I’ll look into refining those details for a smoother experience. If you're planning more Texas adventures, don’t miss my other tours, such as those in San Antonio, Houston, Big Bend National Park, or the JFK Assassination tour in Dallas.
I really liked the idea of a self tour and there were many things I liked about this for our first and quick visit to Austin. We did get a overview of the city and it’s history so would recommend trying this “but”- - App was buggy and commentary would often stop mid word so I think we missed the last sentence(s) of most descriptions. - On Apple Play, there is only audio controls, no map. The map giving directions is only on the iPhone. Fortunately I had a phone holder with me so could make it visible while driving. - The map would “stay centered” sort of but the blue dot was always in the lower left corner and route ahead at an angle so hard to see what was ahead. (If I can, I’ll attach screenshot to review) Regarding itinerary: - Starting point on Mount Bonnell was perfect! We would have never known about that fabulous vista! Do not miss it and do walk to the top if you’re able to! - There seemed to be a disproportionate time spent at city parks (as wonderful as they are) and we missed some important places like the University of Texas campus and the Lyndon Johnson Presidential Library. - It was not clear there was a walking segment. While that’s wonderful, my wife is recovering from knee surgery so we had to drive the last part which caused us to miss segments and cut others short. I’d suggest an all-driving option. So I’d try it again, suggest you try it but encourage some improvements especially to the app.
Karl, thanks for the thoughtful review and helpful insights. I'm glad you enjoyed the Mount Bonnell stop and appreciated the city overview and flexibility of the tour. You're right—CarPlay isn’t currently supported, but connecting to your car stereo is a great workaround. Also, I'm glad you had a phone holder. The commentary cutting off is usually due to not following the speed limit, as the app syncs stories based on location and pace. I’ll pass your itinerary and app suggestions to my team. The tour is valid for a year, so feel free to revisit anytime or reach out if you'd like a replacement or refund.
What a find! The app was Great way to get around Austin and see some sights on our own time. The turns were a bit lagging a second behind which made it challenging to turn in the right place a couple times. Also couldn’t get the map to show up on the car but it was on my phone. So not super convenient . Great historical info played. We learned a lot!. The places were very cool and well planned! I will use this app again on another vacation!
Debra, I'm thrilled you enjoyed exploring Austin with my tour. I found the stops well planned and the historical info engaging. Incredibly, you’re planning to use the app again on future trips. Just a tip: starting from the designated start point and following the speed limit helps keep the audio perfectly timed. My app doesn’t currently support CarPlay, but you can always connect via car stereo for better convenience. If you're planning more Texas adventures, don’t miss my other tours, like San Antonio, Houston, Big Bend National Park, or the JFK Assassination tour in Dallas.
This was an interesting but brief overview of Austin. What we experienced was worth it, yet we had to continue on our own exploring the Longhorn Campus, including the LBJ Presidential Library, the walk by the river, Austin City Limits, etc.
Patti, I’m so glad you enjoyed the Austin Driving Audio Tour! It’s great to hear the tour gave you a helpful overview and the flexibility to explore at your own pace. If you're ever exploring a new city or national park, check out my 100+ Self-Guided Driving & Walking Tours Bundle for more flexible, engaging adventures. Cheers to your next journey!
