'Plymouth: Harbour to Hoe' Guided Walking Tour
Description
We launched in 2023 offering welcoming, engaging and entertaining tours around Plymouth. This 'Plymouth: Harbour to Hoe' walking tour takes you around the most popular and historic areas of the city, so you don't miss a thing. We want to give you a feel for the city, and don't expect you to have a prior knowledge of history, or the area. We are passionate about making our tours as accessible as possible. We have planned step-free routes for people with wheelchairs or limited mobility, and have audio description training, to welcome guests with visual impairment. The team is fully insured and we are dedicated to only share researched and authentic stories about Plymouth from the past, present and future. It was set up by Hannah, a proud Plymothian. She used her experience in visitor engagement, heritage interpretation and digital walking trails to set up this new walking tour offer with visitor engagement at its heart.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Learn about the Mayflower voyage, the location of the real steps and other voyages that departed from Plymouth.
Discover New Street and how the Elizabethan House tells the story of how the Barbican has changed over 400 years. The tour does not enter the house.
Explore the history and culture of Plymouth's Barbican, spanning over 500 years. Hear all about historical people including Sir Francis Drake, William Cookworthy and Lady Nancy Astor. Discover the inspiration for artists such as Lenkiewicz and Cook. See beautiful buildings including old custom's houses, historic pubs and Elizabethan homes, plus the impact that the Blitz had on Plymouth. Get local advice on restaurants, cafes and bakeries.
Explore back streets, with hidden gems, including the Merchant's House (currently closed).
Visit the oldest merchant's house in central Plymouth, and other prominent buildings in the area, such as St Andrew's Church, Plymouth Synagogue and Plymouth Guildhall. Please note, the extent of this part of the tour depends on speed of walking and group size, so is flexible.
Discuss Plymouth's iconic post-war architecture and previous damage during the Blitz in WWII. You will find out why Plymouth city centre looks the way it does, and the city's plans for it moving into the future. The tour does not head right into the city centre, but skirts the edge of it.
Take in the breath-taking views over Plymouth Sound, from the Hoe. Find out where the name comes from, and explore lots of the memorials and features, including Smeaton's Tower, the Naval War Memorial and Tinside Pool.
Find out why Smeaton's Tower is so iconic, and where it sat out on Eddystone Reef. If it's a clear day, you can use binoculars to locate today's lighthouse on the horizon.
Walk around the outside of the impressive fort, dating from 1666, and look out to other fortifications around the coast. Discover the importance of Plymouth as a naval port.
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
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(71)
Enjoyable, informative walk around the historical sites of Plymouth. Hannah a native janner was a friendly, knowledgeable guide who is very enthusiastic about her city. Would happily recommend.
We have been on many city walking tours across the UK and Europe, so it was great to finally go on one in our home city. We both thoroughly enjoyed the tour and learnt so much about our own city that we did not know. Hannah is a brilliantly engaging guide and it just felt like someone wanting to share their knowledge and passion for Plymouth rather than a scripted tour. We would highly recommend this and will definitely be booking again in the future when we have guests to stay.
Hannah gave a really interesting, informative, engaging and fun walking tour. She’s very knowledgeable and makes sure everyone can clearly hear her and see the various pictures and maps she uses to help explain things. Well paced, we learned a lot!
The tour was great, I had the luxury of a one-on-one tour since I was the only one who had booked the tour on a grey Monday afternoon. Hannah was super nice and really knew her stuff.
This was my second walking tour with Hannah. The first one I did impressed me so much I booked for myself and my husband as I knew he'd enjoy it. We both enjoyed it immensely, I didn't feel I knew it all already as Hannah added different information in. Her knowledge, passion for the area and ability to communicate the information is outstanding. It is an informative, welcoming and fun experience. I will definitely be taking friends and family in future, and look forward to the next tour! Thank you Hannah 😊
Hannah did an excellent tour of mainly of the Barbican with a bit of Plymouth and the Hoe thrown in. Lots of interesting history helped by old postcards and pictures to bring it all to life. How she remembers it all is amazing. I would highly recommend this tour to visitors and locals alike. Thank you Hannah.
We messaged Hannah directly to ask about a tour for a certain day and she set one up for us which was incredibly kind! We arrived and it turned out we were the only ones who had booked on, but the tour went ahead anyway which was a really lovely gesture! Hannah was so knowledgable about Plymouth and its history. She had some great pictures and stories. She was mindful of us and ensured we were going at a suitable pace. It was around 2 hours and we heard so many interesting stories. She answered all our questions and made everything seem really personable which was great. Thank you Hannah! Really enjoyed this tour!
As regular visitors (and lovers of) Plymouth, we were looking forward to this experience. We were part of a group of 10-12 on a dry, autumn day. The tour took 2 hours and we felt that it was expertly led by Hannah. She is very knowledgeable about the local area and its history. I have a hearing impairment and often miss out on walking tours; but Hannah spoke clearly and audibly, she was constantly checking on the environment around her to make sure that we were all present and safe. We walked around the hoe, barbican and skirted the city on what was largely a level route, with a few steps to get down from the hoe. 100% recommend this tour- well worth the money and even those who know the area will learn loads!
Hannah - what a lovely person and so knowledgable. We learned so much and saw loads of really interesting places. I though the other little touches were also great (though I won’t mention them in this review - no spoiler alert 😂🤣). If you are looking to get a good feel for Plymouth and it’s history, then I would strongly recommend you do this tour. Well done Hannah!
I had a wonderful tour of Plymouth with Hannah. I was the only person there and she spent two hours explaining the history and incredible buildings . Unless she could back it up with facts or pictures it was not included as so many things in Plymouth are presumed. It was done at a steady pace and included many out of the way places which would be difficult to find or interpret without a guide. I can thoroughly recommend this wonderful tour with Hannah.
