Warsaw's Old Town A Self-Guided Audio Tour
Description
Are you looking for a way to see Warsaw's Old Town without joining a tour group? Explore at your own pace with this affordable walking tour. • Find out how this renowned part of the city, with its regal elegance, was repeatedly threatened by jealous rival powers that coveted Poland’s wealth • Hear from the producer, James Cowan, an expert storyteller with several audio tours under his belt • Do it all in 75 minutes or linger at stops along the way with complete control over when you start and finish. • Get unlimited use before your booking date and after it. • Use the virtual tour option at home. Once you’ve booked, you’ll receive a ticket with instructions and a unique code listed under "Before You Go." Then simply install the VoiceMap app and enter your code. The app displays directions to the starting point, and when you’re in the right place, just pop in your headphones and tap Start. Voice Map has automatic GPS playback with turn-by-turn directions. It also works offline.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Warsaw’s magnificent Old Town has a turbulent and colourful history. Its beautiful buildings and atmospheric lanes were nearly lost forever when the city was reduced to rubble during World War II. On this walking tour I’ll bring the past back to life, much like the area’s inhabitants did as, piece by piece and stone by stone, they combed through the rubble to salvage what they could so Poland could miraculously replicate the Old Town using old photographs, original building plans, and even paintings of Warsaw street scenes by the famous Italian artist, Canaletto.
Our tour begins in the often-lively Castle Square, in front of its imposing Royal Castle. From there, I’ll show you some of the Old Town fortifications.
I’ll show you statues of Jan Kiliński, a shoemaker who opposed the Russian invasion in the second half of the 1700s.
You'll see Mały Powstaniec (the Little Insurgent), which honours child soldiers who resisted Nazi occupation
The tour passes by Rynek Starego Miasta. You'll hear about it while you walk.
The tour passes by the church of jesuits. You'll hear about it while you walk.
The tour passes by St John's Archcathedral. You'll hear about it while you walk.
Stroll past St Martin’s Church, where a hunger strike against Communist oppression inspired Lech Wałęsa to form the Polish Solidarity Trade Union movement.
The tour passes through Castle Square. Along the way, you'll hear about the history that has taken place there.
The tour ends in Dzwon na Kanonii. On this 75-minute stroll, I’ll share the dramatic tale of how the Old Town has repeatedly flourished and fallen as it encountered dukes, kings, warriors, Nazis and Communists in its long history. It has always fought back and today stands more beautiful than ever, a time capsule filled with history, legends and inspiring artefacts.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Please note: You won't be guided through any museums or other attractions mentioned en route. If you choose to enter and visit such places, you'll need to pay for it independently of this tour.
Reviews(10)
Nice way to be one's own guide, on own's pace and rythm. Some stories seem to come strsight from imagination :-) wh8ch is OK for a fun tour...
Could not get the tour to work properly, I downloaded the right app, but still the app kept routing me to my phone settings. Which confirmed I had location services on properly. Still, I was not able to start the tour in the app.
Hi there, I'm sorry that you were unhappy with your experience. This is an excellent tour that usually gets great reviews, so we're sorry to hear that you couldn't do it. When you were having technical difficulties, did you contact VoiceMap support via email or telephone? We are contactable by both telephone and email, so if you have technical difficulties, please reach out to us. Can you email more information to support@voicemap.me? This way, we can identify exactly what went wrong and process a refund if needed. Best, Helene
Beautiful city with great landmarks and so much history. Amazing to be here and get this authentic feeling. Great being in poland, Polska gurom!
Recommended! You will get lost into a detail story while walking the streels of old town. Well detailed easy to follow directions.
Really well thought through tour. The live app works really well. Your was interesting and well paced and took us to all the sites we wanted to see, giving us insights of the town we would have missed without the audio guide.
James' passion for the city shines through in this tour. He is a great storyteller, and it feels like he is there with you walking through old Warsaw. As a plus, the directions were very easy to follow as well. I highly recommend it!
I am currently back in Poland my home country and visiting Warsaw. I have done one of James's audiotours before on a trip to the UK. I really enjoyed that tour, so I was excited to see that he has also published an audiotour in Warsaw. I think this tour is even better than his Cardiff tour. I have visited Warsaw Old Town many times but this tour was like I see it for the first time. He tells its story like and expert but still easy to understand. You can hear his passion about how it was destroyed but rebuilt so beautifully. And then wonderful details about the buildings which I never noticed before. The music and sound effects bring everything to life. At the end of the tour I felt so proud of my country and my capital. I really recommend this tour.
This was a great tour of the old town in Warsaw and gave me more info than what I had gleaned from other sources of information I'd obtained in the museums
Wonderful audio tour of beautiful Old Town Warsaw. All the sad and uplifting stories from Warsaw's history wrapped into an excellent self-guided tour. The narrator is excellent and the directions from point-to-point are very easy to understand. I can't recommend this audio tour enough!
I was visiting Warsaw not for the first time, but I had not had a chance before to be a tourist. I really enjoyed listening to the tour and walking around, that gives different perspectives on the old town . Listening to James could be compared like having a talk with a royal historian!
