First architectural audio guide in Edinburgh

We have released the first architectural audio guides in Edinburgh! Powered by a location aware smartphone app, Edinburgh’s history is told through architecture, all while you walk. The audio guides are great for locals and visitors keen to explore culture right now, without risking the large groups. Every tour sold will raise funds for a local building conservation charity.
  • Audio tours are written and narrated by an architectural designer and teacher.
  • £1 from every audio tour sold will be donated for built heritage conservation in Scotland.
  • Audio tours are perfect for (re)discovering Edinburgh while avoiding large groups and schedules.

We thank Alba Media for producing this video above for us!

Three different 1.5h walking itineraries show Edinburgh through the lens of its most influential architects, all the while sharing about the conflicts, controversies, and personalities involved in the development of Edinburgh.

While the museums and galleries are closed, this is a great opportunity to energise our culture hungry lives. The explorers will find out:

  • Is the Old Town really that old?
  • To what extent were the New Towners’ fortunes connected to slavery?
  • Which Scottish castle is the Well Court design based on?

Supporting built heritage conservation

Audio tours are available for purchase from www.cobbletales.com. Cobble Tales is proud to support local heritage causes – £1 from every audio tour sold on this website will be donated to the Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings, SPAB Scotland, that works on promoting traditional building crafts among young people. It is very important that these skills don’t disappear and we are able to continue caring for our unique built heritage.

SPAB is a registered charity with registered number 1113753, Scottish Charity No.SC 039244

Self guided Edinburgh audio tour on a smartphone
Gardener's tool house

Latest Audio Guide Technology

It has been a long winter for all tourism businesses, so we are really excited to invite the people of Edinburgh as well as the visitors to uncover the origins of Scottish design in the Old Town, dig through the classical roots of the Georgian New Town, or learn the history of milling heritage in Dean Village!

Audio tours allow the users to explore Edinburgh at their own pace, with no schedule or large groups. Thanks to the latest audio tour technology with GPS autoplay, the narrator will move with the user, past fascinating historical buildings and award-winning contemporary architecture, to tell stories about what they’re seeing right there and then. The audio guide will point out the easy-to-miss details on the buildings, and share old maps and drawings right on their phone.

All one needs to take the tour, is a free audio tour app from Cobble Tales’ partners at VoiceMap, some earphones and a well charged smartphone. The audio guides are extremely easy to use and work offline. Audio guide instructions are here.

It is also possible to purchase audio tour gift cards for your loved ones.

Audio tours are available in bulk for business customers.

New!

We’ve done architectural tours in a number of cities and this ranks among the top!” 

Lynn, Edinburgh

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