Echoes of Academia and Faith: An Old Aberdeen Odyssey

Explore Aberdeen at your own pace

A city where centuries collide and hidden corners hum with untold secrets-Aberdeen rewards those who seek beyond the granite facade. On this self-guided audio tour, wind through ancient lanes and university closes to uncover political feuds, rebellious scholars, and eccentric legends lost to time.

Why did a group of blue-cloaked Bedesmen vanish without trace in living memory? Which defiant prisoner plotted escape beneath the clocktower's shadow? Could a forgotten tunnel from Bede House to St Machar's still hide proof of scandalous midnight errands?

Journey through echoes of laughter and locked doors, across weathered stones and bustling quads. Every step reveals a new thread in Aberdeen's dramatic tapestry, from whispered revolutions to quirky local rituals. See the old city not as it stands in guidebooks, but as it pulses beneath your feet.

Photo: Daniel Olaleye, Unsplash

Tour details

• Duration: 59 minutes, entirely at your own pace
• Distance: around 2.6 km (1.6 miles)
• Stops: 9 landmarks, including Bede House, Old Aberdeen, Old Town House, Old Aberdeen, King's Pavilion
• Audio: up to 23 minutes of narration
• Starts at: Bede House, Old Aberdeen

Map data by Mapbox and OpenStreetMap contributors

How it works

• Book here and a redemption code arrives by email within minutes.
• Download the free AudaTours app on your phone and enter the code.
• Download the tour once and the whole thing works offline.
• Walk to the first stop and press play. The audio for each landmark starts automatically as you approach it, so your phone can stay in your pocket.

There is no fixed date and no start time. The date you pick at checkout does not matter, and the tour stays on your phone permanently, so you can use it whenever you next visit and walk it again as often as you like.

What is included

• Professionally narrated audio that plays automatically at each stop
• An interactive map showing the walking route between landmarks
• Full offline access once downloaded, so you need no data or signal
• Freedom to start, pause and resume whenever you like
• Lifetime access - your code never expires

Where you will stop

• Bede House, Old Aberdeen
• Old Town House, Old Aberdeen
• King's Pavilion
• Aberdeen Mosque and Islamic Centre
• Snow Kirk
• Christ's College, Aberdeen
• Sir Duncan Rice Library
• University of Aberdeen
• Zoology Building

Image: AudaTours

What is AudaTours?

AudaTours turns a walk through a city into a story. Our guides bring landmarks to life with the history, the scandals and the detail you would never get from a plaque.

• Immersive: real stories about the places in front of you, not a dry commentary
• Offline: download once and use it with no data, anywhere
• At your own pace: start, pause and resume whenever you want
• Accurate: every story is built from verified historical sources and checked before release

Good to know

• This is a self-guided audio tour on your own phone. There is no in-person guide.
• It does not include entry to any building or site along the route.
• The landmarks on the tour are not affiliated with AudaTours.
• You need a smartphone with Android 7.0 or later, or iOS 16 or later.
• Bring headphones and start with a charged phone.

Who it suits

Solo travellers, couples, families and small groups who would rather explore on their own schedule than follow a guide and a fixed departure time. It suits a first visit, and it suits anyone who has already seen the famous sights and wants to know what actually happened in them.

Image credits

Photos: Vishnu Prasad, Daniel Olaleye, Julie Adams (Unsplash).