Birmingham Audio Tour: City Heritage

Explore Birmingham at your own pace

Beneath the frantic neon glow of the Chinese Quarter lies a city built on brutal industrial grit and silenced rebellions. Birmingham is not just a hub of concrete and commerce. It is a layered tapestry of secrets waiting for the observant eye to peel back the grime.

Take control of this self guided audio tour to navigate the city at your own pace. Uncover the forgotten narratives hiding in plain sight between the imposing facade of the Birmingham Town Hall and the vast collections of the Museum and Art Gallery.

Why did a hidden political scandal force the local elite to destroy years of meticulous records near Queensway? What phantom cries still echo through the darkened corners of the city halls? How did a singular, odd local rebellion change the skyline forever?

Photo: Tom W, Unsplash

Tour details

• Duration: 1 hour 23 minutes, entirely at your own pace
• Distance: around 2.4 km (1.5 miles)
• Stops: 20 landmarks, including St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham, 17 & 19 Newhall Street, Birmingham, 130 Colmore Row
• Audio: up to 50 minutes of narration
• Starts at: St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham

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

• St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham
• 17 & 19 Newhall Street, Birmingham
• 130 Colmore Row
• Queensway, Birmingham
• Theatre Royal, Birmingham
• The River
• Council House, Birmingham
• Frankfurt Christmas Market, Birmingham
• Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
• Victoria Square House
• Big Brum
• Birmingham Town Hall
• Victoria Square, Birmingham
• Chamberlain Square
• Golden Eagle, Birmingham
• Birmingham New Street Signal Box
• Orion Building
• King Edward VII Memorial
• Hall of Memory, Birmingham
• Baskerville House

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: Tom W, Adwitiya Pal (Unsplash).