Dumfries Audio Tour: Historic Heart

Explore Dumfries at your own pace

The cobblestones of Dumfries are stained with the legacy of bloody rebellions and hushed royal scandals. Behind every weathered facade lies a secret carved from centuries of political turmoil and forgotten ambition.

Embark on this self-guided audio tour to peel back the layers of a town that hides its darkest chapters in plain sight. Uncover the overlooked corners and chilling narratives that the casual tourist ignores.

Did a single dagger strike at Greyfriars Church truly shift the course of Scottish history? What restless spirits still linger within the shadows of the Lincluden Collegiate Church ruins? Can you hear the phantom applause echoing from the floorboards of the Theatre Royal?

Tour details

• Duration: 1 hour, entirely at your own pace
• Distance: around 2.8 km (1.8 miles)
• Stops: 8 landmarks, including Dumfries railway station, Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries Academy
• Audio: up to 20 minutes of narration
• Starts at: Dumfries railway station

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

• Dumfries railway station
• Gracefield Arts Centre
• Dumfries Academy
• Theatre Royal, Dumfries
• Queensberry Hotel, Dumfries
• Dumfries Sheriff Court
• Municipal Buildings, Dumfries
• Greyfriars Church, Dumfries

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: Photochrom Print Collection (Wikimedia Commons, public domain).