Audio Tours: save money in Europe and go at your own pace
If you think about it it just doesn't make sense. Nobody likes tagging along behind a lady who only barely sticks out amongst the crowd because of the gawdy umbrella she holds above her head. Trying to maneuver your way to the front of 15 people just to get a glimpse 
of what the difficult to understand tour guide is saying is plain old annoying; turning around only to realize the group of lemmings your with has moved on to "learn" about the next sight before your finished looking at the last is frustrating; then of course, worst of all, you have to pay 15 Euros per person just to get all this. There is something so much better!
The idea is catching on and as the above points out, rightly so. Downloadable, MP3 audio tours are curing all the problems once associated with the guided tour option that dominates the travel industry. No longer will you be forced to move at another's pace. You can take all the time you like because your finger controls the pause button. Missed that important piece of information? Just rewind the track. Traveling with friends? Split the cost of one download and put it on all your own MP3 players. Currently, prices of Audio tours range from around 5-15 bucks which equal quite a lot of savings when you think about what it would cost for three of you to follow someone you can't understand around.
The process is simple. You find the tour you want ; usually there is some sort of demo you can listen to. Click the "buy now" or "download" button, pay the fee and wait for an email confirmation. Usually the email arrives instantly and includes a link that will begin the download process to your computer. Once its finished all you have to do is place the files on your ipod or MP3 player and you're done. Many tours come with a printable map that you can take along with you as you listen to the information provided. If you own an MP3 player, you know how to use these tours!
The tours vary by production company or team. Some strive hard to give you that at home feel by providing an accented voice. Some are humorous, others are bland. Many include some type of music or sound effect to make the listening experience more enjoyable. Most give you more information and richer, more entertaining, history than you'll find by reading a guidebook. Trying a few different "brands" may be the way to go until you find what you like. Keep your eyes open when searching and you'll likely run across some tours that guide you from a bus route through the city or a boat ride through Venice. Some require walking from site to site but others encourage you to relax on a Piazza and just take in the scenery.
Everyday the options are growing in terms of what tours you can find on-line. For the most part you shouldn't have to hard a time finding a tour that suits your needs in Europe. Even back home, Universities are beginning to switch to this format to provide potential students on their visits. Where ever you are planning on visiting, a quick search on websites that provide catalogs of these guides will usually result in success. To date there are only a few that provide a nice comprehensive listing but they do it well.
www.audioguide2go.com provides a nice search that is full of color coded symbols that key you into what type of tour and what type of extras are offered. This site is going to redirect you back to the tour's production team's own site for a direct experience.
www.allaudioguides.com is beginning to accrue a nice offering of tours. If you're headed to England they have several tours to choose from and are adding more in other countries like Italy and the Netherlands often.
www.audiosteps.com currently has its majority of tours covering US locations but European destinations are on the rise for this site offering quality guides.
www.audiosnacks.com is a fun and easy site to use when searching for a tour. Its interactive map lets you zoom in on exactly what you're looking for and once you've pinpointed the location the options are plentiful.
www.iAudioguide.com has a huge list of tours throughout Europe. By choosing the city you are planning on visiting you'll be given several recommendations on where you can find some of the highest quality tours out there. Many of these tours are free and all are affordable.
www.tourcaster.com functions like a warehouse of audio tours and if you're looking for a guide outside the borders of Europe this should be your first stop.
www.coolcitywalks.com has a nice well rounded selection of audio tours for Europe and a very user friendly interface to find what your looking for.
www.tourist-tracks.com is a one stop shop if you're headed to the UK. From Bath to Oxford, london to Cheltenham this company has more UK tours than any one other.
Of course you may have heard that we here at noambit.com are now starting our own "line" of audio tours that we are calling "talk about tours". My last trip to Europe really opened my eyes to the great benefits this type of travel provides. We're striving to provide the same practical information on our tours as you can find on our site as well as entertaining dialog all at a price cheaper than most tours out there. So far we have two tours for Florence Italy and another for visitors of Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Arriving very soon will be a tour of the Alhambra in Granada Spain and down the road we intend on recording tours of Barcelona, in particular Park Guell and Pisa. We love to travel so the possibilities are endless. We welcome any suggestions and as always will do our best to help you around Europe.
Thank you. It's always good to have someone actually tell the public the ins and outs of audioguides...!
Try a few samples of our Artineraries Audio Tourss:
http://www.touringtracks.com
Grazie ancora.
L.Tucci
Artineraries
Posted by: Lisa Tucci | July 22, 2008 at 01:20 PM