Photo: Chad Davis (CC BY-SA 2.0)
A self-guided audio walking tour of Antigua Guatemala, re-established here in 1542 as capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala and abandoned as capital after the Santa Marta earthquakes of 1773. It starts on the Plaza Mayor, with the Mermaid Fountain, the arcaded City Hall of 1740 to 1743, the ruined cathedral of 1680, the old university of 1763 and the Palace of the Captains General, then the Jesuit Compañía de Jesús and San Agustín. To the north and west come San Jerónimo, a school that became the Royal Customs House, the great masonry of La Recolección, the Arco de Santa Catalina built so cloistered nuns could cross the street unseen, the low, thick-walled La Merced, Santa Teresa, El Carmen, the Capuchinas with its circular tower of cells, and the view from Cerro de la Cruz. The last part runs through Santo Domingo, La Concepción, Casa Popenoe, Santa Clara, the Tanque La Unión washing place of 1853, San Pedro, San Francisco with the shrine of Hermano Pedro, the stone Escuela de Cristo and Belén. For cruise passengers, Antigua is a long drive inland from Puerto Quetzal, and the ship's own excursion is the safer choice.
24 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 142 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 9 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
Plaza Mayor, Palacio del Ayuntamiento, Catedral de San José, Universidad de San Carlos, Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, Compañía de Jesús, San Agustín Church.
San Jerónimo, La Recolección, Arco de Santa Catalina, La Merced Church, Santa Teresa, El Carmen Church, Convento de las Capuchinas, Cerro de la Cruz.
Santo Domingo, La Concepción, Casa Popenoe, Santa Clara Church, Tanque La Unión, Iglesia San Pedro, Iglesia de San Francisco, Escuela de Cristo, Belén Church and Convent.
The square at the center of the 1540s grid, once the scene of markets, processions and bullfights, with the 1730s Mermaid Fountain.
The cathedral of 1680, left in ruins by the 1773 earthquakes, with a working parish church in front and open-sky arches behind.
The arch proposed in 1693 so cloistered nuns could cross between convent buildings unseen, with Volcán de Agua framed beyond.
The Capuchin convent of 1731 to 1736, with low arches against earthquakes and a circular tower of cells around a courtyard.
The public washing place inaugurated in 1853, a row of 22 basins under arches where people gathered to wash and talk.
The Franciscan church inaugurated in 1702 and largely rebuilt from 1960, where the remains of Santo Hermano Pedro lie in the transept.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 24 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration. 24 narration points.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every narrated point in Antigua Guatemala — the Ruined Capital of the Kingdom, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
24 narration points, including Plaza Mayor, Palacio del Ayuntamiento, Universidad de San Carlos, Arco de Santa Catalina and La Merced Church. That is about 38 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.
Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~1–2 hours total, but you walk at your own pace. 24 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.