Photo: Wimukthi Bandara (CC BY-SA 4.0)
A self-guided audio tour of the Sacred City of Anuradhapura, the island's royal capital for some fourteen centuries. It begins at the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, the sacred fig at the heart of the Mahavihara, the Great Monastery, and passes the stone pillars of the Lovamahapaya, the Brazen Palace, the Ruwanwelisaya that the chronicles give to King Dutugemunu, and the Thuparamaya, which tradition calls the island's first stupa. In the citadel are the palace of Vijayabahu I, the Mahapali alms hall and the ruin popularly called the Dalada Maligawa. The second part crosses to the Jetavanaramaya, begun by King Mahasena and built almost entirely of brick, and to the Abhayagiri monastery, the Mahavihara's great rival: its twin ponds, the Samadhi Buddha, the great stupa, the moonstone at Mahasen's Palace, the Ratnaprasada, the Elephant Pond and the Lankarama. The last part runs south by the Abhayavapi tank and the Mirisawetiya to the royal pleasure garden of the Ranmasu Uyana, the rock monastery of Isurumuniya and the caves of Vessagiri. Where the chronicles and the archaeology disagree, the narration says so.
22 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 · 75 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 5 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.
Sri Maha Bodhi, Lovamahapaya, Ruwanwelisaya, Thuparamaya, Royal Palace of Vijayabahu I, Mahapali Refectory, Dalada Maligawa, Gedige Image House.
Jetavanaramaya, Kuttam Pokuna, Samadhi Buddha, Abhayagiri Stupa, Mahasen's Palace and the Moonstone, Ratnaprasada, Elephant Pond, Lankarama.
Abhayavapi (Basawakkulama), Mirisawetiya, Dakkhina Stupa, Ranmasu Uyana, Isurumuniya, Vessagiri.
The sacred fig tree at the heart of the Mahavihara, the Great Monastery, around which the city's Buddhist life grew.
The great hemispherical reliquary the chronicles give to King Dutugemunu, finished after his death by his brother Saddhatissa.
The stupa of the Jetavana monastery, begun by King Mahasena and completed by his son, built almost entirely of baked brick.
A seated stone Buddha about seven feet three inches high, shown in meditative absorption, of the Abhayagiri monastery.
A monastic residence of the Abhayagiri whose carved moonstone threshold is read from the outer ring of flames inwards.
A monastery built into an outcrop of rock beside the Tissa Wewa, with a cave joined to the shrine.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 22 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. 22 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 Anuradhapura — the Sacred City of the First Kings, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
22 narration points, including Sri Maha Bodhi, Lovamahapaya, Ruwanwelisaya, Thuparamaya and Royal Palace of Vijayabahu I. That is about 23 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 ~4–5 hours across the site total, but you walk at your own pace. 22 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.