Photo: Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany (CC BY-SA 2.0)
A self-guided audio walking tour of ancient Laodicea, the city the Seleucid king Antiochus II founded or refounded between 261 and 253 BC and named for his wife, Laodice. It enters through the East Byzantine Gate and follows Syria Street, the main avenue paved in marble and travertine, past the Church of Laodicea, a basilica of the early 4th century in a city whose church is one of the seven addressed in the Book of Revelation, Temple A and the fountain dedicated to Septimius Severus. North of the street lie the Peristyle House, part of it turned into a place of Christian worship, the North Theatre, built for about twelve thousand spectators, and the Sacred Agora. The walk goes on to the older West Theatre and the Ephesus Gate of the end of the 1st century AD, still buried almost to its arches, then back past the Caracalla fountain to the Central Agora, its baths and the public latrines. South along Stadium Street come the Trajan fountain, where the Water Law of 114 was found, the bouleuterion, the South Agora and the stadium baths, and it ends at the stadium, dedicated to Titus in AD 79. Hierapolis and Pamukkale, across the valley, have their own tour.
19 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 (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 12 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.
East Byzantine Gate, Syria Street, Church of Laodicea, Temple A, Septimius Severus Nymphaeum, Peristyle House with Church, North Theatre, Sacred Agora.
West Theatre, Ephesus Gate, Caracalla Nymphaeum, Central Agora.
Central Baths, Public Latrines, Trajan Nymphaeum, Bouleuterion, South Agora, Stadium Baths, Stadium.
The colonnaded main avenue, about seven metres thirty wide, with covered walkways and shops on both sides and a sewer beneath.
A basilica from the time of Constantine, seen from a steel-and-glass catwalk over its mosaic floors and cross-shaped font.
A temple of Apollo, Artemis and the emperors, with four spirally fluted columns and a vaulted chamber seen through a glass floor.
The larger theatre, for about twelve thousand spectators, with names carved into its seats and a view across the valley to Pamukkale.
The triple-arched gate dedicated to Domitian on the road to Ephesus, still buried almost to the springing of its arches.
Described as the largest ancient stadium in Anatolia, paid for by Nicostratus and dedicated to the emperor Titus in AD 79.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 19 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. 19 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 Laodicea on the Lycus — the City of the Colonnaded Streets, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
19 narration points, including Syria Street, Septimius Severus Nymphaeum, North Theatre, Sacred Agora and West Theatre. That is about 17 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. 19 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.