Photo: Matthias Bethke (CC BY-SA 4.0)
A self-guided audio walk through Tulum, the walled Maya port once known as Zamá, which flourished between about AD 1200 and 1450 on the trade in obsidian, jade and cacao. In through the northwest gateway of La Muralla, the wall that closes the city on three sides while the sea cliffs close the fourth, and south along the main street past the great houses: the Casa de las Columnas, the Casa del Halach Uinic with its descending-god figure restored in 2023, the Casa del Chultún and the Templo de los Frescos, whose murals are seen through an iron fence. Then El Castillo on the cliff edge, the Templo del Dios Descendente, the Templo de la Serie Inicial, whose stela dated AD 564 is now in the British Museum, the round temple of the wind god on its headland, the cove where the city's canoes came ashore, the Templo del Mar and the southwest watchtower. Every structure is seen from the visitor paths; none is climbed or entered. From a cruise ship Tulum is a day trip, by ferry and road from Cozumel or by road from the mainland ports: the ship's own excursion is the safer choice, and keep your all-aboard time in mind.
14 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 · 20 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 1 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.
La Muralla and the Northwest Watchtower, Casa del Noroeste, Casa del Cenote.
Templo del Dios del Viento, Casa del Halach Uinic, Casa de las Columnas, Casa del Chultún, Templo de los Frescos, El Castillo, Templo del Dios Descendente, The Beach and the Canoe Landing, Templo de la Serie Inicial, Templo del Mar.
The Southwest Watchtower and the Gates.
The wall that once stood 4 to 8 metres high, closing the city on its landward sides.
A round temple on the northern headland, above the bay where boats entered.
Tulum's tallest building, on the cliff edge facing the sea, with murals in its upper temple and in a passage from its first stage.
The small temple whose stucco figure falls headfirst above the door, read as the Sun, as Venus and as the bee god.
A temple with stucco masks on its corners and murals of serpents and offerings, seen through an iron fence.
The one gap in the sea cliffs where trading and fishing canoes came ashore, directly below El Castillo.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 14 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. 14 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 Tulum — the Walled Maya Port on the Caribbean, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
14 narration points, including Casa del Cenote, Templo del Dios del Viento, Casa de las Columnas, Templo de los Frescos and El Castillo. That is about 15 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 ~1½ hours total, but you walk at your own pace. 14 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.