Explore Colchester at your own pace

A Roman temple stands beneath your feet. Colchester hides centuries of rebellion, revolution, and reinvention just below the surface.

On this self-guided audio tour, discover a Colchester that most visitors never see. Wind through its storied streets to unlock strange secrets and untold stories lurking inside ancient abbeys, haunted churches, and atop the stones of England's oldest castle.

Why did the mighty walls of Colchester Castle tremble in terror one midsummer day? Who vanished behind the gates of St John's Abbey-never to be seen again? And what truly happened during that scandalous midnight meeting under the cathedral spire?

Photo: Siân Wynn-Jones, Unsplash

Tour details

Duration: 1 hour 28 minutes, entirely at your own pace

Distance: around 3.8 km (2.4 miles)

Stops: 14 landmarks, including Colchester Castle, Hollytrees Museum, St James the Less and St Helen Church, Colchester

Audio: up to 35 minutes of narration

Starts at: Colchester Castle

Map data by Mapbox and OpenStreetMap contributors

How it works

Book here and a redemption code arrives by email within minutes.

Download the free AudaTours app on your phone and enter the code.

Download the tour once and the whole thing works offline.

Walk to the first stop and press play. The audio for each landmark starts automatically as you approach it, so your phone can stay in your pocket.

There is no fixed date and no start time. The date you pick at checkout does not matter, and the tour stays on your phone permanently, so you can use it whenever you next visit and walk it again as often as you like.

What is included

Professionally narrated audio that plays automatically at each stop

An interactive map showing the walking route between landmarks

Full offline access once downloaded, so you need no data or signal

Freedom to start, pause and resume whenever you like

Lifetime access - your code never expires

Where you will stop

Colchester Castle

Hollytrees Museum

St James the Less and St Helen Church, Colchester

St James the Great, Colchester

The Minories, Colchester

Churches in Colchester

St Martin's Church, Colchester

Fenwick Colchester

Colchester Town Hall

Mercury Theatre, Colchester

Balkerne Gate

Colchester Arts Centre

St John's Abbey, Colchester

Garrison A Cricket Ground

Image: AudaTours

What is AudaTours?

AudaTours turns a walk through a city into a story. Our guides bring landmarks to life with the history, the scandals and the detail you would never get from a plaque.

Immersive: real stories about the places in front of you, not a dry commentary

Offline: download once and use it with no data, anywhere

At your own pace: start, pause and resume whenever you want

Accurate: every story is built from verified historical sources and checked before release

Good to know

This is a self-guided audio tour on your own phone. There is no in-person guide.

It does not include entry to any building or site along the route.

The landmarks on the tour are not affiliated with AudaTours.

You need a smartphone with Android 7.0 or later, or iOS 16 or later.

Bring headphones and start with a charged phone.

Who it suits

Solo travellers, couples, families and small groups who would rather explore on their own schedule than follow a guide and a fixed departure time. It suits a first visit, and it suits anyone who has already seen the famous sights and wants to know what actually happened in them.

Image credits

Photos: Martin Roscoe, Siân Wynn-Jones (Unsplash).

Description supplied by the event organiser.