Freedom Trail Walking Tour
Ten stops from Boston Common to Copp's Hill, past the Old North Church steeple where two lanterns hung on the night of April 18, 1775.
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VoiceMap vs GPSmyCity: two ways to walk a city on your own, and four more
Pick VoiceMap if you want to be told a story, and GPSmyCity if you want to see a lot for little. VoiceMap has 2,355 recorded tours in 87 countries, most sold one by one for up to $19.99. GPSmyCity has 7,000+ walks in 1,800+ cities, a map with notes on every sight, and all its city walks for $14.99 a year. Two free options are worth a look as well: Rick Steves Audio Europe, and TravelStorys in US towns and parks. We make Stories, one more choice here, so we have kept to what each company publishes on its own site and App Store page, read on November 9, 2026 and linked at the bottom.
VoiceMap and GPSmyCity, side by side
| VoiceMap | GPSmyCity | |
|---|---|---|
| What a tour is | Recorded audio that plays as you walk, "like podcasts that move with you," made by historians, novelists, podcasters, chefs and guides | A route on a map, with photos and background on each sight and directions from one to the next. Its walk pages call them audio guides |
| How many | 2,355 tours in 87 countries, 467 of them in the US | 7,000+ walks in 1,800+ cities, among them 9 in Boston, 5 in Savannah and 6 in New Orleans |
| One tour | Priced tour by tour, up to $19.99; some are free | Sold by city: the Savannah, New York and Paris guides are $4.99 each in the App Store |
| Passes | City passes: 3 tours for $24.99 (good for 7 days in most cities), 5 for $34.99, 10 for $49.99 | Every city walk for $14.99 a year, or $20.99 with its travel articles, after a 3-day free trial |
| Try it first | A preview of each tour, and of one of its stops, on the tour's web page | Every walk's sights and offline map, free in the app |
| On the walk | Tap Start and GPS plays each stop, with an offline map. Listen again at home, or on its website | Turn-by-turn voice directions and your place on an offline map. Build your own walk from a city's sights, starting at your hotel |
| Buying for a group | 15% to 50% off when you buy for a group | Its pages don't say |
| App Store (US) | 4.8 from 3,450 ratings | 4.0 from 1,264 ratings |
From each company's own site and US App Store page, November 9, 2026. VoiceMap's US page gives its US count three ways (408, 463 and 467); we used its heading. US dollars, before any sale.
Which app for which walk
- You want someone to tell you the story
VoiceMap. Each tour is made for its route by someone who knows the place, and Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry have made tours too, its App Store page says. Buy one tour, or a city pass if you'll take three or more.
- You want to see a lot and pay little
GPSmyCity. $14.99 a year covers its walks in 670+ cities, each sight comes with photos and background to read, and you can rebuild a city's sights into your own walk.
- Europe, for free
Rick Steves Audio Europe: 60 walking and museum tours from Athens to London, taken from his guidebooks, plus interviews from his radio show. Download them before you go and follow the map in the app. His site says the tours were last brought up to date in March 2023.
- A US town, park or byway, for free
TravelStorys: 275+ tours, hundreds of them free, made with partners such as historical societies, parks, scenic byways and tourism offices. GPS plays each story as you reach it, and tours work offline.
- A museum, or a language other than English
izi.TRAVEL lists 25,000 tours in 137 countries, guides from more than 3,000 museums, and more than 50 languages. In a museum, scan an exhibit's QR code to hear about it.
- A US city walk you can hear before you pay
Stories. Stop 1 of every tour plays in your phone's browser with no app or sign-up, and a whole tour is $4.99 for your group on up to 4 phones. We have 29 walks, in places like Boston, Savannah and New Orleans.
The same walks in three apps: Boston, Savannah and New Orleans
Four walks that VoiceMap, GPSmyCity and Stories all have, with prices and stops as each app lists them.
| Walk | VoiceMap | GPSmyCity | Stories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston's Freedom Trail | $11.99 from Boston Common to the Granary (44 locations), or $14.99 for all 16 sites | Downtown Boston, 2 hours and 1.4 miles, one of its 9 Boston walks | $4.99 for 10 stops over 2 miles |
| Savannah's historic district | Two tours, at $11.99 and $14.99 | Historic Downtown, one of 5 walks in the $4.99 Savannah guide | $4.99 for 8 stops from City Hall to Forsyth Park, and a 7-stop ghost walk |
| The Garden District, New Orleans | $11.99 | One of its 6 New Orleans walks | $4.99 for 8 stops over 1.3 miles, with Lafayette Cemetery |
| The French Quarter | $11.99, for 300 years of its history | Two walks: the Quarter, and its historic buildings | $4.99 for an 8-stop ghost walk |
GPSmyCity sells a city's walks together, so it has no price per walk. Stories' stops and miles come from its tour pages. If all you need is the route, our Freedom Trail map puts all 16 sites in order with the walk between each, free.
Where the others beat Stories
- Outside the US
VoiceMap (87 countries), GPSmyCity (1,800+ cities), izi.TRAVEL (137 countries) and Rick Steves (Europe) all go abroad. Stories is US-only for now.
- Free
Rick Steves Audio Europe costs nothing, TravelStorys has hundreds of free tours, and GPSmyCity lets you browse every walk for free. After stop 1, a Stories tour is $4.99.
- Choice in one city
VoiceMap has more than 100 tours in London alone, and GPSmyCity has 9 walks in Boston. Most of our cities have one or two.
- A person's voice
VoiceMap's tours are made by local storytellers, and Rick Steves' come from his own guidebooks. A synthetic voice reads ours.
- A long record
VoiceMap has 3,450 ratings on the US App Store and TravelStorys 1,777. Our app has 2 so far.
Where Stories fits
- Walks in US towns, and a few drives
29 walks and 5 drives in 24 places, from the Freedom Trail to the Garden District. Every tour is $4.99 for your group on up to 4 phones, or $39.99 a year for all of them.
- Hear it before you pay
Stop 1 of every tour plays in your phone's browser, with no app or sign-up. The app plays each stop as you arrive, with the screen locked, and downloads tours for offline.
- Checked before it's told
Every story is written from public sources, and a fact-check compares up to 10 of its most specific claims with them.
Stories walks in the same three cities
Boston, Savannah and New Orleans, from the table above. Open one and press play on stop 1.
Stop 1 is free, no sign-up. The whole tour is $4.99 for your group, on up to 4 phones.
Savannah Walking Tour: City Hall to Forsyth Park
Eight stops from City Hall, begun in 1904, to Forsyth Park, by way of Johnson Square, the first of the city's squares, laid out in 1733.
Garden District Walking Tour: Mansions and Lafayette Cemetery
Eight stops from Lafayette Cemetery, where the judge who heard Plessy's case is buried, to the Buckner Mansion, finished in 1856.
Haunted French Quarter Walking Tour
Eight stops from the Hotel Monteleone to the Beauregard-Keyes House, built in 1826, by way of the LaLaurie Mansion at 1140 Royal Street.
Haunted Savannah Walking Tour
Savannah's squares hide pirates, plague victims, duels and a famous killing, and each stop here pairs the legend with the record behind it.
Read next: Self-guided audio tour apps compared, with the Freedom Trail in five apps · Taking a guided walk instead? How much to tip the guide · Every Stories tour.
Questions people ask
Is VoiceMap or GPSmyCity better?
They do different jobs. VoiceMap plays a recorded story as you walk, and you pay per tour. GPSmyCity gives you a route, notes on every sight and directions, and $14.99 a year covers its city walks. For one great walk, VoiceMap; for a lot of walking on a budget, GPSmyCity.
Is VoiceMap free?
The app is free and some tours are free. Most are paid, up to $19.99 a tour, and city passes start at 3 tours for $24.99. Each tour's web page has a preview.
How much does GPSmyCity cost?
The app is free, and you can look at every walk and its offline map for nothing. To unlock a city's routes and directions, buy that city's guide ($4.99 for Savannah, New York or Paris in the App Store) or pay $14.99 a year for every city walk, $20.99 with its travel articles. There's a 3-day free trial.
Do VoiceMap and GPSmyCity work offline?
Yes. Download the tour or the city before you go and both work without a signal, with an offline map.
Is there a free walking tour app?
Rick Steves Audio Europe is free, with 60 walking and museum tours in Europe. TravelStorys has hundreds of free tours of US towns, parks and byways. GPSmyCity lets you browse its walks for free, and stop 1 of every Stories tour plays free in your browser.
What is a good VoiceMap alternative in the US?
TravelStorys for free tours of towns, parks and byways; GPSmyCity for lots of city walks on one yearly plan; Stories for a walk you can hear before you pay, $4.99 for your group.
Where these facts come from
- voicemap.me: home page (tours and countries)
- voicemap.me: tours in the United States (Boston, Savannah, New Orleans prices)
- voicemap.me: city passes
- voicemap.me: Freedom Trail audio tour
- VoiceMap on the App Store
- gpsmycity.com: home page (walks and cities)
- gpsmycity.com: walks in Boston
- gpsmycity.com: Downtown Boston Walking Tour
- gpsmycity.com: walks in Savannah
- gpsmycity.com: walks in New Orleans
- GPSmyCity on the App Store (free preview, city guides, yearly plans)
- ricksteves.com: Rick Steves Audio Europe app
- ricksteves.com: audio tours (60 walks and museums)
- Rick Steves Audio Europe on the App Store
- travelstorys.com: home page (partners, how tours work)
- TravelStorys on the App Store (275+ tours, free and paid)
- izi.TRAVEL on the App Store (tours, museums, languages)
- Stories on the App Store
- Stories: every tour
- Stories: the Freedom Trail walk (stops and miles)
Checked November 9, 2026. Prices, catalogs and ratings change: check each app before you buy. Spot something wrong or out of date? Tell us at support@winding.ai and we'll fix it.