A convenient way to get to know the city or how to save money on a guided tour. A convenient way to get to know the city or how to save money on a guided tour Where to download audio guides

Before the advent and mass distribution of smartphones, sightseeing while traveling was complicated by the fact that information about a monument or place could only be learned from the lips of a guide or from a short commemorative plaque. And if the guide and the sign were missing, then you could learn about the history of the interesting places you visited only later - upon arriving home. Guidebooks that could be bought on the spot helped a little in this matter.

Abroad, in large museums or on excursion buses it was possible to use an audio guide. You were given headphones and a special device in which recordings with information about a particular exhibit or attraction were played (for bus excursions). Usually audio guides were in several European languages ​​(English is mandatory), which is why Russian appeared in some audio guides.

Audio guides in museums

But independent travelers had to find out information about the places they visited in advance or book a guided tour. When we went to, I printed out information in advance about each object that we planned to visit, and then read it to my friends on the spot.

With the advent of smartphones, it became much easier - there was no longer any need to search for everything in advance, much less print it out - the history of almost any place or monument could be viewed on the spot using the mobile Internet.

But progress does not stand still and modern technologies We have also greatly simplified the way for travelers to obtain information - now the audio guide can fit on your smartphone or computer screen! And you can use it not only in the muse, but also on a walking tour!

Where to download audio guides

There are many sites where you can download individual audio guides, but they are not combined into one system and are difficult to find individually. In this case, the inquisitive traveler will come to the aid ofaudio guide service izi.TRAVEL.

This service is completely free and works all over the world. The EASY-TRAVEL portal has set itself the goal of collecting the best collection of audio guides to cities and museums around the world. Moreover, you can personally participate in their creation!

Audio guide service izi.TRAVEL – operating principles

Let's look at how this works, using the example of excursions around Moscow.

In the “Tour Review” on the izi.TRAVEL website, select the country RUSSIA and the city MOSCOW. On the page “Moscow: City Tours” you will find a list of available audio guides around Moscow. There are quite a lot of them - there is plenty to choose from.

All available excursions around Moscow for now.

Audio guides on the site are divided into two main types - museum tour and city tour (walking tour). We choose any excursion - and we are shown a map with numbered location points. Click on number 1 and listen to the information! At the end of one audio file, click the “Next” button, go to the second location and continue listening.

This principle works both on a desktop (computer, laptop, netbook) and on a smartphone or tablet. To access all functions of the IZI Travel audio guide service, download a special free application. It is available for mobile devices on iOS platforms, Android and Windows Mobile.

Each location point on the map in mobile application linked to GPS coordinates (on walking tours). This is very convenient - as soon as you approach a certain place, you will immediately hear information about it. The application has a “Browse” function. Next to me". She will show the nearest interesting places on the map.

It is most convenient to listen to the audio guide using headphones. For the application to work, you will need the Internet and GPS enabled, but if you have limited traffic, you can download the necessary audio guides in advance and then find them in the “Downloaded” section.

izi.TRAVEL— turn your phone into a personal guide and become a real traveler! Discover new cities, scenic routes, unusual museums and colorful attractions. The izi.TRAVEL audio guide will help you better understand the local atmosphere. Share your travel experiences with your friends and tell them your stories. Turn your trip into a real adventure, re-acquaint yourself with different countries such as Russia and Spain, Germany and Switzerland, Holland and Italy. Take with you a guide to Moscow or Amsterdam, Barcelona or Berlin, London or Rome, Vienna or any of more than 150 cities around the world.

Features of izi.TRAVEL

• Automatic playback of tour stories - thanks to location service (GPS).
• The opportunity to share unique facts or favorite stories with friends.
• Test your knowledge with entertaining quizzes.
• Save on roaming costs - audio guides can be downloaded to your phone before your trip.
• Quickly access local stories using QR codes and numeric keypad at izi.TRAVEL.

The application site contains audio guides for both museums and street walks. Thus, after visiting the museum, you can explore the city by choosing your route and walking pace. Discover popular or lesser-known attractions. Fascinating stories will help you better understand the culture and history of the city.

Online or offline

Download audio guides at home, at your hotel, or over the free WiFi at a museum or café and you can use them offline - no roaming charges. Automatic launch of stories on the street using GPS is also available offline.

Interactivity and multimedia

Our interactive audio guides will captivate you with quizzes, photos and videos in the language of your choice. During a walk, stories can be launched automatically via GPS, or using QR codes or numbers. It's simple!

Street tours

Thanks to GPS tracking, stories turn on automatically when you get close to a point of interest. And with built-in maps you will never get lost!

Plan your trip

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Previously, we almost never used guidebooks that detail the history of various attractions - I didn’t see much point in them.

When you're sitting at home and preparing for a trip, you don't want to waste time reading history. And when I arrived at the place, standing at every house with a book was also quite boring.

But during this time we were so imbued with the old city, its atmosphere and history, so impressed by the centuries-old patina of antiquity that we definitely wanted to know more legends that exist here about literally every second house.

I found the option of using an audio guide quite interesting; it turned out that it was very convenient for walking around the city. In my mind, the audio guide was associated with a massive device that is given out at the museum’s ticket office, but it turned out that in today’s realities it is just another application on a smartphone

There are several companies that produce audio guides (for example, audiogid.ru, Around the World, travel-me.ru), but my attention was attracted by the izi.TRAVEL project, which acts, in its own way, as an aggregator in this area.

Its essence lies in the fact that one application contains a huge number of audio guides for hundreds of cities in dozens of countries

The most interesting thing is that this application is free. To install it, enter in the search App Store or Google Play"izi.TRAVEL" or follow the links at the end of the article.

We tested the application in Tallinn, but you can choose almost any tourist place. There are quite a few Asian cities, mostly European; there are also guides for major cities in and South America. There are a lot of different guides for popular cities


80-90 percent of them are free, but there are those for which you have to pay, albeit a very symbolic amount

In Tallinn, we walked around the old town with a free audio guide. In order to start a walk, you need to select a suitable tour, find the 1st point (however, you can start from any place) and press the “Start” button

The convenience is that you just need to move in the indicated direction, you don’t have to do anything else - when you approach a new point, the story about this place will start automatically

The audio guides also include cycling routes and even car routes. For example, this tour, with a length of as much as 170 km, lasts 3 hours

Audio guides in the program are divided into two large categories - museums and tours. In each city, you can open an overview page with all the guides and filter by the desired category or select everything at once. Also, if desired, you can set the option “only free content”, in this case paid options will be excluded from the search

In the case of a tour, as I already mentioned, the story starts automatically when approaching a new point, and in museums QR codes are used for these purposes. You need to go to the exhibit and simply scan the QR code. Of course, this only works for those museums that are in the database, and today there are more than six hundred of them around the world

Walks vary in length and duration - from 30 minutes to several hours. In my opinion, this is simply an ideal option for exploring the city. You walk around, look around, don’t rush anywhere, and at the same time they tell you interesting stories. It is much more convenient than group excursions and much more profitable than a personal guide


Of course, it’s not very correct to compare such applications with a real guide; after all, the connection here is only one-way, you can’t ask questions.

Hi all

I've never traveled alone. I was scared that at any moment I could get lost or start missing people. and in general, in order to be active in a new city, you need someone else’s neck to sit on if you are afraid to do something yourself.

But then I had a vacation, in mid-October, when everyone else had already gone on vacation a long time ago and was working safely. And for me, sit and rack your brains about how to relax in such untravelled conditions.

But I took a chance, packed my belongings and went to Nizhny Novgorod.

And here is my first evening in Nizhny Novgorod, I am sitting in my room and planning a sightseeing route around the city. And suddenly - bang! An ideal thought comes to mind - urgently say audio guide.

Don’t walk thoughtlessly along the streets of Nizhny.

My smartphone runs on WinPhone OS. I love this operating system, the most important thing is that it doesn’t slow down, but I won’t talk about it here. Despite the fact that I like WP, there are difficulties in using it. And the biggest thing is the small number of applications compared to Android or iOS.

Therefore, I was afraid that the audio guide itself would not be available. But I was lucky. Absolutely for free I downloaded the Izi travelL application.

The fact that there is a free application on WP is a huge plus for me. For that 1 point application.

The guide works both online and offline. Very convenient for traveling to other regions. So as not to waste extra traffic.

One excursion weighs about 30-40 MB. Any smartphone can do it.

Another point.

When you open the application offline, only downloaded tours and museums are offered.

The application has several types of tours:

• walking tour
• museum
• car tour
• bike tour

Perhaps there are some other options. But these are the only ones I encountered.

Pass the walking tour possible in several ways.

• Enable with the "Start" button
• just choose any object marked in the tour.

Of course, the first option is preferable. You press the start button and as you get closer to the object, the guide will automatically turn on.

On the map, all automatically passed points are indicated in a pale color. Convenient if you have a very large number of objects on the way.

A tour of the exhibits and displays in museums You won't be able to listen automatically. Too many objects in a very small area. Therefore, you will have to use the list and move through it. The recording tells you where and when to turn so as not to stray from the excursion route.

Somewhat reminiscent of sightseeing bus tours in large cities.

For the opportunity to listen not only to sightseeing tours, but also to museum tours. definitely bet point.

Tours of small museums last on average 20-40 minutes. Information about the duration of the excursion is available at home page guide

The application is initially configured for background mode. Very comfortable, saves battery power. Unlike most applications, it does not stop mid-sentence as soon as you click the lock button.

Another well-deserved plus.

Another positive point is the fairly wide geography of guides. Even in the city where I come from, where, in principle, there is nothing so interesting, there is one museum guide.

The guide can be used not only when traveling around Russia, but also abroad. The list of countries is large.

In the excursion menu you can select the language in which this guide will work.

I'll add more 2 pluses for the geography of work and the ability to choose a language.

The advantages are, of course, excellent, but the application also has disadvantages.

First. Guides to Russian cities are free, at least I haven’t come across any paid ones, but if you decide to take a nice tour of the center of Stockholm, you will have to pay about 1.8 euros. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s somehow offensive.