You circle Notre-Dame and cross to the Île Saint-Louis: chimeras that look medieval but aren't, the word Hugo said he found in a tower, a legendary pastry cook, the cockerel that turned up after the fire, a bridge that lost two arches with a notary inside, and the mansion where green jam was served.
You start by looking up: the monsters on the towers have a date, and it's nineteenth-century. Then you look down at the ironwork on the doors and at Biscornette, the locksmith who took his secret to the grave (the pact with the Devil was added by a later legend). You walk round the cathedral through the old cloister, where a rumour from 1612 told of a pastry cook and a barber, and where Heloise never lived, whatever a façade may say. From the garden behind the east end you see the new spire and hear about that April night in 2019, and the cockerel someone found the next day. Then the memorial to the deportees and the Île Saint-Louis: an island built under contract, Camille Claudel's last studio, the Pont Marie and the flood of 1658, higher than the one in 1910, and the financiers' mansions where Baudelaire and Gautier met behind closed doors.
An outline of the walk. The full stories are in the app.
Open a marker to see its page. Use two fingers to move the map on mobile.
Walking directions are based on mapped pedestrian routes. Check local access and signs; the route is not an accessibility guarantee. Times are approximate.
Paris works best a neighbourhood at a time. Combine a walk, a pause and another look: the distances on the map can be deceptive.
You start in front of the Hôtel de Ville, on the old Place de Grève, where the city punished and celebrated in the same spot, where the Marquise de Brinvilliers met her end, and where a palace burned in 1871 only to rise again exactly as it was.
You begin in front of the Roman baths that an abbot let to a barrel maker.
You start beneath a tree where rents were paid in the Middle Ages, meet the Couperins, the family of musicians who handed the organ of Saint-Gervais down from one to the next, and stop at a church hit by a shell on Good Friday 1918.
An app for self-guided audio walks. Choose a city and a route, then listen to the stories behind its streets. You decide when to start and when to stop.
Podtour is coming to iOS and Android. There is no confirmed launch date yet. Join the waitlist and we will let you know when it is ready.
No. Street walks and monument audio tours do not include admission tickets, transport or a guide accompanying you.
Download the audio in the app before heading out, then listen offline. Loading the online base map and calculating a new route from your location require a connection.
Every route includes Spanish and British English. The English version is adapted for English-speaking travellers, rather than translated word for word.
Join the waitlist, choose a city and confirm your email address. When the app launches, we will email you with access details. No card is required. You can also try one free route in every city.
Yes. Your own access is included and you can choose 0–5 guests: up to 6 people including you. Each guest saves up to €0.50 on a walk, €1 on a pack or €2 on a whole city compared with buying separately. The counter shows the total before you confirm one payment.
After paying, share your purchase’s invitation link. Each guest opens it in Podtour and accepts their place on their own iPhone or Android phone. They must redeem it within 30 days of purchase. Unclaimed places then expire and cannot be recovered or renewed. Access accepted in time is kept. Opening the link does not use a place; one account takes just one place, and no more people can join once all places are taken.
No. Choose all your guests before confirming the first purchase. Afterwards you can share the places you paid for, but you cannot increase their number or restart the 30-day deadline.
Join the waitlist. When we launch, your chosen city is yours to explore.
Join the waitlist and get one whole city free when Podtour launches. You choose where.
Podtour manages your launch request with your consent. You can withdraw it and exercise your rights as explained in our privacy policy. Privacy details.
One city per person. All its Podtour routes in Spanish and English. Available at launch. Offer details.
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