Carcassonne's Medieval Walls: Self-Guided Walking Tour with Historian James McDonald

Discover the medieval walls of Carcassonne on a self-guided walking tour with historian James McDonald. Learn about the city’s defense strategies and explore at your own pace.

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • La Cité Médiévale - This self-guided audio tour takes place around the medieval city of Carcassonne.
  • Buste De Dame Carcas - On this tour, you’ll see the Buste de Dame Carcas (a sculpture of Lady Carcas) and tell you the story of how she saved the city from Charlemagne.
  • Porte Narbonnaise - As you enter the city through Porte Narbonnaise…
What's Included
  • Lifetime access to tour in English
  • VoiceMap app for Android & iOS
  • Offline audio, maps & geodata access
What's Not Included
  • Smartphone and headphones
  • Transportation
  • Food and drink
  • Tickets or entrance fees to any museums or other attractions en route
Additional Information

Are you looking for a way to see Medieval Carcassonne without joining a tour group? This three-hour tour, narrated by historian, James McDonald takes you beyond the walls and back in time. Explore at your own pace with this affordable self-guided walking tour.
• Find out how to identify the many “killing zones” in which enemies risked being trapped while…

Location
Buste de Dame Carcas
Before arrival, please install the VoiceMap mobile app and use the code provided on your confirmation ticket. This is a self-guided audio tour that you can start, pause, or restart at any time and complete at your own pace. Detailed starting point instructions are available after downloading.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(33 Ratings)
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Reneerejean
Oct 14, 2024
Made it fun! - The audioguide was very informative and made our visit worthwhile. Otherwise it would have felt a bit like a tourist trap. It was fun to see the gps working to figure out where we were and moving to the next explanation. Well worth the cost.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Emyrt2022
Sep 29, 2024
Take your time & relax - This is a no fuss, excellent informative way of taking your time around the castle walls, with the flexibility of being able to stop/rest at any time, then carrying on at your own pace. I thoroughly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mariaisabelmilidi
Sep 20, 2024
Authentic village - Beautiful experience, a very nice medieval village, full of shops and restaurants The beautiful castle Highly recommended
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Romk51
Sep 18, 2024
To do absolutely - Excellent visit to the castle and the ramparts of Carcassonne. Self-Tour without Audio Guide. Very well indicated, atypical course of the castle and well explained. Various shop at the end of which our purchases contribute to the heritage as well as to the maintenance of the places
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Melinda
Sep 16, 2024
What's involved in "undermining"? - Fascinating overview of the medieval walls of Carcessone with lots of church history and observations on language thrown in. Well-paced, thoughtful.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dawn
Sep 4, 2024
An absolute must … - So glad we downloaded this tour. It was highly informative, took you away from the masses and worked so well, even politely telling us we were off track. We would highly recommend this app and tour for anyone visiting Carcassonne. Extremely good value for money. Even our B&B hosts who live in Carcassonne said they will download it!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Omacraig
Sep 3, 2024
Wonderfully Informative, and surprisingly intimate! - Initially we were skeptical about the use of an automated audio guide. After downloading the VoiceMap app over WiFi, and turning off our cellular service at the site, we were amazed at the seamless flow of the tour. The app prompted and tracked our progress with simple directions. Looking at the map was not necessary. James MacDonald gives a masterful tour of Le Cite, that surprisingly feels more intimate than an in person tour. It allowed us to linger in interesting areas to observe, discuss, and of course enjoy the environs. Highly recommended, especially if you share a pair of Bluetooth headphones!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Paul_d
Aug 15, 2024
This is an excellent... - This is an excellent well-paced walkthrough that we would highly recommend. Particularly liked the fact it steered clear of the mob scenes - it was extremely busy - in the streets, chateau and ramparts. If I could find a companion tour that focuses on the day to day lives of people living behind those Medieval walls, that delved a bit deeper into the social aspects, politics, art, economics and religion we’d buy it in a heartbeat!
Review provided by Viator
F2879lvlindab
Aug 9, 2024
Great way to visit the Citie - A necessity if you are not on a group visit to the site. Easy to use and an invaluable source of information and background. 10/10
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Y9915trbobl
Oct 6, 2024
Great seld-guided tour, giving you a lot of indepence - Good, informative and flexible method to take a guided tour. The application used for the self-guided tour worked really well, even with the GPS location of my phone being off a few times due to the nature of the terrain. If you want to be independent of a local tour operator, are not too attached to connecting with other people visiting the cité and prefer to be able to dodge some crowds, this is really a great way to explore Carcassonne. The narrator knows his stuff and has a good variety of interesting background stories, with an occasional humoristic touch. Just short of 5 stars only because I think it's a little bit too expensive. Although honestly, I didn't look up prices for locally guided tours. Don't forget to bring you own headphones!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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up to 15 guests
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November 2024
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