Audio guides when there is no guide on site

For sites welcoming 20,000 to 300,000 visitors a year

Our focus is unmanned heritage sites and monuments, including places where visitors arrive throughout the day without passing a staffed reception. You may have a team looking after the place, but nobody available to introduce every visitor to its history.

An audio guide gives those visitors an interpretation route they can start themselves. Annual footfall helps frame the conversation; the right scope also depends on the number of stops, visitor languages, mobile coverage and the material you want to share.

From arrival to the next story

1. Make the starting point clear. Place a QR code and short instructions at an agreed arrival point, with permission for the proposed sign.
2. Let visitors open the tour. The guide runs in their phone browser, with no app installation or loan handset.
3. Connect stories to the place. Use audio, text, images and mapped or tap-through stops to give context as visitors explore.

The guide supports interpretation. Site access information, route suitability and on-site safety arrangements still need to be clear to visitors.

Keep control of the history

Start with your interpretation panels, guide notes, research or archive links. WayWyser can help create an AI-assisted draft, but your team reviews names, dates, tone and emphasis before publication.

Agree the initial stops and languages as part of the scope. When the interpretation changes, the text, translations and narration can be updated through the review process.

Plan for an unmanned location

• Connectivity: check mobile reception or visitor Wi-Fi at the entrance and planned stops; discuss weak coverage before agreeing the tour.
• Signage: consider a freestanding or removable QR sign where fixed equipment is unsuitable, subject to the site's permissions.
• Visitor instructions: make the starting point and how to move between stops easy to understand without staff explaining it.
• Ownership: identify who approves stories and checks that signs and route information remain current.

Explore a heritage tour example

The Quin Friary experience shows how playback, stop details and a site map can sit together on a phone. Use it to discuss the kind of interpretation you want for your own site.

For a route across a landscape, see audio tours for gardens and trails.

Agree the content and launch scope

Choose who will approve the interpretation, decide which visitor languages to start with and confirm how corrections will be reviewed. Stops, source material, signage and update arrangements should be clear before committing to the full tour.

Use our planning guide to prepare a brief, or explore multilingual content and narration before requesting your sample.