The tour of this beautifully preserved slice of Colonial America begins at the Visitor Center, where you can get your first taste of the nation's largest living museum. Note: The tour is over 3 miles long, with more than 30+ audio stories, and takes about 1-2 hours to complete.. Your password can be used on the same number of devices as the travelers you have booked. Please enter the same password on each device. New, Lifetime access, no expiry. Use it anytime, on any trip, as many times as you want.
Your first stop is at the doorstep of the Peyton Randolph House, the former home of a fiery revolutionary and one of the oldest buildings in Williamsburg! You might not have heard of William Randolph, but he was a trusted ally of folks like Thomas Jefferson
A simple two-story 18th-century white frame farmhouse nestled on 585 acres of lawn, garden, and woodlands, Bassett Hall once was the Williamsburg home of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller .Philip Johnson, a member of the House of Burgesses from King and Queen County, Virginia, is believed to have built the 18th-century frame house sometime between 1753 and 1766. Purchased by Burwell Bassett around 1800 Union cavalryman George Armstrong Custer guest in home during the Civil War
Built between 1701 and 1705, the first Williamsburg statehouse served the colony of Virginia until fire destroyed the building in 1747.The first floor of the west building was for the General Court and the colony's secretary, the first floor of the east for the House of Burgesses and its clerk. Arched windows marched across the facades. Stairs on one side led to the Council Chamber, a lobby, and the Council clerk's office stairs on the other side led to three committee rooms. A second-floor conference room connected the classically corniced structures, and a six-sided cupola on the ridge of the hipped and dormered roof crowned it all. Though the west wing was completed by July 1703, it took Cary until November 1705 to finish all the work.
Next is the unassuming little Secretary's Office, where all the documents needed to reconstruct Williamsburg's colonial days were stored
After that, you'll arrive at the Raleigh Tavern, where rebellious Virginians met to plot a possible revolution against their British rulers. These meetings even welcomed famous names like Thomas Jefferson!
Then you'll come to the Colonial Williamsburg Magazine, the site of a tense standoff between American patriots and British soldiers trying to steal all the gunpowder from the town before it could fall into rebel hands
Directly opposite the Magazine, you'll find the old courthouse, where residents of Williamsburg heard the Declaration of Independence read aloud for the very first time
Up next is the Play House Stage, a recreation of one of America's first theatres. The original may have failed terribly, but this one still puts on shows on a regular basis!
Then you'll see the extravagant Governor's Palace, and maybe start to get a sense of why the residents of Williamsburg didn't particularly care for their British royal governors!
Up next is the house of George Wythe, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who stands out from most of his compatriots because of one simple fact: he was an abolitionist. In Virginia, a state which used a huge amount of slave labor, this didn't exactly make him a lot of friends!
Continuing on, you'll arrive at the oldest building in Colonial Williamsburg: the Bruton Parish Episcopal Church. Here, you'll learn not just about the church's surprising history, but also about how it's the whole reason Colonial Williamsburg exists in the first place
After that is the Bowden-Armistead House, the history of which showcases some of the deep divisions which cut through Williamsburg around the time of the Civil War. See, the owner was a northerner, and you can probably imagine how his Virginian neighbors felt about that...
Your route takes you next onto the campus of William & Mary College, the oldest college in the United States
The final stop on your tour is the Wren Building, an impressive structure which isn't just the oldest building on the William & Mary Campus, but the oldest college building in the entire United States!
Would highly recommend this tour! Gps function was great for locating where to walk. Also loved the feature that we could do the tour at any time. We chose to do a nighttime tour.
It was a very nice overview of the sites. It was easy to use, and we enjoyed the information.
Was unable to activate the app. Bought full access ticket instead providing inside tours
Following the map was easy at times, especially when verbal instructions were given. Difficult at others so that I missed several of the points. Read the script when I left the tour to know what I missed. I’m still glad I did the self guided tour as there was flexibility to pause, wander around off tour, and resume.
We were not able to start at the designated starting place and the program had a very difficult time working with where we were.
Loved everything about the trip!!
Been to Williamsburg many times. Always amazing..
It was great! Very informative , go at your own pace , loved being able to walk it! We were very pleased with the value for our money!
Descriptions were on the short side. Very little about enslavement. That is we hit i thing now I am just filling up mandated characters
Easy to follow and great to take the tour on your own time. The tour provided good information and you can't beat the affordable price.
This self-paced guided walking tour worked perfectly. The app downloaded onto our Android phone with no issues. It tracked us as we walked around Colonial Williamsburg, even when we strayed off the recommended route. It gave us a ton of information at many different locations. It paused when we needed it to, and re-started flawlessly. It was a great way to experience Williamsburg without the expense of a guide or transportation. Be ready for a lot of walking, though, if you want to see everything (I was in a powered mobility scooter, but my husband walked it). Well worth the low price!
If you want the depth of a guided tour without the rigid schedule, this audio tour is a must-buy. The flexibility to stop for lunch, explore shops, or linger at the Raleigh Tavern made the experience unforgettable. The seamless GPS-triggered audio felt personal and immersive, with rich, engaging stories that went beyond basic facts. The narration quality was excellent, turning a simple walk into a journey through 18th-century America. Highly recommended!
The walking tour app for Williamsburg was wonderful. It was very inexpensive but worked perfectly. We were able to track pur movements, and listen to a wealth of information for specific places. The map was very helpful, and being able to go at our own pace and our own path, or follow the recommended path, was very nice since my wife uses a mobility scooter.
We had such a great time exploring Colonial Williamsburg! The app was super easy to use, and it was nice being able to go at our own pace. The history was really interesting, and we loved how we could stop and check things out whenever something caught our eye. It's perfect if you want to dive into the history without feeling rushed. Definitely recommend it!
Navigating the app was something of a nightmare. The information presented was terrific but the mechanics need some work.
Your app sucks very hard to navigate wasn’t able to open up and use I will be protesting charges on my card I have requested a refund several times with no response
This is a great way to learn about the history of this town. The audio tour was easy to run I could stop and start whenever i wanted to, and it would start whenever you approached a particular site. Very convenient!
Must be good at tech to set up initially but excellent to follow. Good narration. Beautiful day. La La La
Great addition to Williamsburg! It made exploring this historic city easy and added so much to the experience. Awesome for first time visitors! The directions were very clear and easy to follow. I highly recommend.
The audio tour took me to the most relevant areas of Colonial Williamsburg. It made it easy for me to experience the area in just a couple days. You could easily spend multiple days in colonial Williamsburg.
Too much walking without explanation. Also, the lack of WiFi and battery depletion on phones. The app download process was not clearly explained
Really comprehensive, well-paced and interesting. We can totally recommend it. We arrived a bit late in Williamsburg but managed to whiz round it and eat an early evening meal. You can fit the tour to whatever pace you choose to adopt.
The audio tour worked very well. I enjoyed being able to walk at my pace and go into buildings & shops that we found interesting. The app picked up perfectly when we jump back on the path and hit the next highlight. The only real concern we had was that my battery became very low on my phone… but it made it. I would recommend making sure you’re fully charged before your tour!
The tour was okay but often the audio was short and pretty basic. I was expecting more than a 30-45 sec description. There were a lot of things that we walked past that weee not mentioned. The radius of the gps could be expanded cause we walked past a few points that did not rigger the audio cause we didn’t walk down the middle of the street.
We ordered the tour on line in the car driving up from Florida to New Jersey and wasn't told over the phone that we couldn't down load the tour at Williumburg because they don't have wifi so we went 30 miles out of our way for nothing. The woman we called said there was nothing she could do for us since it was mentioned in one of the multiply emails you sent us.
Once I connected at the bridge, the app worked well and was very helpful. I went with their advice and did not buy the $50 ticket and that was fine. I would recommend but do your homework before you arrive.
We were able to walk at our own pace, leave the tour to see other things along the way and then jump back onto the tour.
Learning the nuances of each location and observing the towns people interact and play out there parts. Very realistic.
Learning the history that I wasn’t much interested in in school. It’s impactful when standing in the middle of history.
Not able to use the tour. Booked on Wednesday and email with log in info didn’t come until Friday. Tried to use the chat feature but got no reply. (And yes , I was getting other emails etc on my phone). This was a total waste of money for me
Got history about the sites that otherwise wasn’t available. Stories were humorous as well as historical. Tracking made it easy to go at our own pace, and retrace things as necessary.
Audio quality wasn’t great and app was glitchy (when you want to check which stop you’re at, it replays the last and then crashes if you try to stop the audio).
Content was pretty good with links to additional information. If you don't follow the order proposed, it is a little hard to navigate the app. Each section could be paused but you couldnt go back if you missed a sentence or phrase without starting the section over.
Friendly helpful period costumed guides to the shops along the cobbled streets. Wonderful visit for history lovers and families
This was the BEST app to have on hand for our visit to Williamsburg! Super informative with history of all the buildings, maps to follow along, pause and start features to be able to self explore at your own pace, we loved it!
Really enjoyed the walk and scenery. The points of interest and narration was very entertaining. The tour ended nd point 33 and we had to go back to point 1 to get our vehicle….so for us it didn’t work out so well.
A lot of information, much of it surprising, is packed into this tour. Unbeatable price. Highly recommended.
My location wasn't show on the map of this application. It was the plan of historic area , didn't connect with my location. Bad experience
The tour was very informative and was easy to navigate through. The narrator gave 34 separate talks about 1 to 2 minutes long each. It worked by GPS, so there was no need to start or stop the tour. We kept our phones in our pockets and walked. We did not have to keep up a certain pace, it worked at our pace and patiently waited while we shopped and ate between stops. Great tour and price.
Easy to use and lots of great history! We really enjoyed being able to go at our own pace. Best audio tour!
We purchased and did the tour in November '22. We had no problem with the execution of it. It started automatically when we got to a certain place without us having to prompt it. When each recitation started, it would briefly describe the building or area it was going to talk about, so you knew what you were looking at. I would have liked to have more anecdotes about the people and places, though the history was great. Well worth purchasing and using. Note: we did not buy the entry to the houses, but simply used this walking tour. I concluded about halfway through that, if you stop at the Episcopal Church (dollar donation) and if you stop and talk to the actors/reinactors, I was satisfied with the level of involvement that I got.
The only way to tour! We could walk at our own pace, stop where we want, etc. The audio would automatically kick in and give you the history behind each marked home. Our only problem was that my phone battery died before we finished the tour - but we were definitely taking our time. Next time we will shut the phone down between stops, or maintain a good pace, while keeping an eye on the battery situation.
I kind of stopped and started a few times but all in all it was a very informative and educational tour. I was quite lucky compared to the other tourists! Luckily it was a very nice day for a long walk.
I liked learning the history behind each stop; well explained. What I don't understand is why they have you park like a mile from the starting points, then just leave you 1.2 miles from your car with no guidance in the middle of the College of William & Mary campus? Would have been way easier to park in the Merchant Square area or such. Luckily, we are walkers. Some may have found the total walking distance to be too much, especially in the summer.
The stories were good but brief and the offline version never worked and when the Internet was bad, it was like having nothing at all. Ibalso accidentally bought too many. Only one is needed for a group.
This tour was great. After reading that many buildings were still closed for the full tour I decided to try it. For $8.00 I thought I could always buy a real ticket if I decided I wanted one. Easy download - easy to follow map - it senses where you are and starts narrating when you’re close to a stop. Very interesting-takes about an hour. It’s not a loop so you’ll be a ways from the start when you are done. I liked it so much I wished there were more buildings on the route. Great narration great value.
Visited via telephone - weren’t able to go in person, however our experience with the front desk was excellent. Illness prevented us from going to the Colonies.
We love Viator! We used the walking app in Colonial Williamsburg. Great experience. We used this company last year as we toured Gettysburg and other places. Wherever we we will check Viator!
Not real happy. Started out ok...but when we got to a building that was open, it did not want to go back to the map. It jumped ahead to a building we hadn't gotten to.
Good content about history of area and requires no input to start info at each stop since app monitors your progress through route. Can always repeat or pause or go to desired stop manually. Not easy to follow directions at beginning of tour from Visitors Center to Colonial Williamsburg because app doesn’t guide you to pedestrian walkway. Free shuttle driver stopped and told us how to get to Village. Along the way app and our path sync after awhile. Tour directions are also confusing around Lafayette St which is a busy road outside of Village with no sidewalks. Probably not safe with little children. If you wish to enter any of the sites purchase tickets to do so at Visitor Center before starting. Other than the two technical issues, we felt the audio walking tour was worth the money and we enjoyed ourselves.
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