Essential Whitby: A Guide to the Town’s Legends, Treasures and Main Sites

(191 reviews)

Whitby audio tour: Essential Whitby: A Guide to the Town’s Legends, Treasures and Main Sites

This is a 2mi walking tour

It takes an average of 90 mins to complete.

Whitby

The United Kingdom

$9.99

Access all 46 locations offline with the VoiceMap app

Buy for a Group

Reviews

About the Tour

It’s not easy journeying to Whitby, so it’s important to make the most of your time here. On this guided walk, I'll introduce you to major local characters, engrossing legends and hidden treasures in this historic town, over a millennium in the making. Whether this is your first visit or your thirtieth, this tour is certain to make you look at Whitby in a new light. It also provides an ideal introduction to sites like the Whitby Abbey, the Captain Cook Memorial Museum and the Endeavour Experience, which you can return to at the end of the tour.

On this tour, you'll hear about:

Some of the greatest voyages of exploration of all time
Why people once thought the town was infested with serpents
How Whitby jet, a gemstone, inspired the novel Dracula
An illiterate poet
Why there’s a polar bear in the town centre
Why the houses with the best views were some of the cheapest
The Hand of Glory and where to find it

This tour isn’t all about the past. I'll also tell you about Fortune's Kippers fish store, and where to find seaside fayre and the best strawberry tarts you'll ever encounter.

Folk Round by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.

Tour Producer

Devon Howard

2 tours

I grew up in Whitby and genuinely believe there is no place quite like it on earth. Growing up I split my time between studying hard and rowing for the Fisherlads Rowing Club - nothing has really changed.

After school, I left the town to study at the University of Oxford and managed a couple of years in London where I worked in Westminster and studied for my MA in Philosophy. I returned home to pursue further study and established Whitby Town Walking Tours with my better half.

It had been a longtime ambition of mine to operate a tour company and my inspiration probably came from the Only Fools and Horses' episode 'A Slow Bus to Chingford'. Unlike Derek Trotter, however, I aim to give you accurate and well-researched tours of Whitby.

Whitby Town Walking Tours operate unique tours that focus on specific elements of Whitby, from the geology to art and literature. We operate most days during the summer season and you can find tour times on our website.

Preview Location

Location 1

Captain Cook Statue

Hello - my name is Devon. I'll be your guide today and yes, this is really the way I talk. Before you set off allow me to give you a background to the story of this remarkable town. Take a seat and use this as an opportunity to enjoy the impressive view of the lower harbour an... Read More

View locations and route

How VoiceMap Works

Focus on your surroundings, not the screen

The VoiceMap app uses GPS to play audio automatically, at the right time and place, so you can focus on your surroundings, not the screen.

Follow a route with turn-by-turn-directions

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a fixed starting point. That lets us give turn-by-turn directions and use context to tell a better story.

Resume playback to go at your own pace

If you'd like to stop for a drink or go into a museum, end your tour then use the Resume feature to pick up exactly where you left off.

Listen as many times as you like

You can listen to your tours as often as you like using both the VoiceMap app and website.

Take virtual tours anywhere, like a podcast

Select Virtual mode in the VoiceMap app to listen to tours like a podcast - at home or in transit.

Buy for less on voicemap.me and sync

Once you've purchased a tour, it's added to your VoiceMap library. To access it in the app, just sign in using the same account.

Do tours without paying for data

Tours work offline, so you don't have to pay roaming fees. Just download them over WiFi before you get started.

Major Landmarks

Captain Cook Memorial
Whalebone Arch
Pannett Park
North Yorkshire Moors Railway - (Whitby
Captain Cook Memorial Museum
Church Street
St Mary's Church
Whitby Abbey

View all

Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Whitby YO22 4DN, UK
Total distance

3km
Final location
Abbey Ln, Whitby YO22 4JT, UK
Distance back to start location

522.81m

Directions to Starting Point

Captain Cook Memorial, Whitby YO21 3HA, United Kingdom.

The memorial is on the West Cliff (near the Whale Bone Arch).

Show Directions

Gift vouchers

Buy tours for friends and family who delight in discovery

Buy Now

Buy for a group

Get 15% to 50% off when you buy for a group

Buy Now

License this tour

Adapt this tour to use your brand and suit your guests

Find out more

Tips

Places to stop along the way

Whitby Museum and Art Gallery, Endeavour Experience, Captain Cook Museum, Whitby Jet Museum, St Mary's Church.

Best time of day

You can take this tour anytime but the views are best during the daytime.

Whitby can be busy in the summer months and there will be fewer people around in the morning.

Precautions

Please be wary of traffic - cars are allowed on some of the streets you'll be walking along.

Get The App

Download tours to use them offline

Listen hands-free with GPS playback

Get turn-by-turn directions

Scan the QR Code

“This app has become my go-to app for audio tours. I pretty much use it for every trip and it works wonderfully. I highly recommend VoiceMap for travelers to truly experience cities.”

App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”