Avignon Self Guided City Tour of Popes, Poets and Assassins

A shepherd boy walked out of the mountains, told Avignon that God wanted him to build a bridge across the Rhône, then lifted a boulder thirty men couldn't move to prove it. Seven hundred years ago, someone decided Rome was too dangerous to be pope in, and moved the entire headquarters of Western Christianity here. This self-guided audio walking tour of Avignon tells its sharpest stories. Over roughly 4 km and 20 stops, played on your phone as you walk, you'll meet the pope who bought the city from a queen just tried for murder, a poet undone by one glance in a church, and a marshal a mob lynched over a lie. Go at your own pace. No fixed start time, no group to keep up with, offline access, pause and resume whenever you like. Over 25,000 travelers have used our self-guided tours, and this Avignon audio tour comes with a full refund guarantee. Bring headphones and start whenever you're ready.

1. 1

   Pont Saint-Benezet

   Pass by

   Stand before four arches reaching into the river and stopping, and learn the story of the shepherd boy behind them

2. 2

   Rocher des Doms

   10 min

   Meet the escaped slave who smuggled a fortune past a death sentence, hidden inside his walking staff

3. 3

   Musee du Petit Palais

   10 min

   Step into a cardinal's fortified home, then hear about the thief who out-catalogued the museums he robbed

4. 4

   Cathedrale Notre-Dame des Doms

   15 min

   Look up at a gilded Virgin who watched the river, above the tomb of a gold-making pope

5. 5

   Palais des Papes

   Pass by

   Face the largest Gothic palace in Europe, bought from a queen just tried for her husband's murder

6. 6

   Saint-Etienne

   8 min

   Spot the tiny hot-air balloons on the window sills, and the fireside moment they quietly commemorate

7. 7

   Place Crillon

   10 min

   Cross the square where a false rumor turned a crowd into a marshal's executioners in under an hour

8. 8

   Place de l'Horloge

   8 min

   Pause in Avignon's biggest square, where a hidden medieval clock tower keeps working behind the town hall

9. 9

   Basilique Saint Pierre

   12 min

   Examine walnut doors carved five centuries ago, and the boy cardinal whose relics they guard

10. 10

    Avignon Les Halles

    10 min

    Taste the pink chocolate thistle named for the popes, sold behind a market's living garden wall

11. 11

    Stop 11

    8 min

    Meet the escaped slave who smuggled a forbidden seed and quietly turned Provence blood-red.

12. 12

    Hotel des Monnaies

    7 min

    Decode the eagles and dragons on the one facade in Avignon that refuses to stay modest.

13. 13

    Eglise Saint-Agricol

    8 min

    Spot the silver stork above the door, then hear which plague it was summoned to end.

14. 14

    Palais du Roure

    8 min

    Trace the mulberry tree carved above the door to a fortune, and a language nearly lost.

15. 15

    Stop 15

    7 min

    ncounter the last tower of warrior-monks who inherited a fallen order's confiscated wealth.

16. 16

    Stop 16

    9 min

    Uncover where a poet's single glance reshaped European love poetry, and why a king reopened her grave.

17. 17

    Stop 17

    7 min

    Slip through a small door to where two brothers rowed a boat straight to the altar.

18. 18

    Rue Des Teinturiers

    8 min

    Follow the canal and its old waterwheels down the street that stained every worker's hands red.

• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

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