FAQs
SidewalkGuides are downloadable audio tours that allow you to see a city at your own pace and according to your schedule. We make it easy to ditch the guidebook and get an informative and interesting tour using your mp3 player
It’s pretty simple. Once you purchase one of our guides, you’ll get a pop-up window to download the tour directly. Be sure to click on SAVE, not OPEN when you see this pop-up box. If you’d rather wait to download your tour, you’ll also get an email with a link. You can use that also. Download and you’re ready to go!
Once you’re done picking your tours, click on Download the Tour. That will take you to our payment gateway, PayPal, which allows you to pay with credit cards or PayPal funds. You do not need to be a member of PayPal to use your credit card. Look for the link next to the text on the left side of the page that says “Don’t have a PayPal account? Use your credit card or bank account.” Only PayPal sees your credit card details. We don’t see your credit card information, and have no control over which cards get accepted or rejected by PayPal. On your credit card bill, a charge by Capital City Walks, LLC, will appear.
- After you have paid, you will be taken directly to a page where you can download your tour. When the pop-up window appears to allow you to download the tour, be sure to hit SAVE, not OPEN. This will allow you to select the location on your computer where the tour will be saved.
- Additionally, we’ll send an email automatically to the address that you put on the order form. This email is sent out instantly upon order completion, but depending on network traffic etc., it may take up to a few minutes to arrive. The email has the subject: "Thanks for purchasing a tour from SidewalkGuides," and it contains a link to your product download page. This link will enable you to download your tour also.
- Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, the download may take several minutes.
Our tour (the audio files and .pdf map) will be downloaded onto your computer in a zip file. Remember the folder where you downloaded them. You’ll have to “unzip” the files. For PCs with Windows XP or Vista operating systems, your computers will prompt you to do it. For some other operating systems, you can right click on the zip file and then click on “unzip”. Mac operating systems automatically unzip these files. If you’re using iTunes, we suggest creating a playlist with the name of the tour you bought so you can find it easily when you take the tour.
Make a note of where on your hard drive you’ve downloaded your tour. Open iTunes, and create a new playlist for the tour. Then drag the files from your hard drive into the new playlist. If you’re using the Windows version of iTunes, be sure that the tracks are listed in numerical order, beginning with “Stop 00…”, so that when you take the tour, the stops appear in the correct order.
First of all, thanks! Once you’ve transferred the tour to your mp3 player, take a look at the map that came with the tour. That will tell you where to go to start. It’s also part of the first chapter in each tour.
On each tour, there are a series of stops, or chapters. Each stop will tell you about a noteworthy place. Once you’re done with each stop, you’ll be instructed to either keep your player running for some introductory information on the next stop, or, pause your player until you reach the next stop, where you’ll start your player again.
Yes. It is illegal to download or use this tour without paying for it.
We’ve walked these tour routes many, many times, but you should always be aware of your surroundings wherever you are. We bear no responsibility for harm of any kind you suffer while on our tours.
No big deal. It’s meant to help you, but it’s not essential. You’ll get detailed instructions during the tour to each stop at the end of the previous one.
Yes. We are happy to provide personally guided tours for large groups. For more information, write groups@sidewalkguides.com.
Here's What Our Customers Say
"I live in the neighborhood and was blown away by the interesting highlights this tour pointed out. This was more entertaining than a movie and great exercise to boot!"
- Pat, Washington, D.C.
“Loved it. It’s easy and fun and its really nice for putting things in a larger historical context. Highly recommended.”
- Andrew, Washington, D.C.
"The Civil War and Pennsylvania Avenue tours were great. We're planning on taking more when we visit D.C. again."
- Craig, Easton, Md.
"We really enjoyed the Mall and Arlington tours!
They're very well done and were a terrific way to learn about what we saw."
- Jan, Amherst, Ma.