Gettysburg Self-Guided Tour: Walk America’s Turning Point
from $2.01
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before
Overview
Explore the most consequential battlefield in American history with our self-guided driving and walking audio tour, covering 40 stops across the three bloodiest days of the Civil War at your own pace. Drive the National Park Service Auto Tour route through 19 miles of hallowed ground, then walk where the soldiers fought — from the first cavalry clash at McPherson Ridge to the stone wall where Pickett’s Charge shattered the Confederacy’s last hope. Stand on Little Round Top where Chamberlain’s bayonet charge saved the Union flank, peer into the boulder maze of Devil’s Den, cross the mile of open ground that 12,000 men walked into devastating fire, and visit the National Cemetery where Lincoln’s 272-word Gettysburg Address redefined what America means. Audio plays at each location and works fully offline — no cell service needed. The battlefield is free and open year-round. After this tour, Gettysburg will never be just a chapter in a textbook again.
8 hours 30 minutes
Meet at the start point (no pickup)
This is a self-guided app-based tour with no in-person guide or fixed meeting point. Your access code is already on your ticket (below the barcode) — enter it in the CloudGuide app to start at the suggested location, or any…
Itinerary
- 1Gettysburg Heritage Center
Stand where the first shots of the Battle of Gettysburg were fired on the morning of July 1, 1863. Brigadier General John Buford's Union cavalry dismounted and held this ridge against a much larger Confederate force, buying crucial hours for the rest of the army to arrive. His decision to fight rather than retreat shaped the entire three-day battle.
- 2Stop
The cupola atop the Lutheran Theological Seminary served as an observation post for both armies during the first day's fighting. Union General John Reynolds was killed nearby while directing his troops — the highest-ranking officer killed at Gettysburg. The seminary later became a Confederate field hospital overflowing with wounded from both sides.
- 3Stop
Dedicated in 1938 on the 75th anniversary of the battle, this memorial was built by veterans from both sides as a symbol of reconciliation. An eternal flame burns atop the monument, and elderly former enemies shook hands across the stone wall at its dedication — a moment of healing seventy-five years in the making.
- 4Virginia Memorial
Robert E. Lee sits astride his horse Traveller atop the largest Confederate monument on the battlefield, gazing across the mile of open ground his soldiers would cross during Pickett's Charge. Seminary Ridge served as the Confederate main line for the final two days of battle — Lee's headquarters lay just behind this position.
- 5Devils Den
Walk among massive boulders where sharpshooters hid and close-quarters combat raged unlike anywhere else on the battlefield. Confederate soldiers clambered over house-sized rocks while Union marksmen fired from concealed positions above in a chaotic, three-dimensional fight that defied conventional Civil War tactics.
- 6Little Round Top
Climb the rocky hill where Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the 20th Maine launched a desperate bayonet charge downhill that saved the Union left flank in one of the war's most dramatic moments. Out of ammunition and facing annihilation, Chamberlain ordered the charge that has become the stuff of American legend.
- 7Stop
Stand in the field that changed hands six times in a single afternoon, consuming over four thousand casualties as waves of attackers and defenders surged back and forth in some of the most confused and savage fighting of the entire war. The wheat was trampled into bloody mud by nightfall.
- 8Stop
Visit the exposed salient where General Daniel Sickles' unauthorized advance nearly lost the battle for the Union and cost him his leg to a cannonball. Sickles later had the leg bone displayed at the Army Medical Museum in Washington and reportedly visited it every year on the anniversary of the amputation.
- 991st Pennsylvania Monument
The largest monument on the battlefield, this domed granite memorial lists the name of every Pennsylvania soldier who fought at Gettysburg — over 34,000 names engraved in bronze tablets. Climb to the observation deck for a sweeping panoramic view of the battlefield's central positions.
What's included
- Professionally narrated audio guide with 40 stops covering all major battle sites
- Digital Map: no cell service needed on the battlefield
- Self-guided walking tour, fully on the app — explore at your own pace
- NO live guide or rental equipment provided — please bring your own smartphone and headphones
- Bonus driving tour loop: extend the experience by car
Not included
- Private transportation
- Admission fees, live guide, headphones, transport, parking, food/drinks, internet access and rentals
Good to know
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
