The three interconnecting trails take locals and visitors on a tour of Plymouth's history as experienced through its spaces and places. The City Centre Trail tells the story of the 1950s and Plymouth's rebirth as a Modern city of the future after World War II. The Waterfront Trail looks out to sea to explore Plymouth's long relationship with the sea. The Mayflower Trail around Sutton Harbour focuses on the sailing of the Mayflower.

Starting at the Mayflower Steps on West Pier, the Mayflower Trail takes the sailing of the Mayflower to America as the starting point for a story about Elizabethan Plymouth and its connections with the rest of the world in that period. The tour will engage with the Elizabethan House, due to be re-opened in 2021.

The Waterfront Trail takes visitors on a one-hour walk along the Hoe exploring Plymouth's relationship with the sea through the waterfront monuments, buildings and landscapes features such as the 1930s Art Deco lido or the nineteenth statue of Francis Drake and war memorials as well as looking out to sea to Drake's Island and beyond. The trail engages with historic sites run by Plymouth City Council such as Smeaton's Tower.