Quebec City is the only city north of Mexico that still stands inside its old stone walls, and the best way to understand why it needed them is to walk them. This loop starts just outside the ramparts at the Parliament Building, slips through the grandest of the city gates, climbs to the star-shaped Citadelle on top of the cliff, then drops to the boardwalk under the Chateau Frontenac. From there it winds through the cathedral, the convents and the old hospital that made this the religious heart of New France, and finishes at Porte Saint-Jean on the city's liveliest street. It covers roughly two and a half kilometers, and it is one of the most rewarding self-guided walking tours in North America for history packed into a small space.

Before you set off

Allow about two hours at a stroll, and a good deal longer if you take a guided tour of the Citadelle or the Parliament Building, both of which are worth the time. The Upper Town sits on top of a cliff, so expect one real climb, up the lane to the Citadelle, and plenty of short slopes after that. The streets are paved and some are cobbled, so wear shoes with a good grip, especially between November and April, when snow and ice are part of daily life here and sidewalks can be slick. Summer brings warm days, big crowds and long light; spring and fall are quieter and often lovely. Mornings are calmer everywhere. There is little shade on the boardwalk and the ramparts, so bring a hat in summer and a proper warm coat in winter, when the wind off the river bites. The Citadelle, the Parliament Building, the basilica and the Augustines museum all keep their own hours, and some change with the season, so check before you go. French is the language of the city. A simple bonjour when you walk into a shop goes a long way.

Parliament Building

Stand by the ornate fountain in front of the main facade and look up at the Parliament Building, home of Quebec's National Assembly. It went up between 1877 and 1886 to designs by the architect Eugene-Etienne Tache, in the Second Empire style of Paris, with a tall central tower and steep mansard roofs. Now look closer at the facade. It is lined with niches, and the niches hold bronze figures from the province's past: explorers, governors, soldiers, missionaries and politicians, added over many decades, so the building reads like a history book in metal. Above the main door, under the coat of arms, you will find three words carved in stone: Je me souviens, I remember. Tache put them there, and the phrase became the province's official motto and now appears on every Quebec license plate. He never spelled out exactly what he meant, and people here still debate what it is that Quebec remembers. The fountain beside you has a story too. It was made in France in the nineteenth century and stood for years in Bordeaux before a Quebec family found it and gave it to the city for its 400th birthday in 2008. When you are ready, walk east along Grande Allee toward the stone wall ahead, about four minutes, to the gate with the turrets.

Porte Saint-Louis

Old Quebec in autumn This is Porte Saint-Louis, the grandest of the city gates, and you are standing at the edge of the walls that make Quebec unique on the continent. There has been a gate on this road since the days of New France, but the one in front of you, with its pointed turrets and battlements, belongs to the late 1870s, and it exists because of a rescue. By then the walls had lost their military purpose, and many locals saw them as an obstacle, a stone collar choking traffic and trade. Several gates had already been pulled down, and the rest of the fortifications looked doomed. Lord Dufferin, then Governor General of Canada, argued that they were the city's greatest treasure. Under his plan the walls were kept, and new, wider gates were built in a romantic style that let carriages through while making the ramparts look even more like a storybook. Today more than four kilometers of walls survive, and in 1985 the old city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Climb the steps beside the gate if you like and walk a little way along the top for the view. Then pass through the gate, and just inside, take the lane on your right, Cote de la Citadelle, which climbs steeply up the hill. The fortress is at the top, about six minutes away.

Citadelle of Quebec

At the top of the lane you reach the gate of the Citadelle, a star-shaped fortress sitting on Cap Diamant, the highest point of the cliff. The name of the cape goes back to the 1540s, when French sailors gathered shiny crystals here, sure they were diamonds; they turned out to be quartz. The British built the Citadelle between 1820 and the early 1830s, and its reason for being lies just beyond its western walls, on the Plains of Abraham. In September 1759 the British general James Wolfe landed his troops at night below the cliffs upriver and led them up a narrow path. By morning they stood in battle lines on the plain, a stretch of farmland outside the walls. The French commander, the Marquis de Montcalm, attacked, and the battle was over in well under an hour. Wolfe was killed on the field and Montcalm was mortally wounded and died the next day. The city surrendered within the week, and New France soon passed to Britain. The fortress came later, built against a new threat: the Americans, who had already attacked Quebec once, in 1775. It was never tested. Today it is still a working military base, home of the Royal 22nd Regiment, and an official residence of the Governor General and the monarch. In summer you can watch the changing of the guard, bearskin hats and all. To reach the next stop, walk back down Cote de la Citadelle to Rue Saint-Louis, turn right and follow it east to the open square at its end, about eight minutes. In the warmer months you can take the Governors' Promenade instead, a cliffside boardwalk and staircase below the fortress walls; it closes in winter.