Walking the 4.6-Kilometre Ramparts of Old Quebec (UNESCO), the 4 Gates & La Citadelle

What makes Old Quebec unique in the United States and Canada is that its 4.6-kilometre ring of stone fortifications was never torn down. Started by the French in the 1690s and completed by the British between 1820 and 1832, the walls were saved from demolition in the 1870s by Governor General Lord Dufferin, who convinced the city council to add decorative neo-medieval stone gates instead of levelling the defences. Visitors can walk along the top of the grassy stone ramparts for free on a 90-minute loop around Upper Town.

1. How to Walk the 4.6-Kilometre Rampart Loop & The 4 City Gates

Start at the western wall where the fortifications are widest (free access from sunrise to late evening from May to October; in winter, street-level gates stay open while icy upper grassy bastions close):

• The 4 Fortified Stone Gates (Porte Saint-Louis, Porte Kent, Porte Saint-Jean & Porte Prescott): climb the steps onto the top of the arch at Porte Saint-Louis and walk north along the grassy parapet past 18th-century cast-iron cannons to Porte Kent (built in 1879 with a gift from Queen Victoria in memory of her father, the Duke of Kent) and lively Porte Saint-Jean, where pedestrian Rue Saint-Jean enters the walled city.
• Artillery Park (Parc de l'Artillerie, Redoute Dauphine, 1712): right inside St. John's Gate, walk through the tree-shaded grounds of Artillery Park to see the whitewashed 1712 French barracks of the Dauphine Redoubt and old cannon foundries, then follow the northern rampart wall along cliff-top Rue des Remparts overlooking the St. Charles estuary and Old Port.

2. La Citadelle de Québec & Batisse the Goat

Anchoring the southern corner of the ramparts at the highest point of Cap Diamant sits La Citadelle, a 2.3-kilometre star-shaped Vauban-style stone fortress built between 1820 and 1850 after the War of 1812. Because it remains an active Canadian Armed Forces base (home since 1920 to the Francophone Royal 22e Régiment and the second official residence of the Governor General of Canada), entry is by 1-hour guided tour:

• The Morning Changing of the Guard (Late June to Early September): each summer morning, soldiers in scarlet tunics and tall bearskin busbies march on the parade ground accompanied by the regiment's mascot, Batisse the white Persian Royal Goat, descended from a goat gifted by Queen Victoria in 1884.