Old Quebec

Old Quebec (Vieux-Québec) is the only walled city north of Mexico and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, divided into two distinct neighbourhoods: the fortified Upper Town perched on Cap Diamant and the Lower Town clustered along the St. Lawrence River shore. The city walls, built by French and later British engineers between the 17th and 19th centuries, run nearly 4.6 kilometres and can be walked in their entirety. Château Frontenac, the landmark grand railway hotel designed by Bruce Price and completed in 1893, dominates the Upper Town skyline and can be photographed from the Dufferin Terrace boardwalk that stretches along the cliff edge. The Lower Town's Place Royale, where Samuel de Champlain founded New France in 1608, surrounds the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church with 17th- and 18th-century stone buildings restored to their period appearance. The funicular connecting Upper and Lower Towns is the shortest commuter railway in North America and spares visitors the steep staircase descent into Quartier Petit Champlain, a cobblestone shopping and dining district popular with visitors year-round. The Plains of Abraham, site of the decisive 1759 battle between British and French forces, forms a large park just outside the walls with walking and cycling paths. In winter, the Bonhomme Carnaval ice palace and outdoor skating rink on Dufferin Terrace make Old Quebec one of Canada's most distinctive cold-weather destinations.