Quebec City Hop-On Hop-Off Double-Decker Bus Tour

Old Quebec: Place d'Armes and Dufferin Terrace

Old Quebec is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only walled city north of Mexico, founded in 1608 on the cliff above the St. Lawrence River. The bus loop begins at 7 Rue du Fort beside Place d'Armes, the square in the Upper Town framed by the turreted grand hotel that dominates every photograph of the city. A few steps away, Dufferin Terrace is a wide wooden boardwalk along the cliff edge, opened in 1879, with views over the river to Lévis and the Île d'Orléans and street musicians in summer.

An Old Quebec tour on foot from here takes you along Rue Saint-Louis and Rue Sainte-Anne, past the Anglican cathedral, the city hall and the Basilica-Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Québec. Because the streets are narrow and steep, the bus runs around the old town rather than through its heart, and the 2-day pass gives you time to explore the Upper Town on one day and the Lower Town on the next.

Citadelle of Quebec and the Plains of Abraham

The Citadelle of Quebec is a star-shaped fortress built by the British between 1820 and 1850 on the highest point of Cap Diamant, and it is still an active military garrison with a museum inside. From late June to early September the Changing of the Guard takes place on the parade ground at 10:00 AM, with the regiment's goat mascot leading the ceremony. Citadelle tickets are sold at the gate for guided visits, which take about an hour and include the ramparts with their view over the river.

Beside the fortress, the Plains of Abraham form Battlefields Park, the site of the 1759 battle between the French and British armies that decided the future of New France. Today it is a huge green space with walking paths, Martello towers, the Joan of Arc garden and the Plains of Abraham Museum, and in summer it hosts open-air concerts. The bus stop at the park lets you walk across the plains to the Citadelle or the museum.

Parliament Building and Grande Allée

The Parliament Building of Quebec, seat of the National Assembly, was built between 1877 and 1886 in the Second Empire style, with bronze statues of figures from the province's history set in niches across its façade and a tall central tower. Free guided tours of the National Assembly run most days, and the Tourny Fountain in front, lit at night, is a favourite photo spot. The building stands just outside Saint-Louis Gate, an easy hop-off between the old town and the plains.

Grande Allée runs west from Parliament, a boulevard of Victorian mansions converted into restaurants with terraces that fill on summer evenings; it is where locals go for dinner, and the bus passes along it. A short walk further brings you to the National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec, four pavilions on the edge of the Plains of Abraham, one of them a former prison, holding the largest collection of Quebec art and a renowned Inuit art collection; admission is paid on site.

Place Royale and the Petit-Champlain quarter

Place Royale, in the Lower Town at the foot of the cliff, is where Samuel de Champlain built his first trading post in 1608 and is considered the birthplace of French America. The cobbled square is lined with restored stone houses from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the small church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, begun in 1688, closes one side. Around the corner, the giant mural known as the Fresque des Québécois paints the city's history across a five-storey wall.

The Quartier Petit-Champlain, next to the square, is one of the oldest commercial streets in North America, now a pedestrian lane of boutiques, galleries and cafés under hanging flower baskets, with Christmas lights from November. A funicular climbs from the bottom of the street to Dufferin Terrace in a minute, and the Breakneck Stairs offer the walking alternative. The bus stop in the Lower Town makes this the ideal hop-off for the afternoon.

Old Port of Quebec

The Old Port (Vieux-Port) stretches along the St. Lawrence below the old town, where cruise ships and river boats tie up and where the Bassin Louise marina shelters yachts in summer. A riverside promenade runs the length of the port with benches facing the water, the Île d'Orléans bridge in the distance and the ferries crossing to Lévis; the short ferry ride, paid on board, gives the classic photograph of the walled city stacked above the river.

The Museum of Civilisation stands a block inland from the port, one of the most visited museums in the province, with exhibitions on Quebec society and the First Nations. Near the port stop you also find the Gare du Palais railway station and the start of the walk back up to the Upper Town. Many travellers searching for a Quebec City sightseeing tour prefer to do the Lower Town, the port and Place Royale on their second day of the pass.

The fortifications and Saint-Louis Gate

Quebec City's fortifications run for about 4.6 kilometres around the Upper Town, a ring of stone walls, bastions and gates begun under the French and completed by the British in the nineteenth century. Saint-Louis Gate, rebuilt in 1878 with its pointed arch and turrets, is the ceremonial entrance from Grande Allée into the old town, and the bus passes beneath or beside the walls several times on the loop. You can walk along the top of the ramparts between Saint-Louis Gate and Saint-Jean Gate for views over both sides.

For the best time to visit Quebec City, most people choose late June to early October: the terraces are open, the Citadelle ceremony runs in July and August, and the maples along the walls turn red from late September. The hop-on hop-off bus runs daily from May to October with the first departure at 9:30 AM, and the open upper deck is the easiest way to photograph the walls, the gates and the river without the climb.