Private Walking Tour Quebec City: 25 American Stories

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.00 (4 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/11

Duration2h 30m

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Two and a half hours walking the sites where American and Canadian histories collided

This private walking tour of Old Quebec traces 25 stories connecting American and Canadian history across 250 years, from the 1775 invasion through the 1871 Treaty of Washington. A live English-speaking guide leads you through the Citadel, Place Royale, Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral, the Fortifications and other landmarks, with pickup included. The tour runs 2.5 hours and suits history enthusiasts who want the narrative woven together rather than reading plaques alone.

2h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

The Experience

The tour opens in Old Quebec itself, the ultimate historic district to tell the story of French and British Americas. Your guide walks you to Rue de la Barricade in Lower Town, where the December 1775 American attack on Quebec City is commemorated—Benedict Arnold was defeated here by British troops and local militia, days before the Declaration of Independence. From there you move through Petit Champlain District, where the discoverer of the Mississippi River, Louis Joliet, had his home in the 1600s, and later Irish shipbuilders settled along the St. Lawrence River.

The route takes you to Place Royale, called Canada's Jamestown, where history markers recall the King William's War and Queen Anne's War periods and the co-founders of Quebec City and Acadia. You'll stand at Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral, the first Roman Catholic cathedral in Canada, where the Louisiana Governor and founder of Detroit was married in 1687, and where Pope Francis came to apologize to the First Nations. The guide connects this to Andrew Jackson's 1830 Indian Removal Act, showing how the same colonial logic shaped both nations. You'll see the Fortifications of Quebec National Historic Site, built from the early 1600s through the end of the 1871 Treaty of Washington, and learn how the city was shaped by the King William's, Queen Anne's, King George's and French and Indian Wars, then the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War.

The tour also covers the Ursuline Nuns who arrived in 1639 and later settled in New Orleans from 1727 to educate girls—their school remains the oldest school for girls north of Mexico. You'll pass the Quebec National Assembly building, erected after the 1871 Treaty resolved the last claims between Canada and the USA, and learn about the Canadian Pacific Railway and the 1893 Chateau Frontenac, built by American-born CPR President Cornelius Van Horne to launch coast-to-coast tourism. The Citadel, built after the Battle of New Orleans scared the British colonies north, closes the narrative arc from invasion to peace.

What’s included

Guiding services throughout Old Quebec.
pickup included.
live English-speaking guide.

Good to know

Moderate physical levelStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Quebec 1608

Is this one for you?At 2.5 hours, the tour fits a morning or afternoon without consuming your whole day, leaving time to explore the shops and cafés of Petit Champlain or the lower town on your own. Choose this one if you want the connections between American and Canadian history explained as you walk, rather than piecing together plaques and monuments alone.