Sections of the medieval town wall still ring Echternach, particularly along the southern and western sides of the old town. The most photogenic stretches run from the Tor in der Pol — the old west gate — along to the rebuilt towers near the river. The walls were largely intact until the 19th century, when much was demolished to ease traffic, but a careful programme of consolidation since the 1980s has preserved what remains.
A walk along the line of the ramparts, marked on the tourist office town map, takes about thirty minutes and is the best way to understand the town's shape: a fortified market settlement that grew up against the abbey precinct, in the bend of the river Sauer that forms the border with Germany.