Le Monastère des Augustines Québec City

On no account should you miss this museum, which traces the history of the order of Augustinian nuns who founded Québec’s first hospital, the Hôtel-Dieu, in 1644 and ran it for over 300 years. OK, it may not sound like a crowd-pleaser, but the half-dozen rooms around a central cloister are filled with remarkable displays of religious items, crafts (artificial flowers were mandatory where flowers bloom only four months a year), an old apothecary and an 18th-century refectory. The 18th-century building also has a fantastic boutique hotel and a restaurant. Don't miss the richly decorated chapel designed by wood-carver and architect Thomas Baillairgé (1791–1859).