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Why we love it: A luxury resort with top-notch amenities in the heart of Malta

The Highlights:
- A variety of room types to accommodate all travelers
- Five on-site bars and restaurants, including the historic Villa Corinthia
- A regal pool surrounded by loungers and gardens

The Review:
In 1959, the Pisani family patriarch bought the historic Villa Refalo, intending for it to be a home for him, his wife, and their six children, as well as a restaurant. When he died unexpectedly, his children took over the property, first turning it into a wedding hall, and then a luxury hotel called Corinthia Palace. Even though the Pisanis have since expanded the Corinthia brand to 14 hotels around the world, they still own and operate the Malta original, running it with all the amenities required of a five-star stay. Here, guests find five bars and restaurants, a swanky outdoor pool and garden area, tennis courts, a deluxe spa and fitness center, and friendly, attentive service. The afternoon tea, served in your choice of British or Maltese style in the Orange Grove Brasserie, is a must, while the daily breakfast spread is generous and tasty.

Ranging from superior rooms to executive suites, accommodations feature comfy beds and private balconies or terraces. All come with complimentary access to the Athenaeum Spa, but higher category options also include entry to the Executive Lounge, where guests can enjoy a daily breakfast buffet and complimentary wine, spirits, and canapés each evening. Speaking of the spa, it’s currently being renovated and will be unveiled in April 2020 with a new design by Goddard Littlefair, a new parternship with ESPA for treatments, and new facilities including seven treatment rooms, a relaxation lounge, and a thermal area.

Give your senses a jolt at Sky Costanera Observatory, on the 61st and 62nd floors of the Costanera Center. A 50-second elevator ride takes you almost 1,000 feet into the sky for a thrilling 360-degree view of the city, population over five million, with the snowcapped Andes as a backdrop. Guides are on hand to point out cityscape highlights. Not for scaredy-cats. Note: In case of rain, return first thing the following day, the best time to visit for the clearest view.

The Danish motorcyclist who runs this operation learned his chops on a round-the-world journey, so he knows just what you’ll need and provides tools, 24-hour support, and advice, whether you’re setting off on a three-day trip to the Elqui Valley or a 10-day excursion to Patagonia. In addition to sales and maintenance, the shop offers tours. Cruise from winery to winery along the Ruta del Vino, with the wind as your only companion. And although a rider’s first reflex is usually to think south, the Atacama Desert is also a great destination on a BMW or a Kawasaki. At least one cookout under the stars is included on every guided tour. The service operates year-round, but excursions to Patagonia run from roughly April to September only.

Keep your eyes peeled and you’ll spot free-born condors as well as birds bred in captivity then released in the park. There is abundant nature here: Chilean oaks, soapbarks, and frangel trees stand tall and beautiful above a forest floor tangled with guindilla and chuquiraga bushes. Gray and Andean foxes, little grisons and cururus, scamper through the underbrush. And guanacos, indigenous animals that resemble llamas, gather at the Los Cipreses River basin, where cougars gambol. Despite all the wildlife, tranquillity is one of the aspects visitors to the reserve praise the most. There are bike paths, picnic areas (no fires are allowed, so bring food that can be eaten cold), and plenty of staff on hand to point out the best spots. While it’s just a two-hour drive from Santiago, it’s a whole other world.

The so-called Barrio Italia is a funky, up-and-coming Santiago neighborhood where you can easily while away an entire day exploring its shops, cafés, and artists’ ateliers. The community website suggests several walking routes by theme (design and decor, culture and heritage, gastronomy and galleries, for example). Or you can wander on your own, checking out antique furniture set on the sidewalk to catch customers’ eyes. In Barrio Italia, seemingly ordinary doors give way to hidden courtyards with small cafés and shops amid geranium- and fieldstone-finished gardens. Almost everything you see is on offer, from panama hats or one-of-a-kind lamps to futuristic sofas and handmade shoes. Set aside time to sip a pisco sour or dine at Sombrerería Girardi, a restaurant on the site of a former hat factory whose original structure is still intact. Casona La Candelaria houses several shops in a beautifully restored mansion.

During an especially difficult time in the eighties, the Dominican priests at the church next door to this park allowed unemployed artisans to set up their workshops here in order to create and sell their products. Today, the Centro Artesanal Pueblito Los Dominicos houses hundreds of shops where visitors can watch craftspeople carve stone and wood, knit, embroider, and make jewelry. Every kind of Chilean handicraft is on offer, and there are items for every budget (haggling is customary). The workshops are a particularly good spot to buy lapis lazuli jewelry—Chile and Iran are the only countries in the world where this blue semiprecious stone is found.

There is always something interesting going on at GAM, as the Gabriela Mistral Center is affectionately known. Theater, dance, and music performances, as well as seminars and art exhibitions, crowd the marquee at this busy arts venue. GAM’s philosophy is that art can be socially transformative if it’s accessible, and that audiences can be cultivated through education. The building’s history is a mirror of Chile itself. Built in record time for a 1972 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, it was the headquarters for subsequent military juntas, who stationed themselves behind fortified doors and machine-gun-toting sentinels for years. With Chile’s return to democracy in 1990, the structure became a conference center but was severely damaged by fire. Undaunted, authorities rebuilt and transformed it into the dynamic venue it is today. Various guided tours include an historical appreciation plus a peek at what’s going on backstage.

The permanent collection of this museum dedicated to the Chilean artist Violeta Parra includes her arpilleras, hand-embroidered tableaux exhibited at the Louvre in the 1960s—the first time a Latin American artist had a solo show there. The tableaux still stand the test of time. Other works at the Santiago museum include paintings and papier-mâché sculptures that bring to mind some of her Latin American contemporaries such as Ecuadoran master painter Oswaldo Guayasamím. And yet Parra’s works are as original as the artist herself—colorful depictions of everyday life as seen through the eyes of a Renaissance woman who left her unique touch on every genre she took up. Referring to her visual productions as “painted songs,” she is best known for her music, which is played throughout the museum’s galleries so that visitors can experience the close connection between the two art forms. The collection’s small scale—only 24 works are on display—reflects the artist’s own modesty: Diminutive in stature, she made preserving Chile’s folklore and promoting its music her life’s work, traveling tirelessly both at home and abroad.

Vendors first set up shop at the Italian Market in the mid-to-late 1880s, and today, the spread of stalls, stores, and eateries runs all along South 9th Street in Philadelphia’s residential Bella Vista neighborhood. A trip here involves all the senses: sights, sounds, vibrant colors, and, most intoxicating of all, the combined aromas of spices, coffee, and just-baked bread. Along this stretch, shoppers can find fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, fish, seafood, meats, cheeses, pastries, homemade pasta, ice cream, chocolates, and tea. The 10-block market area also includes a great variety of restaurants. Overwhelmed by the choices? Stop at the Visitor Center for suggestions. The market operates all year round, and in all types of weather.

At the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, above the town of Sandy, Utah, the Alta Resort offers 2,200 skiable acres and an average of more than 550 inches of snowfall a year. While the steep slopes of the Wasatch mountains draw expert skiers, there is plenty of terrain for intermediate skiers and a number of programs within the ski school to get beginners and first-timers out and enjoying themselves. As for families, even those with little ones as young as two months old, day care is available all day long and into the early evening through Alta Children’s Center, and on Fridays and Saturdays until 6:30 p.m. with its Après-Ski Care. To get tykes skiing and on the slopes, Alta partners with the ski school.

There are few places where you can better learn about the beauty and complexity of desert ecology than the Desert Botanical Garden, not far from downtown Phoenix. Check out the Desert Discovery Loop Trail for a look at local flora, go for a flashlight tour or cooking class (using plants found in the region, of course), or catch one of the musical performances that are part of the garden’s concert series. Make a point to visit the Desert Terrace Garden for the best views of the surrounding buttes and desert.

Nowhere in Puerto Rico is surfing more popular than Rincón. It’s so popular, in fact, that the town plays host to annual international surfing competitions. There are plenty of shops where you can get the surf report or sign up for lessons if you’re a beginner (or want to take your skills to the next level). Some of Rincón’s beaches are postcard photogenic, especially Crashboat Beach, where a line of colorful wooden boats sit on the sand.

This is the oldest and grandest art institute in a city that’s long captivated artists. The Neoclassical building sits amid the greenery of massive City Park (conveniently at the end of the Canal Streetcar Line). It’s an especially good destination for admirers of Edgar Degas, who spent an extended vacation in New Orleans visiting relatives in 1872; a number of his works are displayed here. Just outside the museum is the beautifully landscaped and well-curated five-acre Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, which perfectly melds the old and new. Some 60 sculptures are arrayed amid reflecting lagoons and 200-year-old live oaks.

Thanks to some amusing murals by local artist Juan Gha, no one overlooks Bocana. Besides the artwork, Bocana is known for a selection of tapas, pizzas, and other bar food, as well as an array of Costa Rica’s popular artisanal beers. The menu includes some highly original flavor and style combinations, like the platanachos, which blend two favorite snacks—fried plantain chips, called patacones, and cheesy nachos—on one plate. The second-floor location offers lovely views of Escalante architecture and the commuter trains as they hustle by.

Known by indigenous peoples as Sibú Mountain—a sacred name that means “Creator of the Earth and Its People”—Poás Volcano, which soars to 8,885 feet, cannot fail to impress. The active volcano is a perennial favorite with locals and foreigners alike, an easy 34-mile drive from San José. In addition to the majestic peak (the crater of which is among the world’s largest), you’ll find enchanting jade-green lagoons and some of the best scenic outlooks anywhere in Central America. The park offers great access to visitors of all ages all the way to the summit, including travelers with disabilities.