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This property is closed due to damage sustained during Hurriance Maria.

The W Vieques Island is a luxury boutique waterfront hotel located on pristine Vieques Island, located eight miles off the southeast coast of mainland Puerto Rico. What’s interesting about the island is that despite being so close to the mainland, it still has a very raw, untouched feel, with tourism weaving itself into the landscape instead of taking it over. Guests of the hotel can explore ecotourism on the island through kayaking tours of the bioluminescent bay, beach trips, scuba diving, mountain biking, fishing, horseback riding, outdoor yoga, farm-to-bar social hours at sunset, and visits to the the local farm to see where the restaurant’s ingredients are sourced and even to create a meal for themselves. There’s also a sumptuous spa. Inspired by the holistic nature of the surroundings, the spa seems to blend into the landscape, with rivulets and canals flowing throughout the space, front-row views of the Atlantic Ocean, vine-covered treatment rooms, a reflection pool, and a spa pavilion surrounded by lush gardens.

For more than twenty years, vendors peddling antiques and collectibles have set up shop along Guadalajara’s Avenida Mexico every Sunday morning as part of the Tianguis Trocadero De Antiguedades. If you have a good eye, you’re sure to spot some gems among the junk, from furniture and china to books, jewelry, and other memorabilia. Haggling over prices is commonplace.

What began with Azul y Oro—chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita’s high-end university “refectory”—is now a multi-restaurant group famed for an almost museum-like reverence for traditional Mexican cooking in all its infinite variety. The downtown iteration, called Azul Histórico, is a gorgeous space in the courtyard of a 17th-century colonial palace (once inhabited by descendants of the Emperor Montezuma) and is now one of the Centro’s most sought-after tables, terribly romantic beneath its tree-and-candlelight canopy. Menus are seasonal and themed—often focusing on cuisine from Mexico’s regions and states—and are sure to present some delicacies even most Mexicans never knew before. Ask questions and swing just beyond your comfort zone. Out-of-towners and locals alike love the flair with which dishes emerge from the kitchen, in extravagant, eye-catching Mexican pottery.

Feel instantly cool when you slip through the unmarked wooden doors and enter La Factoria. Garden lights hang from the graffiti-covered walls (designed to look artsy-shabby with a stylish restraint), seductive music plays, and the liquor bottles behind the bar are lit from beneath to add to the glow. The flattering amber light in this neighborhood bar invites whispered conversations and lingering glances. La Factoria, which introduced San Juan to the craft cocktail when it opened in 2013, encourages experimentation. Take your time enjoying your drink of choice, but be sure to wander a bit further into the sprawling building where you’ll come upon separate spaces with different moods: a wine bar, a speakeasy, a dance floor.

Forever on the verge of being the next big target of gentrification, the district known as Santa María la Ribera—northwest of downtown—retains its neighborhoody, down-at-the-heels charms. Its streets are home to a mix of old-school cantinas (all perfectly visitor-friendly) and mom-and-pop restaurants, alongside some neglected architectural gems, hipster coffeehouses, and standard-issue, sometimes grimy local businesses—in short, it’s still real. The district’s centerpiece is its central plaza, known as the Alameda, and its exuberant Moorish-style gazebo (it started life as the Mexico Pavilion at a long-forgotten world’s fair). Recently restored and awash in color, the kiosk is a gem—and the proud emblem of the barrio. Note some amazing old mansions and the spooky Institute of Geology lining the plaza. The nearby Museo Universitario del Chopo—housed in a glass-and-cast-iron former natural-history museum—is a renowned center for avant-garde art that leaves no viewer less than provoked.

We live in the age of artisanal everything, from chocolate and coffee, to, you guessed it, water. At Mexico City‘s Casa del Agua, staff produce and bottle “local water” on-site. The bottles—designed artisanally, of course—are charming souvenirs that you can use over and over again (with your own, less expensive water) once you’re home. Be sure to go to the second level of the shop to see the filtration process, and to the terrace level to see where the water is captured.

With the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire, Iberian overlords set about imposing their customs on the subdued populace, eliminating traces of pre-Hispanic religions they deemed heretical by demolishing major temples and building churches and other structures atop their ruins. Centuries later, in 1978, workers laying electrical lines happened upon the remains of the Templo Mayor, the Aztecs’ most important ceremonial center (and, yes, the location of their notorious human sacrifices). Subsequent excavations have revealed superimposed pyramid foundations and priceless artworks, many now displayed at the on-site museum. Thrillingly, treasures keep turning up—including the spring 2017 discovery of a stone box containing some of the finest Aztec gold ever found, just off the Templo Mayor’s steps.

Ponce is Puerto Rico’s second-largest city and is nicknamed the “Pearl of the South.” Life here seems to move at a slower pace than San Juan, and that’s the way locals like it. For them, there’s nothing better than an evening or weekend stroll around Plaza Las Delicias, the main square, which is full of history and entertainment. Stop by the unmissable red-and-black–wooden firehouse (now a museum) to learn more about the central roles that fire and firefighting have played in Ponce’s history. Then work your way around the square to see Ponce’s symbol, the lion, anchoring each side of the plaza, the church, the fountains, and finally, Kings Cream, a no-frills emporium that sells small cups of ice cream—with flavors such as passion fruit, peanut, guava, and coconut—at bargain prices.

If the city has you overwhelmed, whether by its chaos or its abundance of choices, and you want to take refuge in the familiarity of a hotel bar, you can’t do much better than St. Regis’s King Cole Bar. Sit inside at the bar or on one of its loungers and enjoy live music with your drink, or—better yet—head out to the terrace, where you can watch traffic zip by on the city’s main avenue, Paseo de la Reforma. You’ll also be looking out upon the Diana the Huntress fountain, a snapshot-worthy landmark in this city that has no shortage of them. In fact, you can also see the Angel of Independence statue and Chapultepec Castle from here. As for drinks, the must-try is the Sangrita Maria, a blend of mezcal, sangrita, and pasilla chile puree. Every St. Regis bar creates a signature cocktail, and this one is definitely representative of Mexico City. If you’re a smoker, ask to see the bar’s cigar selection.

Small and intimate, Hotel Casa Oaxaca feels quintessentially Oaxacan: It’s colonial in style, with whitewashed walls contrasting with vivid pops of carnelian red and fuchsia. It’s surrounded by local vegetation. And it’s filled with Oaxacan handicrafts and art. Common areas invite visitors to settle in and relax, like the on-site library, pool, and terrace with beautifully-made cotton hammocks. The hotel’s seven rooms are arranged around the central patio. Visitors consistently say the service is exceptional, with attention to detail and a “go the extra mile” attitude mentioned frequently as one of the main reasons to return. Another is the hotel’s central location, as it offers an easy walk to many of Oaxaca’s top sights.

Don’t be confused by the name: This isn’t street food so much as dockside warehouse food. Walk over Inderhavnsbroen, one of the city’s newer bridges (opened in 2016), and you’ll cross from the heart of Copenhagen to a former industrial area that is now a foodie paradise. It is to the city what Borough Market is to London—a hugely popular attraction where people flock to eat great food off paper plates. Chinese, Korean, Italian, Moroccan . . . It’s all here and so inviting that it’s hard to know where to start. The only note of caution: Copenhagen Street Food is so popular that the weekend crowds can be intimidating.

When famed chef and restaurateur José Andrés opened this Mexico City restaurant in 2015, it was his first franchise outside of the U.S. and Puerto Rico. J by José Andrés is located inside the W Hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Polanco, and the interior design would be a satisfying experience even if the food wasn’t absolutely fantastic. All reds and yellows and just short of over-the-top elements (e.g. dozens of tassels) evoke Spain and bullfighting, but in a way that’s totally contemporary and delightfully playful—much like Andrés himself. (If you really want to play, there’s a foosball table in one of the rooms in the restaurant.) Thankfully, the food is fantastic, too. Like the decor, the menu evokes Spain, with classic recipes like ham croquettes alongside dishes that incorporate Mexican elements. Think traditional paella, but garnished with squash blossoms.

Mexico City’s mammoth cathedral was built across three centuries (1573–1813)—starting soon after Cortés and his allies vanquished the Aztec Empire—using stones taken from a destroyed indigenous temple. Today’s sanctuary serves up contrasts between unadorned neoclassical walls alongside exuberant gilt chapels and altarpieces as well as a massive pipe organ, with some baroque elements, that’s still dusted off and played from time to time. Be sure not to miss the high altar, and consider shelling out for a visit to the sacristy, with its glistening dome, grand canvases, and massive cabinets, fit to hold an archbishop’s entire stock of holy utensils. And for a queasy view of how much the ground beneath the city is sinking, note how chandeliers appear to list in comparison to the chapel’s vertical lines.

The system of canals and chinampas (cultivated artificial islands fashioned from the area’s swampy soils) that has survived in the far-south neighborhood known as Xochilmilco once stretched all the way to the Centro. To this day, the community is known for its plant nurseries and vegetable gardens. These ancient landscapes now contribute to what has become one of the most singular pleasure gardens in the world, where visitors hire “gondoliers” to propel boats known as trajineras as they sail these channels in the company of floating mariachis and food vendors, partying teens, and extended families out for a picnic lunch. Since a tour is usually a four-hour-plus investment (it flies by), ask your oarsman to take you to Xochimilco’s more-rural precincts, where you’ll enjoy marvelous quiet, far from the madding crowd, in the company of cranes, curs, and picturesque cornfields.

This tiny island is north of Isla Mujeres and Cancun and is only 26 miles long and offers visitors in search of a “Robinson Crusoe” experience the perfect escape. Long, sweeping beaches beckon with water sports, snorkeling, sport fishing, and total R&R. A shallow lagoon gives sanctuary to thousands of flamingos, pelicans and other exotic birds and creatures, allowing visitors the perfect spot in which to commune with nature. Several good restaurants and hotels are available and tours to area attractions can be arranged by ferry and small plane. Getting around the island is via bicycle or golf cart.