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World-famous pastry chef Sal De Riso is from the small Amalfi Coast town of Minori, which makes a stop in the quiet village for something sweet a great idea. His flagship pastry shop, across from the seaside promenade, was recently renovated and expanded to include a bistro and pizzeria. Glass display cases are filled with classic offering such as torta ricotta e pere and sfogliatelle. Don’t miss the baba au rhum–flavored gelato. A jar of Cilento figs preserved with walnuts and wild fennel would make a sweet remembrance of your trip.

La Piazzetta is known as the place to see and be seen while on glamorous Capri. The small square, officially the Piazza Umberto I, is the center of everyday Caprese life and is dominated by a unique freestanding clocktower that chimes every 15 minutes. For the best seat in town, head to Bar Tiberio, which sits just beside Santo Stefano cathedral. You will have a view of striking Monte Solaro, as well as all of the comings and goings from the funicular and along the shopping streets.

Palermo’s Norman Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has been a seat of power in Sicily for centuries. Its apartments (open to the public Friday through Monday) provided quarters to King Roger II during his reign in the 12th century, and the palace is still in use today: It now houses the Sicilian Regional Assembly. Visit the basement to see the stone walls of the original Phoenician structures upon which the palace was built. The opulent Palatine Chapel, added by Roger II in 1132, is an attraction in its own right.

For a satisfying mid-afternoon snack, seek out one of the city’s ubiquitous walk-up counters. Nni Franco U’ Vastiddaru is typical, serving classic street food like arancini (stuffed rice balls) and panelle. The latter is a Palermo specialty: These chunky, chiplike fritters made of chickpea flour are simple yet addictively delicious, with a spritz of Sicilian lemon.

Check your email and share your pictures of your fabulous Amalfi Coast vacation on Facebook and Instagram, all while you enjoy a cold drink with a view of the Spiaggia Grande. La Brezza Net Art Café has strong Wi-Fi and is open all day for breakfast, lunch, snacks, aperitivi, and dinner. The menu includes big salads and simple sandwiches. The lemon granita is particularly good. Below the outside terrace, the BioBrezza counter serves fresh fruit smoothies and juices.

The church of San Cataldo and its neighbor, La Martorana, both overlook the Piazza Bellini but offer contrasting experiences. San Cataldo is modest on the outside, and its interior remains unfinished more than 850 years after its construction—but it is no less beautiful for that. La Martorana (also known as Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio), on the other hand, is one of Palermo’s greatest remaining churches from the Middle Ages. The elaborate mosaics that decorate its interior are thought to have been created by the same artisans who created the Palatine Chapel.

At street level, the Capuchin monastery might seem like many other historic churches in Palermo. But once you go below ground, you’ll encounter the most unusual and macabre display in the city. More than 8,000 mummified bodies are interred in its catacombs, some stacked on wooden shelves, others standing or hanging upright along the walls. The oldest resident is a friar named Silvestro da Gubbio, who dates from 1599; among the more recent arrivals is two-year-old Rosalia Lombardo, who died in 1920 and is so eerily well preserved that she’s been nicknamed Sleeping Beauty.

It’s a little strange to find yourself in an Italian restaurant in Merida, when your focus should be the local Yucatean cuisine. But when a young, and talented chef like Stefano Marcelletti decides to cook for you at his brand new restaurant, it’s 100% worth the detour. We had the best seats in the house, right in front of the kitchen, which is separated by a large glass wall from the dining room. The flurry of activity inside was infectious, and the incredible dishes they churned out for us, one after the other, left our rambunctious crowd speechless and in awe. It was a real journey for the senses. Simple plates, such as a caprese salad, made our taste buds explode. At the end we all felt it was a good break from our intense foray into Yucatean food over the past few days. The restaurant’s interios is modern, perhaps even a little bit industrial in style. It looked like mostly locals ate here, as we didn’t spot a other tourists. If you’re ready to take a break from Mexican food, or simply in the mood for some scrumptious Italian fare, this is your place. OPEN MON–SAT: 7pm-11pm Oliva Enoteca only takes reservations for 8 and more people. All other will be seated on a first come first serve basis. Calle 47 & Esquina con 54 Colonia Centro, Merida, YUC, MX. Tel. 999.923.3081 >>>A heartfelt thank you to Yucatan Tourism for an unforgettable 4 days in the Yucatan, my new favorite place in Mexico! @YucatanTourism #TravelYucatan

Adjacent to the restaurant is a cheery boutique filled with gourmet products from all over Tuscany. Thanks to the restaurant’s long-standing relationships with many of the region’s top purveyors, you’ll find high-quality olive oil (tastings can also be arranged), cheeses, cured meat, preserves, breads, and more. Not all of it will make it through customs, but you can savor any perishables on a picnic to the Tuscan countryside.

Casa e Bottega is the place to head when you need to offset your vacation eating with a fresh juice and green salad. Try the beet, ginger, and lemon juice and a salad with anchovies from Cetara and the season’s first tomatoes, or maybe a green juice made with spinach, apple, and citrus and a cold rice salad with skewers of grilled vegetables. Love to shop? You don’t have to leave your table! The glassware, ceramics, table linens, and beach bags—all in the same soothing sea glass–green palette as the café’s—are for sale.

You can smell the enticing aroma from this shop as you leave La Piazzetta to walk down Capri’s main drag. This historic gelateria and pastry shop makes its own crisp sugar cones to serve ice cream to the crowds throughout the day and late into the night. Come here after your evening passeggiata for a gelato. If you can’t make a decision, don’t fret: You can order up to three flavors in one cone. Wonderful pastries and ready-made meals are available here, too. (There is another location down at the Marina Grande.)

The Grand Hotel Tremezzo has been the summer home for Europe’s jet set since opening in 1910. Over the past five years, the Como-based De Santis family, which has owned the lakefront hotel since 1975, has ushered the grande dame into the modern era by building eight rooftop suites, expanding the spa, and adding a hammam. Marble bathrooms and champagne-stocked minibars make the rooms feel fit for aristocrats, but the hotel is far from buttoned up. Guests can splash around in one of three pools, including one that actually floats on the lake. Locals join guests at Saturday beach parties. From $420. This appeared in the October 2015 issue.

Tucked away in the heart of downtown Seoul is the quaint Insadong district, where a Korea of yore comes to life in the form of traditional artists and musicians, shops selling Korean crafts and souvenirs, and street performers dressed in native costumes. This is the place to go if you’re set on buying the wooden masks, paper lanterns, and tea sets that the country is famous for. Two other stores also stand out from the crowd in Insadong: Gounjae Handcraft can be smelled before you even enter the door. This handmade soap shop, in the small brick courtyard of Ssamji Gil Center, offers sumptuously scented soaps, lotions, and bath products in scents like avocado, ginger, and almond. I love the tiny, traditional mask-shaped soaps that make inexpensive and lightweight souvenirs. The Ee Gee boutique is a veritable treasure chest bursting with glimmering necklaces, bracelets, and other one-of-a-kind baubles–it’s located on Insadong’s main drag.

About 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Trapani, and just north of Marsala, acres of salt flats stretch in shallow lagoons, punctuated by crumbling windmills. This region has been producing bright white salt with intense flavor since Phoenician times, and a Museum of Salt lays out the process in a restored windmill, with everything from diagrams of the Archimedes screws used to pump water between flats to the wide, straight shovels used for skimming the salt into towering white mounds. Bags of the stuff can be bought at the gift shop, so you can take home a taste of Sicily.

Pizza is always a good idea. And pizza fresh from a wood-fired oven served at a table as close to the sea without actually being in the water is an even better idea. Downstairs at the Hotel Covo dei Saraceni, this casual brasserie serves inexpensive pizzas for lunch and dinner. The chewy Neapolitan-style crust is slathered with San Marzano–tomato sauce and fresh, creamy mozzarella, decorated with a basil leaf or two. The simplicity is delicious. You can also order your pies for takeout.