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Hilton’s reentry into the heart of Paris is nothing short of majestic. After a $50 million design overhaul, the 125-year-old hotel, made for the 1889 World’s Fair, has been revived to its 19th-century splendor with a contemporary twist. Formerly the Grand Hotel Terminus and the Concorde Opéra Paris, the property’s landmark status—with its Haussmannian facade and elegant public spaces—demanded it be painstakingly preserved. Among the restored, original elements, the most awe-inspiring are the Corinthian columns, chandeliers, balustrades, hand-painted frescoes, and marble and mosaic tiling. Fortunately, the bar takes pride of place among them, making it the ideal spot to start your stay with a cocktail or glass of wine.

The style in each of the rooms breaks with the traditional stark-white modern codes of most business hotels. Here it incorporates warm accent colors and textiles. With few heritage elements left to preserve, the sense of place is woven in with custom etchings of iconic Paris scenes hung behind each bed. But you won’t be spending much time here, as the action happens in the grand salon.

The Hotel Locarno occupies two adjacent buildings in the cosmopolitan district between the Tiber River and Piazza del Popolo. The original property, built and inaugurated in the 1920s, houses the majority of the standard and deluxe rooms, while the annex, a former palazzo owned by a Venetian family, houses the more luxurious suites. Both of the adjoined structures blend Old World charm and art nouveau elegance, and their rooms preserve turn-of-the-20^th-century decor, including lavish drapery, oil paintings, embellished ceiling stuccoes, and period furniture.

The two buildings are joined by a wisteria-filled courtyard, where breakfast is served in fine weather. The rooftop bar offers aperitivo (the Italian version of happy hour) cocktail service and sweeping views over the city and across the river to St. Peter’s cupola. The bar is open to the public and attracts a well-heeled Roman and expat crowd.

This dockside restaurant has a charming historic patina, as it is part of an actual fishing club headquartered in an 18th-century military Cartagena fortress, San Sebastián del Pastelillo. Sit at outdoor tables with views of the city, the bay, and the club’s private marina and pier (some of your fellow patrons arrive by boat!), and dine on freshly caught seafood. On weekends, live music—jazz, bossa nova, and flamenco—animates the scene.

Sometimes called “Milan‘s Sistine Chapel” because of its profusely--and beautifully-- decorated walls and ceilings, San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore is well worth a visit. The Renaissance paintings commissioned by the Sforza family (the primary sponsors of Leonardo da Vinci), adorn the walls of a cloistered convent founded for noble ladies in the early 16th century. Built on an ancient Roman site, the church was built and decorated in stages over several centuries, every interior wall covered in luminous colors befitting the pomp of Lombard aristocratic taste. In particular, frescoes by Bernardino Luini, student of da Vinci, blend the sacred and the profane, using members of the court as models for portraits of saints. Most of the numerous religious and secular works of the Milanese painter have been lost, so San Maurizio is the best place to see his works. To get the most out of a visit to this little gem of art history, go with a knowledgeable guide. My husband and I toured historical Milan with Ludovic Goudin of Walks of Italy, who offer a variety of tours in Milan. San Maurizio was just one of the fascinating places we visited!.

Just behind the Pantheon hides the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a gem in its own right. The only Gothic church in Rome’s center, it’s a breath of fresh air from over-the-top Baroque opulence. Plus, it has gorgeous frescoes by Filippo Lippi (an early Renaissance master), the body of Italy’s patron saint Catherine of Siena, the tomb of painter Fra Angelico, and a statue done—at least partly—by Michelangelo himself.

The Coronado Bridge links San Diego to Coronado Island—and the present to the past. In the span of just 2.12 miles, you’ll travel from the digital age to a century when “electrified” hotels were practically unheard of. When the Hotel Del Coronado debuted in 1888, its electric lights and telephones made a sensation—as did its resplendence. In 1892, a young guest named Noel proclaimed in a letter to her family back east that “the red and the white between the bluest sky and the bluest water is like a beautiful dream in a fairy story.” Legions of A-listers have checked in ever since, as a who’s who of vintage portraits attests. But while a stay here is delightfully nostalgic—featuring bike rentals, beachside cabanas, and evening clambakes—the 757-room hotel doesn’t live entirely in the past. Take advantage of its upscale spa, spin classes on the beach, and restaurants serving updated takes on coastal cuisine along with creative cocktails. In the historic Victorian Building Suites, you’ll find modern coastal-chic interiors, streaming TVs, and, of course, Wi-Fi. The Beach Village Suites include additional modern luxuries—like a Sub-Zero fridge and dedicated concierge to help you fill it.

Nearly 1,000 years after the once-powerful central Mexican city of Cacaxtla was abandoned, would-be looters of the hilltop palace ruins came across fantastically well-preserved and still colorful murals painted in a somewhat puzzling Mayan style. Excavation continues today under an enormous protective shed roof. The Mural del Templo Rojo, pictured, adjoins a stairway leading to the Governor’s Room. The huge nearby Mural de la Batalla, dating from 700 CE or earlier, is a grisly blood-and-guts depiction of a fierce battle between “jaguar” and “bird” warriors. The relatively un-touristed site is a short drive from Tlaxcala, slighting longer from Puebla. You come away from a slow stroll through the labyrinthine ruins with the feeling that centuries of mysterious history have seeped into your heart and bones.

Puente del Inca is a natural bridge located northwest district of Las Cuevas, which has formed over thousands of years by the interaction of extreme temperatures—freezing avalanches and steaming thermal waters. Declared a natural monument, which has been visited by the likes of Charles Darwin, Puente del Inca has five nearby hot springs known for their healing properties. In 1925, the Hotel Puente del Inca was built, each room featuring its own spa; however, it was destroyed by landslides in the sixties and has remained abandoned ever since. Although you can’t bathe in the thermal pools anymore, the striking oxidized rock formations make for a great photo op.

What happens in the Museo del Whisky stays in the Museo del Whisky. And in this institution of Donosti, you never know what will happen. With a wild selection of whiskeys (as the name suggests) and an equally impressive gamut of cocktails, Museo de Whisky is full of surprises. Then there are the characters that visit this spot on a regular basis. The bottom floor is a piano bar with no holds barred.

Located near the ferry pier, this upscale, open-air colonial mall is a favorite with locals and visitors alike. A cobblestone path leads past a number of U.S. brands and boutiques such as American Apparel and Diesel. For coffee lovers, Starbucks is located at its center.

New Mexico has an official state vegetable: the chile pepper. (In case you’re wondering, only 13 out of the 50 states even have such a designation.) And the self-proclaimed chile capital is the tiny agricultural village of Hatch--population 1600. But every year, on Labor Day weekend, up to thirty thousand people converge here to celebrate the hot pods during the annual Hatch Chile Festival. Climate and soil here converge for optimal pepper-growing. If you can’t make it to the Rio Grande Valley in early September, don’t worry about the flavor running out--roasted then frozen or canned, or dried and powdered, Hatch chiles can be had year-round. At Pepper Pot, a family-owned restaurant on what passes for the village’s main drag, try them stuffed--the chile relleno--or in sauce form, over enchiladas, burritos, huevos...And when it comes to which sauce to choose, New Mexico has an official state question: “red or green?” The local (and tastiest) way to answer is “Christmas,” and you’ll get both. This is down-to-earth terroir... Incidentally, several years ago, Anthony Bourdain passed through here and proclaimed Pepper Pot’s red enchiladas to be the best he’d ever had. Come judge for yourself. Open for breakfast and lunch, this converted home is a cash-only restaurant. The borders of both Texas and Mexico are only an hour away, and it’s a favorite with local farmers and bikers passing through; if you decide to eavesdrop, you’ll be hearing trilled Rs and twangy English.

It’s pretty amazing what you can do with some old stables. Vienna’s vast former quarters for the imperial horses, designed by the great baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, were turned in recent years into the MuseumsQuartier. It could take days to see all the works in this 15-acre, multi-museum complex that lies just off the Ringstrasse and is devoted to collections of modern and contemporary art. The limestone Leopold Museum for Austrian art is named after an early collector of the bold painter Egon Schiele. Its Café Leopold includes courtyard seating under umbrellas. For your Picassos and Giacomettis, the nearby MUMOK specializes in the giants of modern art. The MuseumsQuartier’s huge courtyard is a popular Vienna hangout where many festivals take place and DJs spin on weekends.

Compared to other ancient pyramids in Mexico, the ruins at Xochitecatl draw relatively few visitors (we counted a dozen or so during our hour there). The Pyramid of Flowers and other pre-Columbian stone structures sprawl across 30 acres atop the dome of an extinct volcano. The 360-degree panorama takes in the entire Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley, with unobstructed views of the Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl, and La Malinche volcanoes, as well as nearby Cacaxtla, site of famous still-colorful Mayan-style murals painted 1,300 or more years ago.

The Swiss-born modernist giant was many things: architect, painter, sculptor, graphic artist, furniture designer, and writer. This museum, also known as the Centre Le Corbusier, is located in the Zürichhorn park, and offers a chance to view examples of his work across all these realms—the most striking of which is the building itself, Le Corbusier’s last, a steel-and-glass masterpiece marked by multicolored enameled panels.

This airy, elegant Richmond eatery celebrates the fusion of French and southern-central Vietnamese cultures in its look and menu. Chef/owner Lan Do and her team painstakingly bake baguettes daily and simmer beef bones for 12 to 15 hours for the pho stock, enriched by onion, ginger, shallots, star anise, cinnamon and cardamom. Another standout: the banh khot, petite savory rice crepes tinged with turmeric that cradle shrimp. Finish with macrons and a TWG tea from Singapore. Note: Bánh Mì Très Bon has slightly elevated prices for a restaurant tucked near the Walmart Super Centre, but that’s only because it sources as locally, sustainably and organically as possible—the same nutritious food Do would serve her own family.