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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.

Adam and Skye Rust admit that they have a thing for taxidermy. And bones. And teeth. Adam has even made an animated sculpture where taxidermied mice circle and dance à la “Three Blind Mice.” They travel the globe to find the strangest and most visually impactful specimens to fill the motionless zoo and touch-friendly museum that is Woolly Mammoth Antiques & Oddities. Brussel Sprouts, the real two-headed calf (from Brussels); a ceremonial Odd Fellows skeleton; vintage medical tools; and old apothecary bottles all share space in this retail wonderarium. Not everything in Woolly Mammoth is a curiosity, but if it’s the unusual you’re seeking to buy, you’re bound to find it here.

If you are in Venice, you will surely get familiar with local spritz (a fizzy, refreshing aperitif) and cicchetti, or small snacks. If you want to have a local experience, be sure to stop by Cantine del Vino Già Schiavi while walking around La Salute area.

It’s more of a wine bar or shop than a true restaurant, with floor-to-ceiling bottles along the walls and most patrons standing as they nibble cicchetti like bruschetta with a cod spread or brie and anchovies. Buon appetito!

After a 2017 renovation, Rome’s historic Hotel Eden re-emerged with an extensive face-lift. The 128-year-old hotel’s marble and gold lobby hints at the 98 opulent guest rooms that have been refreshed with gold detailing and original artwork. The new spa uses products from the Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, founded in 1612. The top-floor restaurant, La Terrazza, serves Italian cuisine with views of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Overall, if you’re looking for a luxurious stay in a beautiful, 5-star hotel, this Roman hotel is hard to beat.

This is Isla Magueyes, the island that once harbored the Mayaguez Zoo but was later turned into the Department of Marine Sciences of the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez. This is solely a graduate department, offering degrees in four disciplines of oceanography. Isla Magueyes is also home to brown Cuban iguanas—pretty much found only on this little island where they are content with human visitors and residents of the island. To give you a glimpse of these large iguanas, you can take tours from mainland La Parguera that will pass by Isla Magueyes. You won’t usually see them anywhere else in Puerto Rico, thanks to the invasive green iguana seen everywhere. If you’re a visiting scientist or prospective student to the department, you can even stay on Isla Magueyes while conducting research or classes.

Since opening as a preserves shop in 2011 (and adding breakfast and lunch service in 2012), Sqirl has become an East Hollywood staple. The tiny space—only 800 square feet—invites crowds of hip Angelenos looking for a bright space for all-day breakfast and brunch that’s carnivore-, vegetarian-, and vegan-friendly. There’s an airy outdoor patio where diners can take in the L.A. sun and sip on the fresh-squeezed juice of the day while ruminating over the eclectic menu. The buckwheat pancakes make for a great healthy unhealthy breakfast: They’re made with buckwheat and cactus flour, cocoa nibs, and toasted coconut, making them vegan, gluten-free, and not-so-sinfully delicious.

Chef Franck Dangereux (formerly of La Colombe, a celebrated Cape Town institution) runs the Foodbarn Restaurant out of a lovely old barn in the village of Noordhoek. Here, you’ll get all the flavors of a fancy restaurant, without the fuss. You may dine on artistically presented dishes like pépé goat cheese beignets, but a glance around the revamped space, with its rustic-chic decor and colorful knickknacks, will remind you that you are, in fact, feasting in a barn. At night, the place transforms into a tapas bar.

Shopping passages were built in the 19th century to give Parisians protection from muddy streets and horse-drawn vehicles. Galerie Vivienne is a beautiful restored 19th-century passage with entrances at the Rue des Petits-Champs, Rue de la Banque, and Rue Vivienne. Built in 1823 in a neoclassical Pompeian style that includes a gorgeous canopy and is decorated inside with mosaics, paintings, and sculptures, Galerie Vivienne’s most famous resident is the Jean-Paul Gaultier shop. Some passage entrances are easy to miss, so be on the lookout! A stroll through these fascinating galeries is a fun and free activity on a rainy day.

Casa Vicente is an institution in this desert city—Tucson’s outpost for tapas a la española. Just south of the downtown core, a couple of blocks from the neo-Baroque façade of the Cathedral of San Agustín, this restaurant also features live music on weeknights: classical guitar, flamenco, and even tango lessons. This particular evening, we tried chipirones rellenos, a trio of baby calamari skewered and stuffed with green tomatoes and spices. In a town more known for its tacos and burros (a.k.a. ‘burritos’ elsewhere), it’s appropriate, if somewhat uncommon, to find Iberian fare. Tucson was founded in 1775 as an outpost of the Spanish empire, decades before it became Mexican, and then in the mid-19th century, it finally became part of a U.S. territory. (And, by the way, the sangría here rocks.)

One of Mallorca’s oldest converted fincas (rural farmhouse estates), Es Castell epitomizes the eco-conscious boutique hotels that are subverting the island’s conventional tourist image. From $175. C/Binibona s/n, 34/971-875-154 This appeared in the October 2014 issue. Tom Downey explored Mallorca beyond the beach and found...shoes? Read the full story here

“A poorly grilled turbot is a turbot that has died in vain.” This is the motto that hangs in Kai Kaipe, one of the two stars in a village that really shouldn’t have any. They specialize, like Elkano, in grilled fish. Locals who prefer Kai Kaipe do so for the wine list and the ambience.

Simple, skilled treatment of raw product is the hallmark of the cuisine at Narru. With a chef once named in the Wall Street Journal as a top young chef to watch in Europe, the food here is quite simply delicious. Stars are the tomato salad, the seafood rice dish of the day, the crema de queso for dessert, and the secreto ibérico, an incredibly juicy cut of pork.

If you’re in Madrid and in the mood for tapas, you might not know exactly where to go or what to taste. The Mercado San Miguel (metro Sol) takes away all that decision-making by providing you with a taste experience all under one roof. The old, derelict market was renovated just a few years ago and turned into an upmarket culinary emporium of sorts. It has more than 30 food stalls, each selling something different. My favorite is the bellota ham sold at Carrasco, but there is plenty more. You can sample sherries and Rioja wines at the wine bar, or do as Spaniards do and pick away at tapas as you make your way through the market. I highly recommend the croquettes, or croquetas, in one of the outside alleys: they have ham, chicken, shrimp, cheese and a variety of others. The more standard tapas area easy to find, like tortilla, and seafood is beautifully laid out for you to pick and choose. Right in the middle is my top-rated tapa place. I couldn’t find a name for it but it’s the largest counter, shaped like a U, and has everything from potatoes aioli to steamed razor clams, with everything in-between.

Baja California Sur is less saturated than other Mexican seasides, but some of the beaches, like Balandra, attract a crowd. For a bit of Baha California Sur quiet, take a boat ride or a thirty-minute hike (no flip-flops, please) to Playa La Escondida. The beach is blanketed with white sand, surrounded by mountains, and bumps up against clear blue waters. Remember to bring all food, clothing, and other goodies you might need for your day as there are no shops or services.

Originally opened in 1946 as a luxury hideaway for the rich and famous, the Hotel Bel-Air’s brilliance as a Hollywood icon has, if anything, increased since its renovation, finished in 2011, by the renowned design teams at Alexandra Champalimaud and the Rockwell Group. Surrounded by 12 acres of fragrant, exotic gardens, the decadent rooms have housed everyone from Grace Kelly to Oprah, from Richard Nixon to the Prince of Wales, all of whom sought serene privacy—and the staff’s renowned discretion.