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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.

Superlatives reign at this massive Palm Beach resort. Among the outsize offerings? The biggest casino in Aruba, with more than 500 slot machines and 26 gaming tables, as well as the island’s largest spa. Its 414 accommodations aren’t lacking for space either: Each room has a walk-in closet, double-sink bathroom, and private balcony; the highest-end suites are so palatial their balconies alone measure up to a sprawling 500 square feet—with ocean views to sweeten the deal. When you’re not playing roulette or indulging in a moisturizing coconut-milk wrap, kick back in one of the beachside palapas, or practice your breaststroke in the free-form pool, complete with cascading waterfalls and a volleyball net (a serene adults-only pool features a swim-up bar if that’s more your speed). In keeping with the more-is-more theme, guests are spoiled for choice with seven on-site restaurants, bars, and cafés, including a Ruth’s Chris Steak House, where the 500-degree plates ensure another best—the hottest meal in town.

Described by Napoleon as the “Drawing Room of Europe,” Venice’s principal public square is dominated by Saint Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace—as well as its famous pigeons. Wander the framing porticos, have coffee at Quadri or Florian’s and just take it all in. Even on the most crowded days, there’s a feeling of calm in the eddying whirls of people who gather in this impressive space.

The sustainably designed andBeyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge on the edge of the NamibRand Nature Reserve captures the raw beauty of the world’s oldest living desert. The otherworldliness of the environment has been consciously translated into every aspect of the experience. The off-grid design factors in the extreme climate and harsh elements, and the desert’s forms, colors and textures are reflected in sculptural stone and steel lines that give way to soft, organic shapes. Throughout, glass walls slide away to amplify the big-sky views. The 10 guest suites are self-sufficient, solar-powered private retreats, each generating ample energy to run on photovoltaic power for everything from the AC and the deep swimming pools to the water harvesting and recycling systems.


Activities include climbing the world’s highest dunes at Sossusvlei or e-biking along gravel trails to caves with rock art by the desert’s earliest inhabitants. Back at the lodge, dishes that reflect Namibia’s cultural history include venison and Kalahari truffles and fresh seafood from the Atlantic Ocean. With close to zero light pollution, the Namib is one of the best dark sky locations in the Southern Hemisphere. The best way to end any evening is in the lodge’s observatory. You can also fall asleep counting stars, thanks to a skylight above your bed.

With only a couple of exceptions, you can’t soak in Yellowstone’s thermal features (this is for numerous reasons, not the least of which is that most are so scalding hot they’d burn the flesh off you). North of Gardiner, Montana, though, in the no-stoplight community of Pray, Chico Hot Springs has welcomed soakers to its spring-fed hot pools since 1900. Spend the night in one of the quirky rooms in the historic main lodge, originally built as a boardinghouse for miners, or in a refurbished caboose from the Northern Pacific Railroad. If at all possible, plan to be at Chico on a Sunday morning, when it serves the best brunch in Montana.

When the Art family bought the struggling Chico Hot Springs Resort in 1972, some of the earliest improvements they made were to its dining room. The idea was to create one of the best restaurants in the state; if guests came for the food, maybe they’d spend the night. The family succeeded. Today the Chico Dining Room is so beloved it spawned a cookbook, A Montana Table: Recipes from Chico Hot Springs Resort. While ingredients are as fresh as can be—with produce from on-site greenhouses, meat from local ranchers, seafood flown in overnight from the coast—the menu includes some dishes that have been around for more than 40 years. The classic Chico meal is beef Wellington (service for two) and, for dessert, a Flaming Orange, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Mama Tilly’s has a way with grilled food, a knack that has made it a longtime favorite in Laborie. (This little fishing village has retained its charm despite widespread tourism in the region.) The main courses—like grilled chicken, pork, mahi-mahi, lobster, conch (a local specialty), or other fresh catch of the day—are complemented by plentiful sides of plantains, rice, or potato salad. Wash it all down with the potent house rum punch. Everything’s served family style on wooden tables under the zinc-roofed porch or indoors. The atmosphere is chatty and friendly as folks come in and out to pick up their orders.

Who can resist a waterfall, especially on this lush tropical island? There are a couple of easy options: Diamond Falls (though you can’t swim in its mineral-laden pool) and the 50-foot-high Toraille Falls, right off the main road near Sulphur Springs. For the more adventurous, some rocky hikes through dense rain forest come with the reward of stunning cascades. Dennery Falls, also known as Errand or Sault Falls, tumbles down from 55 feet up and is rarely crowded, though you’ll need a guide to find it. A two-hour guided hike through the steep Edmund Forest Reserve leads to Enbas Saut Falls, and its clear, cold pool is well worth the effort.

Jungle Zone, located next to the food court at Hyatt Plaza, is an indoor theme park with attractions including roller coasters, also bumper cars, a racetrack and bumper boats, video games, indoor water ride, a zip line, and carnival games. As an animal-themed children’s attraction, the employees dress as playful jungle animals. One of the Jungle’s main attraction is the 7D Dark Ride, a multisensory game/ride. There is also a small soft play area for toddlers and a nifty nest art area where kids can draw, color or just have a quiet time. It’s open 12:00 to 22:00 Sunday to Wednesday, 13:00 to 23:00 Thursday and Friday, 10:00 to 22:00 Saturday, 9:00 to 12:00 on weekdays during scheduled school visits.

Blue John has been a favorite of canyon explorers for many years, but it became widely known after a large boulder fell and trapped climber Aron Ralston’s arm. (He survived, and his story was told on film in 127 Hours, starring James Franco). Where Ralston got caught, and the route to get there, is not particularly scenic; that said, there are a number of other beautiful spots to see in the canyon, many of which are linked via the East/Main Fork Loop. There are a few rappels and technical gear is required, but you can hire a guide if you want to explore with an expert by your side.

Fans of real-deal sushi-bar Nipponese are united in huzzahs for Rokai, a sliver of a restaurant in a low-key, high-end section of the Cuauhtémoc quarter, north of the Reforma. Japanese-born chefs Hiroshi Kawahito and Daisuke Maeda change up the menu daily, depending on what’s available at markets (they make great use of some of the best fish that comes in from Baja California); regulars like to nosh omakase-style for a multiple-course tasting at the chef’s discretion. Quality sakes add a rosy glow to the precision with which every creation comes over the bar in this spare but fashionable setting. Reservations are recommended.

You don’t have to be a guest at El Fenn’s hotel to relish the eclectic surroundings of its gallery and boutique—all ruby red tadelakt around a gleaming silver bar, with a chest-high fireplace and a trompe l’oeil of strutting pink flamingos. As spaces go, it’s a work of art in and of itself. Put it on your list for lunch, dinner, or drinks so that you can also delight in the frequently changing exhibits of contemporary Moroccan and international artworks. Recent highlights featured a showcase of the best of Essaouira art naïf painters and the late, great photographer Leila Alaoui’s moving portraits entitled simply The Moroccans. Peruse the boutique for a carefully curated selection of made-in-Morocco housewares, fashion, and gift items by local designers and artisans before heading upstairs for a long, lazy lunch of market-fresh salads and grilled meat and fish served family style on the rooftop. If it’s too cold for dining alfresco, grab a perfectly crafted negroni from the bar and snag a spot by the fire for an intimate tête-à-tête.

After Carcassonne in southwest France, Visby lays claim to the most important and best-preserved medieval city walls in all of Europe. The town’s citizens began building the original six-meter-high (20-foot) fortified walls in the 13th century, and they eventually grew to over 11 meters (36 feet). Today, the wall still stretches for 3.4 kilometers (2.1 miles). Walk in its shadow and explore the 36 intact medieval towers as well as numerous gateways. The North Gate offers the most impressive view of the wall, providing a sense of its enormous scale. St. Mary’s Cathedral, a few blocks inland, also dates to the 13th century.

225 meters below the surface of the earth, visitors make their way through dim passageways that miners in the late 1800s had navigated in search of gold. The tour guide ‘jokingly’ points out that if for some reason we get stuck down there, the only way out is a via a steep emergency exit tunnel. In the photo for this post, there is a miner located beyond the struts (which are used to support the ceiling), who’s job it is to demonstrate what it was like in the past when miners excavated the gold bearing ore with nothing but a candle for light! During the tour, you’ll learn about the gold rush that caused the formation of Johannesburg and you’ll also be shown some interesting historical items, like dynamite which was manufactured by Alfred Nobel

Celebrated on Broadway and in film as the title character in The Unsinkable Molly Brown (with unsinkable being a reference to her survival as a passenger of the Titanic), Margaret Brown was born in Missouri and moved to Leadville, Colorado, with two of her siblings when she was 18. She later met and married J.J. Brown, and the couple became rich after J.J. devised a method of reaching gold in one of the mines. They moved to Denver and bought this house in 1894. It went through several owners after the Browns, but it was eventually acquired in 1970 by Historic Denver, a foundation that restored it to the state it was in when the Browns lived there. The house is open for tours that offer a deeper dive into Margaret’s interesting life as a socialite and philanthropist.

This refined 28-acre resort set in the rolling hills between downtown Sonoma and downtown Napa makes guests feel relaxed the moment they check in. The vistas are unobstructed from the resort’s pool areas, and many of the property’s 94 stand-alone cottages with private balconies and six private homes offer views of the open space, too. By day, lawn games are usually underway on the grassy expanse called the Town Square, while in the evenings, a pavilion provides an unparalleled backdrop for stargazing. This is a hotel that values fresh air, as evidenced by the walls in the common areas, which retract to bring the outdoors in. There are other reasons to fall in love with Carneros—namely, the on-site restaurants. The casual Boon Fly Café is famous for breakfasts, with spicy bacon Bloody Mary drinks and tiny made-to-order doughnuts. FARM, on the other hand, is more formal, with menu items such as braised oxtail terrine and smoked Sonoma duck breast. While the hotel offers in-room massages, it will also reopen its spa after a full-scale renovation later in 2018.