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I would compare Marienplatz to the Grand Place in Brussels, but with a Bavarian twist. The square in Munich is almost as large, and its town hall just as impressive. A beautiful destination for lovers of architecture. While the square itself is a beautiful and lively hub, be sure to checkout the market nearby for authentic goods!

Movie director Francis Ford Coppola had traveled the world, but when he visited Belize in the 1980s, in search of a “jungle paradise” like the one where he had filmed Apocalypse Now, he was taken by the untamed land and bought Blancaneaux, the first of two resort properties he would eventually own in Belize. (The other is Turtle Inn.) Initially, Blancaneaux was a family retreat, but by the early 1990s, Coppola decided to turn it into a small luxury resort. Today, guests with deep pockets enjoy visiting Blancaneaux for its sense of exclusivity; travelers have to really want to stay here. An hour’s drive down a bone-jarring road away from civilization, one doesn’t just happen upon the resort. Accommodations are gigantic villa- and cabana-style lodgings lavishly decorated with handmade furniture, textiles, and crafts. Hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and swimming are a few of the activities for guests on-site at Blancaneaux.

Just beyond the western edge of Tucson, you’ll find these Hohokam petroglyphs in Saguaro National Park. No one knows precisely when they were carved into the rocks, but Hohokam settlements in the Sonoran desert date back almost two thousand years. We went on a short hike among the saguaro to end up on this hilltop with this pre-Columbian art—not your typical suburban stroll.

At Luma on Park, James Beard Award semifinalist Brandon McGlamery works magic with a modern American menu. While the restaurant follows dining trends with handcrafted cocktails and small plates, it’s really more of a modernized steak house, with dishes like Harris Ranch short ribs, foie gras terrine, cobia ceviche, and classic wedge salad. For a night to remember, request an outdoor table and enjoy the prix-fixe menu alongside some of Orlando’s best people-watching.

Even in a city with picturesque scenes around every corner, the Petit Champlain area, located along the waterfront in the Lower Town, stands out as an especially charming corner of Old Québec. The heart of the neighborhood is the Place Royale while its spine is Rue du Petit-Champlain. While the area claims the distinction of being North America’s oldest commercial district, for most of its history its buildings housed the offices of fur traders and stevedores lodged in the tenement apartments. Today, while it’s still a bustling neighborhood, the boutiques and bistros are what draw visitors to the cobblestoned lanes. In the summer, café tables spill out into the streets; in the winter, the neighborhood exudes a Québecois sense of coziness, especially at night after a snowfall, when every restaurant offers a tempting shelter from the cold.

Opened in 2003, Carlisle Bay is set on a lush, isolated section of Antigua’s south coast and has a 21st-century design that feels more contemporary than Caribbean. With muted shades of grays, whites, and greens, the hotel projects an uncluttered, understated luxury. Its most remarked-on feature, though, is the way it appeals to both couples and families by keeping the two separate. Each group has its own cluster of rooms at its own end of the beach, and never the twain have to meet, except perhaps for lunch at Ottimo, the poolside Italian restaurant. The crescent of beach is tucked into a sheltered bay, so the waves seldom do more than whisper up onto the white sand, against a backdrop of forested hills. It’s all very restful, but the long list of free non-motorized watersports and the extensive kids’ club ensures everyone has plenty to do.

This beach is remote, but worth the trip—especially at low tide when the tide pools are full of sea stars, sea urchins, and green anemones. It’s about a mile on foot from the Coastal Trail trailhead, past Nickel Creek campground, to the sandy and empty beach. Where you go from there or how long you spend walking around the tide pools is up to you. Winter landslides can temporarily close trail access to the Nickel Creek campsite and to the beach from the campsite. The park’s visitor center has the most updated information as well as tide schedules. There are also occasional ranger-led tide-pool walks.

The Dachstein Glacier offers some of Austria’s most incredible Alpine experiences in any season, but particularly in winter. Head to the easily accessible Ice Palace for a fun look deep inside the glacier, or brave the highest suspension bridge in the country for stunning views over the snowy Dachstein Mountains. The truly daring can explore the “Stairway to Nothingness,” which takes visitors down 14 narrow steps to a glass platform jutting out from the rock face.

Not many places in the world celebrate, honor, and look after camels with the passion Qataris do. During the winter months, Shahaniya Racetrack holds weekly camel races, where visitors are invited to follow the camels from the comfort of their cars on a paved road that runs along the track. The entry is free, the camel handlers are friendly and eager to practice their English with visitors, the camels are robust and imposing, and the overall experience is unique. To top it all off, Qataris also celebrate the physical attributes of their camels by holding annual beauty contests. The owner of the winning camels walks away with a hefty prize and many kudos.

Menton is France’s lemon-growing capital, a fact that the whole town celebrates: The tiles in Menton’s Fontana Rossa gardens are painted with lemons, and local restaurants feature them in lick-your-spoon-clean soufflés. Every winter, the road into town closes for a lemon festival that features huge sculptures made of citrus fruits. It seems fitting, then, that a local shop, Maison Herbin, is dedicated to selling artisanal lemon jam, which is made in small batches to coax the fullest flavor from each fruit. The jam shop has become so famous that tours of the kitchen operations now require advance reservations. The shop offers much more than its citrus jams: Also on sale are strawberries preserved with pineapple, and tomatoes packed with eggplant and ginger, in addition to traditional candies, fruit jellies, local honey, condiments, and pickled onions.

A quintessential Alpine winter break wouldn’t be complete without scooping dripping molten cheese from a fondue pot after a day on the slopes. Few places offer this traditionally Savoyard experience quite like the warmly elegant La Calèche Restaurant. It’s not just the variety of fondues, raclettes, and tartiflettes which sets this place apart: The Savoyard dishes merge perfectly with the array of black-and-white photos of Mont Blanc hanging on the walls and the wooden sledges and skis hanging from the ceiling. The cozy terrace is ideal for watching skiers heading back home, while on a Tuesday evening a lively costumed folklore group induces singing, dancing, and mountain merriment.

Located in the heart of Bridgehampton, Topping Rose House occupies a grand old Greek Revival mansion, built back in 1842 for a local judge. The luxurious property features 22 guestrooms, including a number of cottages, with elegant décor like four-poster beds and glass doors that open onto verdant grounds. Also on site is a Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant, complete with a seasonal menu that incorporates ingredients from the property’s one-acre farm. Unusual for a small Hamptons hotel, Topping Rose offers a wide selection of amenities, including a lovely outdoor pool, a fitness center, yoga classes, and a spa with a range of massage and beauty treatments.

Looming over one of central Berlin’s most vibrant intersections, this restored Bauhaus building with its distinctive 1920s curved facade was transformed in 2010 into the Berlin outpost of the glamorous Soho House hotel and private members brand. The building has heaps of history, having started as a Jewish-owned department store before being taken over by the Nazis and then occupied by the Communist regime for archival purposes.

Today, it’s one of Mitte’s foremost havens of hip, offering quirkily decorated rooms that mix vintage with contemporary design tropes—think Marshall speakers and old-school record players, floral armchairs, and art deco bathtubs. The lofts are even more astonishing, both for their capacious size and their industrial-chic aesthetic—some come with grand pianos and foosball tables. The hotel also has a rooftop pool and adjacent bar with views of Alexanderplatz, a concept retail area, a private cinema and library room with a bar that hosts occasional events open to the public, an in-house restaurant, and a Cowshed spa that’s a popular destination in its own right.

Built in the 17th century, Nymphenburg Palace is one of the largest royal castles in Europe. Planned as a summer residence for the Bavarian monarchy, it was expanded over time and now features additional pavilions and gallery wings, plus a French Baroque façade by Joseph Effner. The palace exterior and expansive, English-style gardens—complete with lakes, geysers, and waterfalls—are the real highlights here, but the interior, with its Baroque, Neoclassical, and Rococo era rooms, is also worth seeing. Be sure to check out the Steinerner Saal (Stone Hall) with its striking ceiling frescoes, the Schönheitengalerie (Gallery of Beauties) with works by court painter Joseph Karl Stieler, and the palace chapel of St. Magdalena. There are also a few interesting museums on site, including ones dedicated to royal coaches, porcelain, and natural history.

The Palais Garnier, the national opera house of Paris, is a magnificent building dripping in ornate details and glittering with gold. The five-ton chandelier, made famous in The Phantom of the Opera, still takes center stage in the auditorium. It is surrounded by a swirling, colorful ceiling painting by Marc Chagall. The decoration goes beyond the auditorium: The grand foyer rivals the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, and the grand staircase is an entryway fit for royalty. You don’t need to buy a ticket to the opera to see the space: Tours are given daily in a variety of languages.