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In the country’s wine region, you can pick grapes, sing songs, and keep ancient harvest traditions alive. It’s so much fun, you can taste it.

Historical Tainan is the former capital of Taiwan, the island’s oldest city, and the heart of traditional Taiwanese culture. The city is home to several of the island’s oldest and most famous temples—most notably the Confucius Temple—and is the destination of frequent pilgrimages. Tainan is also known for its deep-rooted food culture. There visitors will find some of the most traditional Taiwanese dishes, which can’t be found anywhere else.

Young artists stake their claim to the city’s open spaces.

Chris Walker and Morgan Hartley spent three months cycling through central Asia as part of an 18-month bike trip. Here is part one of five of their account, in which their trip is almost thwarted from the start.

Taiwan has a truly unique natural beauty. The subtropical volcanic island is more than 70% towering, jagged mountains that in some places rise nearly straight out of the Pacific Ocean. Volcanic activity has created numerous hot springs and cavernous lava rock coastlines on Taiwan. Sandstone protrusions on the northern and southern tips have been whipped by the wind into beautiful and surreal landscapes. Taiwan is home to many natural spectacles that can’t be found together anywhere else.

Japan’s former imperial city offers awe-inspiring Shinto and Buddhist temples, beautiful gardens, streets lined with old wooden town houses, and narrow stone lanes where you might see modern-day geisha and stop at an izakaya for a meal.

Missouri is a gold mine for nature lovers, with crystal-clear lakes for swimming and boating, lazy rivers for fishing and floating, and wooded hamlets for hiking, biking, and camping. Visitors here will even find more than 6,000 caves, many of which offer guided tours. Head to the state’s finest parks to explore these natural wonders, perhaps with a picnic—or even a tent—in tow.

How do you make sense of diverse, dizzying São Paolo? Talk to the people who make the sushi, spray the graffiti, and build the giant watermelons.

Seoul is a vast metropolis with an efficient public transportation system. In addition to major sites like temples, museums, and palaces, the city boasts unexpected gems including nature trails and mazes of alluring backstreets.

When the Terra Cotta Army was uncovered in Xi’an in 1974, the world took notice of the Shaanxi city. The army—filled with 8000 life-size soldiers, as well as weapons, horses, chariots, and other characters—was buried in the tomb of China’s first emperor. Visitors can discover more treasures than frozen troops in Xi’an, though: Along with its famous cuisine, the city is rich with peaceful temples and and holy mosques, hutongs that rival those in Beijing, historic palaces from the Tang Dynasty, and intact walls and fortifications that date back to the seventh century.

Shopping, the perfect pastime, in a country where fashion meets excruciatingly hot summer temperature. From traditional souks to air conditioned shopping center, many of Abu Dhabi’s most popular shopping spots offer an out-of-the-heat place to gather, dine, sit and talk over coffee...and shop. The large malls all include a supermarket along with international shops from jewelry and fashion to home goods and technology. Each place has its own speciality, whether it be a fruit, meat, and fish market, or, even, a ferris wheel.

Buddhist temples and grand palaces meet neon skylines in Seoul. The city’s hotels are just as varied, ranging from design properties with no-fuss amenities to over-the-top luxury resorts with Michelin-starred cuisine. Here are some of the highlights.

A once-impenetrable country reveals itself to writer Matt Gross one meal at a time.

With a nickname like the “Cave State,” Missouri certainly isn’t short on impressive caverns. Of the more than 6,000 across the state, however, Meramac Caverns is the largest—and stays open year-round for tours. Said to have been a hideout for the outlaw Jesse James in the 1870s, the seven-level, 4.6-mile-long natural wonder was purchased by Lester Dill in 1933 and opened as a tourist attraction in 1935. Today, visitors can take guided tram tours past the cave’s complex mineral formations, stopping at a “wine room” (named for its grape-like botryoids and accessed by a long stairwell). While exploring, keep your eyes peeled for the resident tricolored bats that call Meramac home.

The founder of White Wabbit, Taipei’s most influential indie record label and shop, KK Yeh finds inspiration in the city’s controversial art galleries, revolutionary teahouses, and red-light district temples.