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Baur au Lac, the grande dame of Bahnhofstrasse hotels open since 1844, is home to the city’s most beautiful restaurant, with a stunning glass gazebo with Lalique chandeliers overlooking the hotel’s private park. Chef Laurent Eperon’s dishes are mostly contemporary takes rooted in French technique, though the menu has a special “Veau Suisse” section that includes a meltingly tender glazed veal knuckle that’s been cooked overnight.

Skimming along the Arizona border in the Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Buckskin Gulch is considered the longest slot canyon in the Southwest. After entering the intimate narrows of the canyon, the route continues on for about 15 miles until it reaches the Paria River. Along those 15 miles, the walls get as narrow as 10 feet and as tall as 500 feet above the canyon floor. While the route can be done in a day, many visitors take overnight gear and camp near the confluence before hiking out the next morning.

Austin has established itself as a foodie destination on par with New York and Los Angeles. Now, it also has a hotel that’s worthy of its rebirth as a capital of cool. At The LINE, the setting is as pretty as the young things who stay there with their stylish pets. The midcentury building houses 428 rooms and suites inspired by the Lone Star landscape, with headboards that evoke desert canyons, blue linens and rugs that nod to Lady Bird Lake (which many of the rooms overlook through expansive floor-to-ceiling windows), and lighting that looks like fireflies in the night sky. The place to be seen is Arlo Grey, where Top Chef winner Kristen Kish serves a menu inspired by her childhood, travels, and Central Texas ingredients—that is until the rooftop bar debuts in fall 2018.

Adobe streetfront: door...window...sky. Color. Much of Tucson, like most western U.S. cities, is devoted to strip malls and parking lots, but the historic core still has blocks of 19th-century Sonoran-style row houses. In the 1960s, acres and acres of the Barrio Viejo was razed, but fortunately not all of it. Today it’s a combination of gentrification and the pleasantly decrepit: attorney’s offices, student rentals, and family homes share this yard-less streetscape in a bilingual neighborhood. In reading about the history of the neighborhood, I came across this description, written back in the 1930s by Dr. James Harvey Robinson of Columbia University, who was visiting Tucson for the first time: “But this cannot be the United States of America, Tucson, Arizona! This is northern Africa - Tunis! Algiers! - or even Greece, where I have seen as here, houses built flush with the sidewalks with pink, blue, green and yellow walls, flowers climbing out of hidden patios and overall, an unbelievable blue sky. And the sweet-acrid smell in the air? Burning mesquite. Lovely! And the people - charming. But all this is the Old World, not America.” The Barrio Viejo is perfect for a bike ride. You do feel as if you’ve left reality-TV-obsessed Gringolandia...if only for a few blocks...

Steeped in history, this Parisian landmark was commissioned by King Louis XV in 1758, though it didn’t open as a hotel until 1909. Since then, it’s seen such notable guests as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Leonard Bernstein, Madonna, and more pass through its doors on Place de la Concorde. Designed in the grand, neoclassical style, it reopened in 2017 as the Hôtel de Crillon after a significant four-year renovation, which revamped most of the public spaces in the luxurious 124-room building. The new lobby feels airier—thanks to higher ceilings—yet more intimate, made possible by converting the formerly open space into a series of sitting rooms. Also new to the hotel is the 28-seat fine-dining restaurant L’Ecrin, a Sense spa with treatments inspired by centuries-old French remedies, and a jewel-like, glass-ceilinged pool. Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld even designed the two most luxurious suites, the fourth-floor Les Grands Appartements, adding bespoke furniture, his own artwork, and over-the-top bathrooms and dressing rooms.

This honky-tonk-inspired bar has a hometown feel and a country vibe, and has great local beers on tap—like Grand Cayman’s classic premium lagers, the CayBrew and Caylight. Don’t miss out on the Thursday night Rock & Roll Bingo: It can get rowdy and is a lot of fun. Lone Star Bar and Grill is well known for its BBQ, including Texas-style ribs as well as barbecue chicken and burgers. When you get the munchies after a few beers it’s a nice break from the gamut of seafood offered at other establishments.

Want hot chiles? mild peppers? powder? paste? Across from the old Spanish mission in Tumacácori, you’ll find it. For decades, family-owned and family-run Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Co. has been providing flavors in Southern Arizona. There’s even a mini Western Museum...and of course, you can sample the sauces and salsas... The Santa Cruz valley, between Tucson and Nogales, is one of the oldest continually-farmed regions in the U.S.; for four thousand years, native peppers, beans, squash, cactus and corn have been cultivated, even here in the desert. Then, beginning in the 17th century, Spaniards introduced Mediterranean plants: grapes, figs, pomegranates, figs, quince...and cattle ranching. A small garden on the grounds of the Tumacácori mission across the road from the Santa Cruz Chili Co. still grows some of these heirloom crops. A visit to the mission and spice market make for a great afternoon or day trip from Tucson. Go south from Tucson on I-19 for about an hour. (Note: I-19 is marked in kilometers, not miles; quirky.) Take Exit 29, turn left, then turn north on the old highway, and you’ll see the big chile-pepper sign on the left, just before you get to Tumacácori mission National Historical Park. The store is closed on Sundays.

This hotel is on our list of The 10 Best Hotels in Canada.

First opened for business in 1912, the iconic Ritz-Carlton Montreal—known as “the grande dame of Sherbrooke Street"—began a $200 million facelift in 2008, opening its doors again in 2012. Quebec’s most luxurious and historic hotel could tell endless celebrity secrets but is, of course, far too discreet to utter a word. It’s no secret, though, that Elizabeth Taylor married Richard Burton here, that the Rolling Stones rented the entire sixth floor in 1972, and that a who’s who of world leaders, movie stars, and royalty are still regular guests. Situated in the downtown culture and shopping hub that is the Golden Square Mile, the hotel oozes money-is-no-object luxury from every pore: from the ornate duck pond and immaculately manicured garden and terrace to the 100-year-old chandeliers, the sweeping staircases, and the belle époque golden glow of the lobby and palm court. Rooms have a white-and-gray minimalist palette with splashes of signature purple. Antiques and original features blend with ultra high-tech design such as Japanese Toto toilets in all bathrooms, heated floors, and motion-sensor lighting.

For ten days each spring (in early March), The Latino community of Miami celebrates culture, cuisine and entertainment with a vibrant array of beauty pageants, sports, concerts and international foods at Carnaval Miami. There are culinary competitions, galas and an upscale Latin jazz festival. The grand finale is Calle Ocho, a 23-block street festival in Little Havana, which is the largest block party in the world. Over a million watch live entertainment on 30 stages featuring salsa, merengue and Caribbean music. Carnival has been a cultural highlight in Miami for 35 years.

The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert is one of the oldest covered shopping arcades in Europe. This upscale shopping mall is located just opposite the Grand Place and is a beautiful place to window shop. Inside you will find jewellery, handbags, a hat-maker, a glove shop, restaurants and a variety of Belgium’s best chocolate-makers. Don’t miss the stunning Art Nouveau stained-glass ceiling of the Corné Porte Royal chocolate shop. The galleries are particularly beautiful at Christmas when the shop fronts are decked out for the season.

This is one of the new hot bars, just a few blocks down from the Jupiter Hotel on SE Grand and Morrision. Checkpoints: skinny hot bartenders in wifebeaters who shake up some inventive cocktails, a DJ, a 110-year old piano, a horseshoe bar and an impressive late night menu (cuban sandwiches, anyone?). I had the Sam Issacs which was mentioned in Portland Monthly as the drink to have but not even on their menu. It has bourbon, mint, blackberries and lime. It’s DELICIOUS. Portland seems to have a thing for libations with ginger beer and I’m loving it. I followed up with 96 Tears, a combination of vodka, lime, ginger and ginger beer. This was light but boozy. The perfect way to start a night or in this case, I’d end it here if you want to dance.

Passages were designed in the 19th century to give Parisians protection from muddy streets and horse-drawn vehicles. Some 20 of these covered walkways remain today, including the Passage Verdeau; they are an excellent way to journey back into Parisian history. Located across from Passage Jouffroy in Les Grands Boulevards area of Paris, Passage Verdeau has shops carrying antique cameras, books and engravings. The passage takes its name from Sir Verdeau, one of the promoters and shareholders of the arcade (and also the inventor of the concept of linen rentals for hotels).

It’s not that newer is necessarily better—Antonio Obrador, the hotelier and designer of famously luxurious retreats like Mallorca’s Cap Rocat, would hardly choose a neoclassical, turn-of-the-century palacio for his latest project, were that the case—but when a hotel gets the kind of buzz that the Urso Hotel & Spa got when it opened in the fall of 2014, there’s usually a reason.

In the hip, up-and-coming Salesas neighborhood, across the street from the recently reopened (and equally lively) Barceló food market, Madrid’s first five-star boutique hotel looks, from the outside, like many grandes dames: ornate, decadent, and just a bit over-the-top. Inside is another story; while many of the original details (hand-painted azulejo tiles, grand marble staircase, stained-glass windows, windowed wooden elevator) have been painstakingly restored with the help of local craftsmen, the style is undeniably contemporary, with even a hint of Scandinavian-inspired minimalism to offset the pull of the antique. This devotion to design alone would have merited the aforementioned buzz, but Obrador and his team didn’t stop there, throwing in one of Madrid’s most innovative restaurants, most soothing spas, most understatedly cool bars, and, of course, the superlative service required of any five-star stay.

“I am a song, I live to be sung, I sing with all my heart!” Pay your respects to the man who penned “Rocky Mountain High” and spent a lot of time in Colorado. The John Denver Sanctuary is a quiet cluster of carved boulders and monuments, located along the Roaring Fork River, near the Aspen Art Museum. Many of the singer’s famous lyrics are carved into the stone, which you can read as you listen to the creak rush by. Fans gather at the sanctuary every year on October 12, the anniversary of Denver’s death (Denver died in 1997, in a plane crash off the coast of California).

Deep within Grand Cayman, one finds another restaurant on the water. Be careful not to sit too close to the edge on the deck, however, the breeze might blow you right off. Inside the restaurant is a different story. All the tables and chairs are close together, making your dining experience intimate yet open to that of your neighbor and you can’t help smiling at those sitting next to you. Written on a savvy chalkboard one finds the specials of the day, of which you will find rarities like chicken liver pate and ceviche. The food is fantastic and the drinks are phenomenal. I personally recommend anything with mango in it. Once you’re good and full it almost feels necessary to sit and talk with the wait staff before leaving. The close knit environment makes it all the more friendly. Calypso Grill is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Grand Cayman and I definitely recommend it to seafood lovers or just food lovers in general.