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A journey through one of the world’s last, best travel secrets.

Founder’s Note: Beyond the Headlines

Hotel La Compañia del Valle, a Tuscan retreat–inspired hotel in Panama, is home to just 70 rooms and suites and an 18,000-square-foot Elysium Spa, which opens in July 2025. Of course, massages and other body treatments are on the menu, but other unexpected additions—like chocolate and wine therapy, underground Roman baths, and Reiki healing—allow you to design your ideal day.

Just a block away from the Palacio de la Moneda, the Chilean Government Palace, this culinary oasis offers tasty treats and killer coffee in a downtown setting. Known for its breakfasts, burgers, tea time, and heady java, you can rub elbows with local politicians fueling during the work week. Blue Jar is also one of the few coffee spots to sell the coveted “Keep Cups,” to keep your latte warm for the road. Almirante L. Gotuzzo 102 at Moneda Phone: 56 (2) 2696-1890

The best hotels in Chile provide guests with a unique sense of place. Palacio Astoreca blends in with the colorful mansions of Valparaíso, while Tierra Atacama is as otherworldly as its surroundings. For a local feel, book a room at La Rêve.

Murano glass and Venetian masks are two of La Serenissima’s classic souvenirs, though the quality of craftsmanship can really vary. Let us point you to reliably great sources for these products as well as artisanal jewelry, rare books, modern perfumes, and handmade clothing.

With five tropical islands and daily ferries connecting them, there are plenty of options for outdoor exploration across Guadeloupe. Go beach hopping from black to pink to white sands; surf the Atlantic or dive the Jacques Cousteau Reserve; conquer waterfalls or hike to the summit of La Grande Soufrière volcano. Also enjoy the Afro-Caribbean pulse of the markets and food trucks, dance freely to gwo-ka drumming sessions roadside or in the studio, and go rhum tasting. When you’re up for a slice of France, spend days in Les Saintes’ fabulous bistros and boutiques.

The capital of the state in which it takes its name, Oaxaca is a destination for both art and food. Casa de Las Bugambilias, a bed-and-breakfast inn in Oaxaca’s Centro neighborhood, features locally-made artwork and crafts throughout its rooms. Travelers with more modern tastes might prefer the nearby Azul de Oaxaca Hotel + Galeria, which is housed in an 18th-century building but decorated in modern furnishings. Foodies should stay at Hotel Casa Oaxaca and book a chef-led food tour.

If you have the cash, chances are whatever you’re looking for can be found in Barcelona. Luxury shoppers can max out their plastic on Passeig de Gracia. Hipsters can search for indie designs in Raval, Gracia and Borne. Foodies will love mom-and-pop style bakeries, charcuteries and cheese shops. Bargain hunters can barter for second-hand steals at Els Encants, or hop a bus to La Roca Outlets for deals on high-end brands.

The art collections housed in the great museums of Los Angeles are as varied as the museums themselves. At Getty’s grand villa above the Pacific, marble statues from ancient Greece oversee gardens and fountains. Behind the dazzling ultramodern facade of the Broad, visitors find ultramodern artworks, too. Even when the beaches and rooftop bars beckon, leave time in your schedule to tour these outstanding museums.

It’s fair to say that a trip to the hammam is a quintessential Moroccan experience and is a salve for the soul as much as it is for the body. Fes’s bathhouses may not have the sheer wow factor of those in Marrakech, but they perhaps offer a more intimate and authentic experience at more wallet-friendly prices. Your safest bet is to take a taxi to Nausikaa in the Ville Nouvelle and hang with locals while being treated to a deluxe treatment which involves a luxurious steam, followed by an enthusiastic scrub-down (gommage) with an exfoliating mitt (kessa) and olive oil soap, before getting slathered in rose-scented clay which leaves the skin baby-soft and sparkling. It also offers excellent pedicures and waxing.

If your heart is set on going old-school, be aware that the medina’s hammams are not always as hot, nor as clean, as you might like. In the medina, the pink and womblike hammam at Dar Bensouda is perfect if you’d prefer a private to a public hammam. It’s properly hot, and the local women who do the gommage mix their treatment lotions with lavender and chamomile as well as with other healing herbs and spices. A treatment costs 350 dirhams. The Riad Laaroussa provides a luxurious, candlelit experience. It’s the place to go if you want to experience a hammam with your partner, followed by sublimely relaxing massage. Have a cocktail in the courtyard afterwards; the orange- and cinnamon-infused gin and tonic is legend.

Some may scoff at the absence of beachfront acreage, but what all-inclusive Capella Marigot Bay lacks in sand it makes up for in amenities, including a cabana-lined pool area with swim-up bar and a ferry to nearby LaBas Beach. Backed by a see-and-be-seen marina that offers some of the island’s best people-watching, the hotel features 124 luxurious rooms and suites that are studies in restraint, with dark-wood accents and four-poster beds trimmed in mosquito netting. Guests are surprised with complimentary snacks each day, from house-made plantain chips to local Piton beer, but nourishment is also in abundance at the resort’s four restaurants—think fresh-caught snapper, jerk-spiced ribs, and lionfish ceviche—and during three happy hours. Meanwhile, the celestial-inspired Auriga spa offers locally focused treatments to those less interested in the fitness center and weekly activities such as body-scrub-making workshops and zip-line tours.

From beach club days to Friday and Saturday nights, Cancun and Riviera Maya serve up bars and clubs that will quench your thirst for cocktails and fun. Hotel zone mainstays, including Coco Bongo, are a party all the time. More in the mood for just hanging out, a powerful margarita in hand? Off to Bar Ranita you go. Or, if you need some liquid courage and a salsa lesson before Friday night arrives, ask the concierge to point you to La Bodeguita del Medio.

AFAR chose a destination at random—by literally spinning a globe—and sent comedian Jorma Taccone on a spontaneous journey to Nairobi, Kenya.

You can find the best of the best in Milan. Whether you’re in the market for iconic and hand-tailored Italian suits, fashionable bicycles, or a ballet flats, there are artisans and boutiques in this city that will present you with treasures. And design? From haute couture to interior, industrial, and architectural design, some of the world’s most amazing designers, homegrown and international, have set up shop in Milan to showcase ingenious products and style. Come to the market and prepare to be knocked out.