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A shopping mecca, this downtown street is lined with malls and flea markets. On Oranjestad’s main pier, across from one of the larger malls, you’ll find the site of Aruba’s first public market. Once a clearinghouse for local fruits, vegetables, and fish, the space now features open-air stalls hawking Aruban art, crafts, leather goods, and other souvenirs. Look out for hand-milled aloe soaps and creams as well as watercolors by local artists. Bargaining is expected, so don’t settle for the first price you hear.

A two minute walk from the bustle of downtown Calgary, Prince’s Island Park—which is surrounded by the Bow River—is home to festivals all summer long. The Calgary Folk Music Festival and 52,000 of its closest friends rock and/or folk out on the park the last weekend of July.

If one single space encapsulates the Roman Empire, it would be Palazzo Massimo, Rome’s multilevel museum housing one of Italy’s richest collections of antiquities. The entire history of Rome, from the rise of the Republic to its imperial transition to its fall, is told through sculpture, mosaic, frescoes (watercolor paintings), and coins. Get to know generations of emperors by checking out their marble busts, then hang out in the 1st-century Villa of Livia dining room of Caesar Augustus’s wife. Note: Palazzo Massimo is part of the National Museum circuit, which means ticket holders can also access three more national museums (Terme di Diocleziano, Palazzo Altemps, and the Crypta Balbi) over a three-day period.

Sacsayhuaman is an impressive Inca fortress on a steep hill that overlooks all of Cusco. The ruins are humongous, but archeologists believe that the original site was as much as four times larger. What remains today are the impressive outer walls constructed in a zigzag formation across three levels. As with many Inca sites, the walls are made from massive, irregularly-shaped boulders that stick together like a jigsaw puzzle without any additional support. The stones are laid together so tightly that a sheet of paper will not fit into many of the cracks. As the night comes down, this is a perfect location to appreciate the stars.

The Torch, also known as the Aspire Tower, at 980 ft, is the tallest structure in Doha. It was built to house the 2006 Asian Games Flame and it holds the record for the tallest and highest-positioned games flame ever. The Tower, located 20 minutes away from the city centers, serves now as a luxury hotel, although calling The Torch Hotel luxurious is a serious understatement. It has 51 floors, 360 views from any of its lounges, the only revolving restaurant in the country, one of the quaintest places for high tea, and to top it all off, hotel guests have access to a cantilevered swimming pool on the 19th floor--not for those afraid of heights--and a red carpet private walkway access to Villaggio Mall and. As beautiful as it is, it’s worth keeping in mind that The Torch Hotel doesn’t serve alcohol.

Turneffe Atoll’s sprawling central lagoon is a beautiful natural playground marked by thick mangrove islands and littoral forest, and hosts dozens of remarkable marine species – including crocodiles. Yes, the central lagoon is pretty to look at and one of the best places in Belize to watch the sun rise, but I wouldn’t recommend you go for a dip. Crocodiles spend their days escaping the heat in the thick mangroves, then swim out into the open ocean at dusk to feed. I saw two crocs during my time on the island; a very young juvenile whose curiosity had brought him right up to the sandy patch of beach behind the Blackbird Caye Resort, and a suspicious adult who kept his distance (thankfully). Still, the lagoon is a great place to spy on the aforementioned crocodiles, photograph marine birds, and more. Photo Finish: Nikon D800 | 24-70mm f/2.8 lens | Aperture f/6.3 | ISO-400 | Shutter 1/60 sec.

When Southern Ocean Lodge, the flagship property of Australian hotel brand Baillie Lodges, opened in 2008, it was Kangaroo Island’s first true luxury lodge, known for its cinematic spot atop grass-covered limestone cliffs, with curved guest suites facing the namesake seas. Surrounded on three sides by national parks, Southern Ocean Lodge connected travelers with Australia’s powerful natural landscapes. Then in early January 2020, wildfires consumed more than half of Kangaroo Island, reducing the ecological paradise to sandy hills and blackened branches. Southern Ocean Lodge was a casualty of the blaze.


As AFAR’s Katherine LaGrave reported in her feature on the island, rebuilding began in earnest in February 2022, with the goal of becoming more sustainable: “The new lodge will use 25 percent less energy than the original lodge, and diesel fuel consumption will be halved. There will be rainwater harvesting, reliance on a hybrid solar-and-battery system, and elevated boardwalks to minimize impact on the health of coastal plants. Smart landscaping will create a sort of buffer around the lodge.”



Along with the new sustainable choices, the lodge has replicated the footprint of the original property, with 25 guest rooms slightly reoriented to optimize sea views. A new ultra-premium suite, the Ocean Pavilion, has up to four bedrooms and bathrooms (or two separate suites) with an outdoor terrace and private pool. And the ever-popular main lodge still has a Great Room with a suspended fireplace and a deck with a plunge pool that juts toward the sea.

Tucked away in the heart of downtown Seoul is the quaint Insadong district, where a Korea of yore comes to life in the form of traditional artists and musicians, shops selling Korean crafts and souvenirs, and street performers dressed in native costumes. This is the place to go if you’re set on buying the wooden masks, paper lanterns, and tea sets that the country is famous for. Two other stores also stand out from the crowd in Insadong: Gounjae Handcraft can be smelled before you even enter the door. This handmade soap shop, in the small brick courtyard of Ssamji Gil Center, offers sumptuously scented soaps, lotions, and bath products in scents like avocado, ginger, and almond. I love the tiny, traditional mask-shaped soaps that make inexpensive and lightweight souvenirs. The Ee Gee boutique is a veritable treasure chest bursting with glimmering necklaces, bracelets, and other one-of-a-kind baubles–it’s located on Insadong’s main drag.

If you’re in Madrid and in the mood for tapas, you might not know exactly where to go or what to taste. The Mercado San Miguel (metro Sol) takes away all that decision-making by providing you with a taste experience all under one roof. The old, derelict market was renovated just a few years ago and turned into an upmarket culinary emporium of sorts. It has more than 30 food stalls, each selling something different. My favorite is the bellota ham sold at Carrasco, but there is plenty more. You can sample sherries and Rioja wines at the wine bar, or do as Spaniards do and pick away at tapas as you make your way through the market. I highly recommend the croquettes, or croquetas, in one of the outside alleys: they have ham, chicken, shrimp, cheese and a variety of others. The more standard tapas area easy to find, like tortilla, and seafood is beautifully laid out for you to pick and choose. Right in the middle is my top-rated tapa place. I couldn’t find a name for it but it’s the largest counter, shaped like a U, and has everything from potatoes aioli to steamed razor clams, with everything in-between.

Nature may have spent 12 million years creating the rock formation that is the centerpiece of this 1,300-acre Hilton Curio Collection resort in the foothills of the Sonoran Desert, but late-coming humans have done a commendable job of adding the finishing touches. Although the Boulders, with its casita accommodations blending into the landscape, its championship golf courses, and its upscale shops, is as luxurious as any resort in the Scottsdale area, it’s also where guests are most likely to feel they are truly in the desert. An early-morning walk along groomed paths, when the first rays of light are turning the landscape golden, is as likely to produce the sounds of woodpeckers or owls calling from their nests in saguaro cacti as it is the whack of a ball against club or racket.

A couple of blocks west of the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, Hoan Kiem Lake—meaning Lake of the Restored Sword—is one of Hanoi’s anchors. It contains a number of sites worth visiting, like Ngoc Soc Temple and the picturesque, red-lacquered Huc Bridge. The greatest fun here is people watching, from men and women jogging round the perimeter to retired folks doing tai chi or dancing. Many locals come to socialize or just take a few moments to escape the city’s chaotic roads and traffic. Visit in the morning as the city is waking up and the air remains blissfully cool. Photo by Binder.donedat/Flickr.

The Hong Kong-based Swire Hotels launches in the U.S. with their 352-room EAST, Miami, located in city’s bustling financial district. L.A.-based Studio Collective and New York’s Clodagh Design paired up to design the interiors, which mix intricate woodwork with sleek furnishings. Original artwork from notable names such as China-born Zha Songgang and Miami-based Alexander Mijares hangs throughout the hotel, along with photographs that highlight Miami’s colorful scenery and Modernist architecture. Quinto La Huella, an outpost of a famous seafood restaurant in José Ignacio, Uruguay, promises to draw locals and visitors alike, while the hotel’s rooftop space serves Asian-inspired tapas with views of the skyline. From $259

When it comes to street eats in Hong Kong, egg waffles are the ultimate comfort food. Griddled into a sheet of egg-shaped bubbles, the iconic snack is crisp on the outside, and chewy on the inside. There are plenty of places to find it, but Lee Keung Kee in Kowloon’s North Point neighborhood is beloved among locals.

With its palm-lined entrance, oasis-like courtyards, and proximity to the Sky Harbor Airport, the Royal Palms draws both business and leisure travelers, especially business travelers who’ve managed to work a few days of leisure into their schedule. Built in the shadow of Camelback Mountain in 1929 as a Spanish Colonial–style home for Cunard Line executive Delos W. Cooke (who imported 900 palms for the grounds), and opened as a hotel in 1948, the Royal Palms remains popular in part because, with just 119 rooms, it’s one of the smaller and more intimate of Arizona’s luxury resorts. Restoration and refurbishing have kept it up to date without diminishing its original charm.

From a members-only beach club in the 1960s, The Dunmore has evolved into a 16-room boutique stay whose spirit and decor evoke that era. Local interior designer Amanda Lindroth oversaw a major renovation when the hotel’s current owners bought the property in 2010. Wicker and rattan furniture, patterned prints, and spaces that are as much outdoors as indoors create a look that is somewhere between late British colonial and timeless Bahamian. Although the landmark sits on Harbour Island’s Pink Sands Beach, a pool with an airy pavilion adds to The Dunmore’s reputation as a place of amiable gathering. After a day of sunfilled fun, head to the on-site restaurant, where chef Cindy Hutson, one of the region’s rising culinary stars, prepares modern twists on island delicacies—think grouper curry with lychee and grilled pineapple and banana fritters with rum caramel.