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In a city known for its breakfast tacos, it can be hard to decide where to start your day. One place that will never disappoint, however, is La Villita Cafe. The options here are simple—think bean and cheese, potato and egg, and chorizo and egg—but everything is delicious, especially the brisket and egg taco. When you’re done eating, check out the neighboring La Villita art community, which provides a window into San Antonio’s diverse past.

Opened by local restaurateur Lisa Wong in 1992, Rosario’s started as a neighborhood café, where San Antonio residents came to satisfy their Tex-Mex cravings. Today, it’s a city institution, known for its south-of-the-border specialties and house favorites. Don’t miss the tantalizing albondigas con arroz (Mexican meatballs braised in a spicy broth and served with rice and queso fresco), or the flavorful enchiladas Mexicanas (three queso-filled enchiladas smothered in a fragrant chile-infused sauce). And be sure to wash it all down with a perfectly crafted margarita.

In 1977, University of Texas marketing major Chris Madrid opened a small burger and taco joint with help from his family and friends. Today, his eponymous restaurant is one of San Antonio’s best spots to grab a quick bite. Burgers are the way to go here. Choose from menu favorites such as the Cheddar Cheezy (melted cheddar cheese, mustard, lettuce, tomato, and pickles), the Tostada (refried beans, chips, onions, and cheddar cheese), and the Porky’s Delight (bacon and melted cheddar cheese), and be sure to get a side of nachos or chalupas.

Along with a great view of San Francisco, Treasure Island is home to a popular flea market, formerly Treasure Island Flea, and now called TreasureFest. Each month around 400 curated vendors set up and peddle their wares. Stalls offer antiques, originally designed art and clothing, and vintage curiosities. You will also find about two dozen food trucks, live music, kids’ games and activities, and some local wine sellers to fuel your shopping fire. The two-day flea market takes place the last weekend of every month. Launched in 2011 to support local artists and entrepreneurs, Treasure Island Flea is now a must-do Bay Area event.

One of San Antonio’s best breakfast spots, Magnolia Pancake Haus is the kind of place where flapjacks and waffles are the order of the day. Featured on the Food Network, the restaurant usually has a line but it’s worth waiting for the delicious pancakes, which are made from scratch with only the freshest ingredients. Don’t miss the melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip cakes, or the incredible corned beef hash. If you’re in the mood for lunch, you can also choose from a variety of sandwiches, including a Reuben with house-cured brisket and grilled pumpernickel bread.

This place is an interesting blend. In the recent Danish tradition, it is a partnership between a number of different creative types. This time, those personalities happen to be design-oriented people from the food, interior design, and dinnerware design communities. This restaurant has focused completely on providing a rich, intensely rustic experience that embodies modern trends in both the New Nordic cuisine movement and Danish design. Recent offerings include flounder with fried chicken skin and sauce made from fermented asparagus and grilled lobster with juniper pancake and pointed cabbage. Photo: Höst.

Three friends who found themselves thrown together in the New York of the 1990s—artist Gabriel Orozco, who has been featured at MoMA, the Pompidou Center, and the Tate Modern; Mónica Manzutto, who worked at the Marian Goodman Gallery; and José Kuri, who was completing an M.A. at Columbia—originally came up with the idea for what is now arguably Mexico’s most influential gallery. Kurimanzutto began with some ephemeral Colonia Roma events, often in nontraditional spaces. Today the gallery occupies a structure commissioned from renowned architect Alberto Kalach; its stable of artists includes Mexican creators of international stature like Dr. Lakra, Miguel Calderón, Carlos Amorales, and Damián Ortega, as well as global talents like Akram Zaatari, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Anri Sala, Danh Vo, Jimmie Durham, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Monika Sosnowska. Kurimanzutto’s shows—not to mention the openings—mark the pulse of the Mexico City arts scene.

When you tell your friends that you’re headed here, everyone will chime in about the dish that you have to get. ‘Make sure you try the smoked salmon flatbread!’ ‘The burger, be sure to get the burger’.’ ‘The donuts! You have to get the donuts!’ It’s good to know that with breakfast, brunch or lunch, they don’t take reservations. Be prepared to possibly wait and hang out on the porch swings or hang out at the bocce courts and play a while (they’re about a 10-minute walk from Boon Fly). With dinner, they do take reservations and I’d encourage you to get those well-ahead. If you’ve had a big bike ride in nearby Napa Valley or are headed in to downtown Napa for a concert or event, Boon Fly Cafe is just 5 miles away and will leave you with your belly full and happy.

Cabo’s first-ever microbrewery, Baja Brewing Co. has a cantina located on the rooftop terrace of Cabo Villas Beach Resort & Spa. Take in views of Land’s End with a pint of the flagship Cabotella blonde ale and a wood-fired pizza made with beer yeast dough.

This is the oldest and grandest art institute in a city that’s long captivated artists. The Neoclassical building sits amid the greenery of massive City Park (conveniently at the end of the Canal Streetcar Line). It’s an especially good destination for admirers of Edgar Degas, who spent an extended vacation in New Orleans visiting relatives in 1872; a number of his works are displayed here. Just outside the museum is the beautifully landscaped and well-curated five-acre Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, which perfectly melds the old and new. Some 60 sculptures are arrayed amid reflecting lagoons and 200-year-old live oaks.

Wine aficionados set their sights on the Guanajuato Wine Route, now perhaps second only in Mexico to the trails in Baja California’s long-established Valle de Guadalupe. While wineries have existed in this region for several decades, San Miguel only recently received official designation as a wine route, thanks to wineries like Vega Manchón (owner Ricardo hails from Mexico City); Bodega Dos Búhos, where art by Peter Leventhal mesmerizes visitors almost as much as the wine; or Vinícola Toyán. Newcomer labels like Santísima Trinidad have joined the old-timers in hosting vendimia events every weekend in August, with Santísima adding extra attractions like polo games and olive-oil demonstrations. No going Sideways for oenophiles here; they will head home with a new wine destination secret—and a bottle or two.

In the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains north of Santa Fe, the village of Chimayó has become famous for its adobe church, “El Santuario,” whose side chapel’s dirt floor is reputed to have healing powers. Every Good Friday, tens of thousands of pilgrims make their way to this “Lourdes of the Southwest.” Others descend upon this valley for more temporal reasons. Just down the road from the Santuario is the century-old adobe home that houses the “Rancho de Chimayó,” a New Mexico institution. Owned by the Jaramillo family, this restaurant is known for its carne adovada--pork that has been stewed to tenderness in red chile. You may or may not believe in the power of the dirt in the Santuario’s floor, but the taste of this valley’s chile will have you convinced that the terroir--the taste of place--deserves its venerable reputation. Get the “combinación picante” so that you can sample a tamal, rolled cheese enchilada, beans and posole along with the carne adovada. And don’t use all of your sopaipilla (the steaming square of puffy frybread) to soak up the chile; save a corner so you can douse it with local honey as a dessert... Chimayó is an easy forty-minute-drive from Santa Fe, on “the high road to Taos.” Across the road from the restaurant is a B&B, run by the same family as well.

“For those folks who enjoy camping, Hix is the Four Seasons. And for those who stay only at the Four Seasons, at Hix they will think they are camping.” So goes the saying of the owners of Hix Island House, located on remote and beautiful Vieques Island. Puerto Rico’s first sustainable lodging facility, the hotel caters to guests who know that going green and living luxuriously are not mutually exclusive. Rooms come with See Design bedding as well as Frette robes and towels. Solar panels provide power, and wastewater from each room supplies the lush gardens. Canadian architect John Hix is responsible for the hotel’s striking concrete exterior, which stands in stark contrast to the surrounding hills, yet provides guests with both privacy and sweeping views out to sea.

An active parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá remains a tranquil place of worship and reflection. Regardless of your religious beliefs, the first of California’s 21 missions is well worth a visit for its extensive history. It was originally constructed in Presidio Park in 1769 but moved inland to its current site just five years later. Records show that it was the first place in California to cultivate olives; tree cuttings from this mission would later be used to found olive groves at other missions around the state. It’s also home to the grave of Father Luis Jayme, the state’s first Catholic martyr; he was killed when American Indians stormed the mission in 1775 and is now buried next to the altar. Destroyed many times over, the mission was most recently rebuilt in the 1930s, but looks as it would have in the early 1800s.

Once-abandoned railway sheds have been repurposed to create an open-air outlet mall in Palermo, one of the city’s buzziest neighborhoods. Clothes are expensive in Argentina so don’t expect rock-bottom prices, but you’ll appreciate discounts on local brands like Las Pepas. In addition to clothing retailers, there are several food carts, plus pop-up restaurants, here and there beneath a redbrick viaduct that supports the General San Martín commuter train. Large flowerbeds and the trains’ overhead comings and goings make Distrito Arcos a pretty spot for snacks or browsing the racks.