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Adjacent to the restaurant is a cheery boutique filled with gourmet products from all over Tuscany. Thanks to the restaurant’s long-standing relationships with many of the region’s top purveyors, you’ll find high-quality olive oil (tastings can also be arranged), cheeses, cured meat, preserves, breads, and more. Not all of it will make it through customs, but you can savor any perishables on a picnic to the Tuscan countryside.

Manhattan can, famously, feel like endless rows of apartment blocks and office towers for most of its length. At least above 14th Street, a regular grid of streets and avenues, bisected only by Broadway, has transformed the city into a dream for real estate developers. The green spaces interrupting the pattern—Union Square, Gramercy Park, Madison Square Park—are few and far between, with one enormous exception: Central Park. Running from 59th Street to 110th Street, and between Central Park West (Eighth Avenue) and Fifth Avenue, it is one of the world’s largest urban parks, measuring some 843 acres. It is the masterpiece of the 19th-century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted working in collaboration with Calvert Vaux. Inside its borders are stately allées and naturalistic scenes, ice-skating rinks (in the winter), an enormous reservoir, and a faux castle. The park is hugely popular, and so to call it an escape from the bustle of the city is often not accurate, especially on mild summer days and the first warm ones in the spring when thousands of residents head to its playing fields, bike and run along the road that loops the park, and enjoy picnics on the Sheep Meadow or one of its other lawns.

Casa Sol was newest and the best hotel we stayed in during our trip down to Mexico. Everything about it was wonderful. The owners, the staff, and the large beautiful rooms overlooking a private little cove. The simple breakfasts and the Honor Bar kept me happy while I lounged. (I love myself an honor bar). And I even loved the little walk through the woods to the busy end of the beach. The owners, Craig and Jorge also run the Red Tree House in Mexico City, where they have done an incredible job running a top notch guesthouse. Casa Sol is bound to do just as well. Go check it out!

Maracas Bay is known as much for “bake ‘n’ shark” as for its fine waves. Hungry beachgoers line up at shacks to devour deep-fried fish (rarely shark) that is packed into fried dough sandwiches and served with a plethora of spices and pepper, tamarind, garlic and oyster sauce.

Swim with large southern stingrays in the warm blue water around Gibbs Cay. This secluded seven-acre island is a short boat ride from Grand Turk and a popular day trip for many visitors. The stingrays are quite friendly after years of regular feeding and interactions with humans. Your boat guide will provide fish scraps to feed the rays as you snorkel in the shallow water. Day trips may also include time on the island and stops to snorkel and dive for conch.

Ard Bia at Nimmos (Gaelic for “high food”) is a lovely space in a stone building near the Spanish Arch in Galway, and one of the city’s most popular restaurants, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Inspired by many cuisines, from Irish to Mediterranean, with influences from the Middle East, India, Lebanon, and New Zealand, the dishes range from pan-roasted West Coast monkfish to pea and mint gnocchi to lobster borek with bisque aioli.

Adorned with more than 20,000 blue handcrafted İznik tiles, stained-glass windows, and the golden brushstrokes of a 17th-century calligrapher, the Blue Mosque is the legacy of Sultan Ahmet I (1590–1617). The young sultan audaciously wished to outdo the builders of Hagia Sophia, commissioning six minarets to match the number at Mecca’s Sacred Mosque (which now has seven minarets as a result). Today, this magnificent mosque is a place of worship for thousands who visit from around the world.

One of the most popular beaches on Guadeloupe is Sainte-Anne, a family-friendly, mile-long stretch of white sand on the south coast of Grand-Terre. A coral reef protects the beach and the resulting calm water offers shallow swimming for the little ones. The beach has everything you need, including a fruit and spice market, casual beachfront restaurants, and a nearby arts and crafts shopping mall. After sunset, it is illuminated until midnight and active families come for a cool night swim, beach volleyball, and street snacks. Food trucks come out for the night, serving up bokits (a kind of fried sandwich) and conch kebabs.

Stepping into the enormous main concourse of this landmarked architectural jewel—with its sweeping granite staircases, hulking columns and 38-meter (125-foot) ceilings painted with night-sky constellations—can be a jaw-dropping experience. What’s even more incredible, though, is the sheer number of people who use it as a commuter hub day in and day out (more than 750,000 train and subway passengers every weekday). Wander around the shops, head down to the basement food court for a bite and to marvel at the crowds hurrying by—and if you get jostled, don’t take it personally.

Blending a cheerful, laid-back spirit with a splash of formal elegance, The Reefs Resort & Club is uniquely Bermudian. Staff greets you with a rum swizzle upon arrival at the family-owned and operated property, then whisks you up to a room where bright botanical prints complement crisp white linens, deep wood tones, and tile floors, and windows offer views of the Atlantic’s turquoise-tinged waves. Days are spent indulging in frangipani salt scrubs and ayurvedic massages at the spa, sitting in on a sunrise yoga session on the beach and hitting the links nearby, or simply napping on a chaise at the freshwater infinity pool. Sited to capture awe-inspiring vistas of the water, limestone cliffs, and lush vegetation that surround the resort, three restaurants serve classic continental fare, but more adventurous types can rent a scooter across the street to sample the local food scene on a culinary tour of Hamilton and St. George.

So you want to drive through a tree? Well, you’ve got options. (At least for now. Since no new drive-through trees will be created any time soon, for obvious environmental reasons, the existing ones are maybe the last of their kind.) There are actually three trees in the vicinity of Redwood National and State Parks whose trunks are wide enough to accommodate a car. The Chandelier Tree, at the Drive-Thru Tree Park, may be the most well-known and most frequently photographed; pay your $5 and get behind the wheel. The Tour Thru Tree, near Klamath, is the other tree with a human-constructed tunnel. The only organically occurring drive-through tree in the area is the Shrine Tree in Myers Flat, on Avenue of the Giants. The opening in this tree was primarily nature-created—though at this point it’s held together with some human help. Shrine also has a fallen tree with a drive-up ramp, a stump you can walk through, and a couple of playhouses carved from redwoods.

Open for dinner under the stars from Thursday through Sunday nights, flavors, live music, and dance harmoniously come together for an incredible evening out at Blue Dragon Restaurant and Musiquarium. The menu focuses on the freshness factor and celebrates items made with ingredients from their own organic farm and more than forty Hawaii ranchers, farmers, and fisherman who provide the freshest foods to the table. The ambiance at Blue Dragon can be electric with live music every night that spans genres and encourages guests to get up and dance in the open air restaurant underneath the stars.

Most coastal cities have a seaside promenade that invites unhurried strolling, and Mazatlán is no exception. In fact, its Avenida del Mar is reported to be the longest one in the Americas. Here, you’ll notice not only the turquoise-colored sea and the palm trees lining the beach, but also the new high-rises containing upscale residences for the nouveaux riches and deep-pocketed snowbirds, as well as charming sculptures reflecting local life.

This coastal outpost juxtaposes rugged beaches with refined living. You can walk for miles and not see another sign of human development, because the waters surrounding Kalaloch Lodge are part of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and the land sits within Olympic National Park. The only crowds on these windswept beaches are starfish in the tide pools. The weathered-wood lodge and cabins, meanwhile, are comfy-cozy nests, and many offer pinch-me views of the waves. The lodge’s Kalaloch Room feels like a ship’s prow, with a semicircular wall of windows looking out to the water. And the Bluff Cabins sit right above the beach, with nothing obstructing their views over the Pacific. Ashley Miller, a Certified Chef de Cuisine, presides over the kitchen and showcases Washington seafood such as Pacific cod, and local oysters (the ooey-gooey macaroni and cheese features Dungeness crab and locally-made artisan cheddar). Washington labels dominate the wine list—the Kalaloch Label White Blend of Chardonnay, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier pairs beautifully with the menu’s seafood items—and tables overlook a driftwood-studded estuary where the winding freshwater reflects the sunset’s golden hues.

Hop aboard the ferry at Pier 41 in San Francisco, or from the town of Tiburon, and spend a day on the largest and most beautiful island in the bay—Angel Island State Park. You can bring your own bike, or rent one when you arrive, and ride the paved perimeter trail around the 760-acre island. There are open-air tram tours, too, with guides recalling the island’s rich history, as well as guided hikes. Of course, you are free to roam the trails on your own, one of the best of which is the hike up to the top of 788-foot Mount Livermore, where 360-degree views take in the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge. Whatever your plan, know you’ll be immersing yourself in local history in a place that has been a fishing and hunting site for Coast Miwok Indians, a haven for Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala, and a U.S. Army post starting with the Civil War. From 1910 to 1940, hundreds of thousands of immigrants were processed here, and during World War II, Japanese and German POWs were held on the island. Several buildings and other relics remain as a reminder of the island’s varied history, including the United States Immigration Station museum (open March–October).