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This enchanting corner of Costa Rica, blessed with a superb climate, provides visitors with a chance to experience an ideal rural setting. If you’d like some action with your relaxation, you’re well positioned to hit local sights like Poás Volcano, as well as try camping, horseback riding, and trout fishing. Fraijanes Lagoon, set amid grasslands, forests, and strawberry fields, is particularly idyllic. There’s another attraction you may not associate with a rural setting: Good restaurants abound. Get up early to enjoy the sunrise and a cup of delicious coffee alongside warm bread and natilla, the local sour cream.

A former 18th-century bishop’s palace in Korčula Old Town, this Relais & Châteaux property has been meticulously restored into an all-suite luxury hotel. Each of the five rooms is decorated along a different theme inspired by the Silk Road and the explorer Marco Polo, who is rumored to have been born on Korčula. The two-bedroom China Suite features low-slung furniture, red pillows, and a scene-stealer of a terrace with views across the town and coastline, while the one-bedroom Arabia Suite includes an all-white color scheme and intricately carved wood screens.

The hotel’s LD Spa specializes in Thai and Ayurvedic treatments, and the restaurant serves fresh, local seafood on a long terrace above the Old Town wall. The restaurant also produces three different olive oils from the groves around Korčula, and works with local partners to serve wines made from indigenous grapes like grk and pošip.

If there’s a hub of the hubbub in Kennebunkport, it’s Dock Square, a colorful jumble of onetime fishing shacks that now house galleries, stores, and restaurants. Prowl through the shops to find unusual clothing, distinctive souvenirs, fine art, crafts, taffy and fudge, pottery, canvas bags, specialty foods, presents for pets, and, of course, the usual trinkets and T-shirts. Most of these spots are built on wharves over the tidal Kennebunk River, and it’s worth climbing to second-floor ones, such as Good Earth, for the water—or mudflat—views. The bridge connecting Dock Square to Kennebunk’s Lower Village offers another good vantage point, and the Clam Shack is one of the area’s best places to indulge in fried clams or a lobster roll.

No visit to Ambergris Caye is complete without an afternoon at the Palapa Bar. Situated at the end of a dock surrounded by turquoise waters and cool breezes, Palapa Bar attracts a mix of locals, travelers, and some of the coolest bartenders on the island. On a warm day, eschew the barstools and opt instead to float in inner tubes beside the dock; you can even have cold buckets of Belize’s Belikin beers lowered down to you. In addition to beer and standard cocktails, fun creations like Scotty’s Palapa Punch (three different types of rum, triple sec, mango, pineapple, and a squeeze of lime) offer some island-inspired refreshment. Up in the palapa, recommended items from the menu include sausage dip, pulled pork sandwiches, and the immense half-pound burger. Palapa Bar is 1.5 miles north of town and easily reached by golf cart, taxi, bicycle, or water taxi, which drops you right off at the dock.

The bleak, windswept landscape of Connemara in the West of Ireland is characterized by bogs, lakes, mountains, and miles of stone walls. Connemara National Park is one of the best places to appreciate this unique landscape, with more than 7,000 acres of national park encompassing mountains, including some that are part of the Twelve Bens range, plus Western blanket bog and treeless plains that are home to red deer, sheep, and Connemara ponies. Explore for yourself, and find traces of history dating back thousands of years, including 4,000-year-old megalithic tombs and abandoned farms.

Asia’s first bike hotel, YOHO Bike Hotel in Shanhai, Kenting, Taiwan. The hotel is geared toward bikers, with 68 rooms featuring bike racks, an onsite Giant bike rental and tour agency, a bike maintenance area, a bikers lounge with a projection screen for photos, bikers message board, and cycling magazines, cyclist training courses, an Off-Road Experience Center, a special VIP check-in for cyclists and more. The hotel will give you a map of the area so you can bike to the many attractions, like the National Museum of Marine Biologic Aquarium, Shih Chunghsi Hot Springs, Lake Lunglunan Bird Watching Center, Maopitou Park, Kenting Forest Recreation Area and downtown Kenting. Staying at the YOHO Bike Hotel is a great way to explore Taiwan’s rich cycling culture.

A stroll of St. Kitt’s capital, whether started at Port Zante Marina or the centrally located Independence Square, is an entertaining way to learn more about the island’s past. While the French named Basseterre (it means “low land”), the British are responsible for the town’s most recognizable landmark—the green, cast-iron Berkeley Memorial Clock in the center of the Circus, where several streets intersect. Make sure to visit the area, as well as Independence Square, St. George’s Anglican Church, and the Old Treasury Building, which now serves as the National Museum of St. Kitts. Along your walk, you’ll also find duty-free shops and local boutiques, plus a lively produce market by the waterfront if you come on the weekend.

At 4,235 acres, Mission Bay Park is the largest man-made aquatic park in the U.S. Here, water-sports enthusiasts can enjoy everything from kayaking, windsurfing, and wakeboarding to snorkeling, scuba diving, and fishing, while landlubbers can take advantage of several trails and grassy areas. For equipment rentals, head to the Mission Bay Aquatic Center, located right on the bay.

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.

This low-key hotel in the sleepy town of Nosara is a surfer’s paradise. A two-minute walk through the jungle takes you to Playa Guiones, an idyllic beach with waves year-round. Begin your morning with a surf lesson, or, if you’re a seasoned pro, just rent a board from the hotel’s surf shack. Refuel with avocado toast or a mango, banana, and flaxseed smoothie at the juice bar, which is stocked with organic ingredients from the hotel’s own farm. Before your next surf session, join the staff on a native plant walk, take a Hatha yoga class, or, if your body craves more than a good stretch, book a massage or an energy balancing session at the Healing Centre. From $330. This appeared in the Jan/Feb 2016 issue.

If you’re looking for a party atmosphere and excellent people-watching, this restaurant/bar positioned near Hamilton’s harbor is your spot. It serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night snacks. DJs spin and live music is performed throughout the week.

It’s diminutive, to be sure, but “Little Grape Island” has a big claim to historical fame: Christopher Columbus landed here in 1502, anchoring his ships for repairs. Since then, a lot has happened (and been rumored to have happened) on this now-uninhabited island. It even once served as a quarantine site during a leprosy outbreak. Today, it’s an easy and interesting day trip for beach lounging, surfing and hiking. Take a boat over to the quiet spot and play modern-day explorer, keeping an eye out for colorful bird and fish species.

The understated and modest villas at the Hoshinoya Taketomi Island resort are a far cry from the characterless concrete and stucco of many beach resorts, but then again, this is Japan, where tradition and elegant simplicity are standard. The island of Taketomi prohibits modern buildings and encourages the traditional practices of red-tiled roofs and gukku stone walls with embedded talismans. Accommodations are either Japanese-style with tatami mats and futons, or more western with wood floors and modern furniture; all have deep soaking tubs, private gardens, and floor-to-ceiling windows that can be fully opened to let in the outdoors. The restaurant serves nouvelle French cuisine featuring island seafood and local ingredients, and the lounge encourages guests to unwind with a beverage and a book. For more active stays, the swimming pool is heated and shaded by banyan trees, and guests may borrow a bicycle to explore the island’s white coral sand beaches and watch the sun rise and set from the observation deck. The resort is reached by ferry and a shuttle from Ishigaki port, and visitors get around the island by water buffalo cart rather than car.

The sleepy town of Cruz Bay, nicknamed Love City, is the main settlement on St. John, and the hub where most visitors arrive after a ferry ride from St. Thomas. The island draws everyone from salty sailors to A-list celebrities, and Cruz Bay is where they all gather in the afternoon to drink Cruzan rum at beachfront bars while deconstructing their day spent hiking, scuba diving or lounging on beaches around the island.

To reach this state park off the north end of Captiva Island, you’ll need to travel by private boat or Captiva Cruises ferry. Once there, though, you’ll find 2,400 spectacular acres, including nine miles of pristine beach perfect for shelling and swimming. Keep your eye out for manatees and dolphins, which are often spotted in the surrounding waters. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even pitch a tent or rent a primitive cabin and spend the night in the real Florida.