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Leoncavallo is both a cultural center and a concept. The buildings lining the run-down road are covered in amazing art by epic artists and upcoming writers. During the day, you’ll find photographers documenting the work or shooting for fashion mags and street art aficionados snapping the latest work. The building inside also gets painted by artists, local and international. Best way to get a peek is to visit for a project or concert.

While living in Berlin, I stayed on Warschauer Strasse, on the end closest to the U-Bahn station of the same name. On an evening walk before dinner, I took a walk down the street to explore my new surroundings. This particular set of doors is the epitome of the neighborhood, to me.

As you walk through Stellenbosch’s town center, you’ll probably smell the bread baking at Boschendal at Oude Bank before you even arrive at the café’s main entrance. Owned by Boschendal Farm Estate since early 2017, the local favorite is a bakery, bistro, and farm shop in one, serving seasonal dishes made from locally sourced, farm-fresh ingredients. The warm interior features cozy dining nooks, but you should really sit outside, where you can sip your matcha latte while people-watching on Bird Street. Go for breakfast and order the brioche French toast, or stop by for lunch and pair the trout salad with a glass of chenin blanc from the farm.

RedRocks is a small eatery in the Columbia Heights neighborhood in Washington, D.C. It’s located just a couple blocks off the main commercial area hugging 14th Street. While there are plenty of chain restaurants peppering 14th Street, it’s worth straying a couple blocks to come to RedRocks. This is a neighborhood bistro that’s all about casual dining—perfect for unwinding from a day of sightseeing or shopping along 14th. Neither the atmosphere nor the food is pretentious. I come for the wood-fired pizza, and nothing satisfies me more than their Neapolitan pizza topped with house-cured sausage and pepperoni. You can come here with friends and just hang out to eat and drink and have a good. Sometimes simple pleasures are the best! Metro stop: Columbia Heights

There are wild times to be had at Val d’Isère’s most happening slope-side bar, where skiers can take advantage of buy-one-get-one-free beers at happy hour, or swing by at 6 p.m. when the live music and DJs really get the party rolling. Here, dancing and general exuberance are the order of the day, especially during special events like themed races or the annual closing party (when the bar sets up a waterslide for skiers). While Cocorico closes at 8 p.m., the party continues steps away at Doudoune, a club run by the same team that stays open until 5 a.m.

Known as the Palace of Arts until 2015, the modern, glassy cultural center Müpa opened in 2005 and is the premier venue in the Hungarian capital to take in cutting-edge jazz, dance, art, and more. The Bela Bartok National Concert Hall is within, as is the Ludwig Museum of Art and the Festival Theater. The building was designed to be a technical wonder for cultural production—the acoustics in the concert hall are especially lauded, and the organ in the concert hall is one of the largest such instruments in the world. See top international acts as well as Hungarian stars perform here, including the Hungarian National Philharmonic.

Blink and you might miss it. There’s not even a sign to alert you to Cantina Social, a hidden gem of a dance bar. It’s nestled into a vacant space at the end of an alley, wedged between two buildings in Monastiraki. By day, antique dealers and actors chat over coffee and cigarettes in the secret courtyard. After dark, the cool kids of Athens congregate at absolutely all hours to drink and groove in a low-key, intimate atmosphere. Simple but funky decor, intentionally inexpensive drinks, neighborhood regulars, and great music by resident DJs that veers wildly from indie pop to disco beats are standard; the occasional exhibition or event spices things up. Always open.

Disco ball, lounge, jungle, and cuisine all come together at this trendy restaurant located on Tulum’s main hotel-zone avenue. The venue is renowned for its eclectic style that blends unusual lighting, a lush outdoor setting, and live DJ nights for a cool, hippie-style vibe. Dinner is prepared over open-fire grills and in wood-burning ovens, resulting in flavorful Mexican favorites like taco samplers, quesadillas with epazote, grilled avocado, and slow-roasted pork belly. Gitano also specializes in strange but enticing cocktails from its mezcal bar, like ones that include ingredients like rum, hibiscus, and tropical fruits.

Adam and Skye Rust admit that they have a thing for taxidermy. And bones. And teeth. Adam has even made an animated sculpture where taxidermied mice circle and dance à la “Three Blind Mice.” They travel the globe to find the strangest and most visually impactful specimens to fill the motionless zoo and touch-friendly museum that is Woolly Mammoth Antiques & Oddities. Brussel Sprouts, the real two-headed calf (from Brussels); a ceremonial Odd Fellows skeleton; vintage medical tools; and old apothecary bottles all share space in this retail wonderarium. Not everything in Woolly Mammoth is a curiosity, but if it’s the unusual you’re seeking to buy, you’re bound to find it here.

Storied honky-tonk joints—and tourists—crowd lower Broadway, but even locals are drawn to the classic country feel of Robert’s Western World. Two-step around the tiny dance floor to covers of songs by such favorites as Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn.

Milan is a different city at night, when the inky blue skies and warm orange street lights reflect on the grey facades of the city’s buildings. The architecture- bombastic, monumental and sometimes even modern- is like a page out of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.

Take a two-hour dinner cruise along the Rhône River aboard the charming Mireio, the largest panoramic restaurant boat in the region. On the Saint Bénézet Cruise, you’ll pass the most beautiful sites in Avignon—from the famous Pont d’Avignon and the quays along the Rhône to the Palais des Papes, the clock tower, and the Rocher des Doms—all while enjoying delicious dishes like duck with Provençale herbs and seasonal vegetables, and fillet of beef with jus au Châteauneuf-du-Pape. For something even more lively, you can opt for the Dinner Entertainment Cruise, which includes dancing on board until 1 a.m., or the Dinner Show Cruise, complete with a candlelit dinner and Brazilian entertainment. There are also lunch cruises, though they’re often more crowded than the dinner options.

The sprawling contemporary museum, MASS MoCA, is responsible for bringing North Adams to life, and offers some of the most cutting edge art around. Xu Bing’s Tobacco Project {above} is made from over half a million cigarettes arranged to mimic a tiger skin rug. It makes a thought provoking statement on the global tobacco trade, luxury and colonialism, and is typical of the installations you will see there. The complex also hosts a variety of musical events including dance and films. Luckily Split, the in house restaurant has coffee, treats and tasty lunches.

The Electric Pickle is a boutique entertainment and music venue located in downtown Miami‘s Design District/Wynwood area. This area is the most popular location for those wanting to escape the velvet rope of South Beach. The beats pump inside the diverse bar filled with crowds from every Miami background. The Pickle was named #8 Bar that Rocks by Rolling Stone. If you like to dance, this is the place. Celebrity DJ’s take the stage from time to time and there are always specials on drinks. Step away from your regular rum and coke to try one of The Pickle’s specialty drinks, they are full of flavor and fresh ingredients.

When the directions to El Huacatay lead you from an unassuming street into an overgrown garden, you may be surprised. When you taste the food here—at what is one of the top gourmet dining rooms in Cuzco and the Sacred Valley—you’ll be equally surprised. Whatever you choose from the menu, you’re unlikely to be disappointed, from the melt-in-your-mouth beef tenderloin to the delicious and fresh valley trout. Share appetizers like the ricotta cheese croquettes with tree-tomato sorbet or the alpaca carpaccio. The drinks are excellent as well, with top marks for the coca sour, made with coca-leaf-infused pisco. Reserve to assure a table in this tiny boîte.