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Owners Bryan Lewis and Eric Gaspard recently opened the Twisted Cork Café, a wine-focused restaurant located in the historic Frenchtown district of Charlotte Amalie. The neighborhood, which is busy with cruise passengers during the day, slows down to a more mellow island speed in the evenings. Daily specials, which often feature just-caught fish and produce from an on-site garden, are recommended.

This 12-cottage luxury hotel, 3,100 feet up in the Blue Mountains, is Jamaica without the beaches. It is the Jamaica of misty mornings, cool, cuddle-worthy evenings, and a musical heritage recognized worldwide. First as a private estate belonging to music producer Chris Blackwell and then as part of his Island Outpost collection of hotels, Strawberry Hill has been a creative refuge for performers including Bob Marley, the Rolling Stones, and Willy Nelson. After Hurricane Gilbert destroyed the estate’s great house in 1988, Blackwell commissioned Jamaican architect Ann Hodges, who specializes in historic reconstructions, to build the cottages, a restaurant, and a pool, which were opened in 1994. Yet despite the rock and roll history, and the hanging with like-minded souls up in the mountain mists, what guests seem to remember most is the far-below views of Kingston, especially at night, when the lights glow and sparkle from what must certainly be another world.

Quebec really knows how to throw a party. It may be cold, but the Quebecois absolutely love it. The Hotel de Glace is just one example. Covering 32,000 square feet, this glistening example of “ice engineering” is just too much fun to pass up. If you’re feeling adventurous, make a reservation and spend the night, all of the rooms are themed differently with unique ice carvings in each room. The hotel will provide you with arctic-style sleeping bags designed to keep you warm well below zero. If perhaps you would like a libation, there is a bar that serves signature drinks. I sampled a Hotel De Glace cocktail that consisted of vodka and ice cider served in a shot glass carved from ice. After dark, the hotel comes to life with beautiful colored lighting that really highlights the structure. For a bit more fun for you adrenaline junkies, you will find a climbing wall made of ice, the gauntlet is now thrown down. For more information visit the hotel’s web site at http://www.hoteldeglace-canada.com. Photograph by www.xdachez.com

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.

Many friendly squirrels will greet you while walking through the Company’s Garden, a park and heritage site located in the heart of Cape Town’s City Bowl. This garden, along with Kirstenbosch and Arderne, are the most beautiful green spaces with historical significance in the Western Cape. These particular gardens date back to the 1650’s, when the Dutch utilized the natural spring water running down from Table Mountain to establish a small area for agriculture. Now, City Parks is re-establishing part of the garden as an educational tool. You can bring a picnic or grab a bite at the small Garden Tea Room. There are several museums set on the periphery of the garden, including two of the best rainy day museums: the South African National Gallery and Iziko South Africa Museum & Planetarium.

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.

A hub of preservation in the city, the Atlanta History Center is not your typical museum. The 33-acre experience features historic houses, enchanting gardens, and award-winning exhibitions, showcasing everything from Civil War artifacts to Olympic mementos. Be sure to tour the Swan House and have lunch in the Coach House. Also worth checking out is the Battle of Atlanta cyclorama painting, a large-scale work that the museum acquired in early 2017.

Nutty bread layered with olive oil, jam, salt and cured pig’s neck were the perfect accompaniment to rich Portuguese wine and 80 year old port. When visiting wine bars let the staff select your wines ask for the stories behind them. You’ll feel more connected to food and the people. (And when offered 80 year old Port always say yes!)

Its name honors an avant-garde woman poet from Dubrovnik’s golden age, Cvijeta Zuzorić. Its menu, by star chef Jeffery Vella, honors one of the Cvijeta’s tenets: No compromising on the things you believe in. And what the staff believes in here is that the dishes must be creative, the ingredients fresh, and the wine list enticing. Start with the octopus mini burgers on olive focaccia, then enjoy a gilthead bream fillet cooked in parchment, and end your meal with peach and mascarpone crumble. Dine on some of Dubrovnik’s tastiest treasures from your seat in a charming stone alleyway, watching the passersby.

Feel the wind in your hair in this new double-decker cable car that is an engineering first: It has an open-air upper deck with room for 30 passengers. The cable car made its first run in 2010 and travels along 7,600 feet of track to reach a mountain station at a height of 6,070 feet, atop Mount Stanserhorn. The mountain sits smack-dab in the middle of Switzerland with views of the less-visited cantons (technically, demicantons) of Nidwalden and Obwalden.

Japan has some of the fastest, most reliable trains in the world. One measure of how much locals appreciate them is the glee in kids’ faces when a Shinkansen glides past their commuter train. Or they line up in front of the sloped nose of a parked bullet train for a photo before taking off on a trip. That excitement has naturally created a market for train souvenirs. You can find socks, shoes, even chopsticks shaped like any number of specific Shinkansen trains. Local train lines also sell their own branded train gear across Japan. The Shinkansen souvenirs are all over Tokyo Station, but a big cluster of them can be found near the underground Yaesu central exit. Leave the turnstiles, and the omiyage shop is immediately on the left.

Head to the Aberdeen Promenade along the southwestern shoreline of Hong Kong Island, and hop aboard a sampan. The small, distinctive boats are operated mostly by elderly Tanka and Hoklo women from the traditional seafaring community who still live on boats. For a reasonable price, take a 30-minute ride around Aberdeen Harbour among the junks, houseboats, trawlers and fancy yachts, and pass under Ap Lei Chau Bridge.

In a city built on steep terrain, it is a wonderful thing to have the option to ride up and down the hillsides rather than walk. In 1883, Valparaíso’s first funicular (ascensor), the hydraulic Ascensor Concepción, made it unnecessary for locals to climb hundreds of stairs every day. Today, about 15 of these little vehicles, most using electric power, are in operation; passengers ride for a small fee. The most popular one—and the one with the best views—is the Funicular Cerro Artillería. The Ascensor Concepción Prat is the oldest.

Nestled into the base of Mount Sturgeon, at the southern entrance of Grampians National Park roughly three and a half hours from Melbourne, the Royal Mail Hotel combines a bush experience with world-class food and wine. The property is a slow-paced reprieve at the site where the town of Dunkeld was first settled. Accommodations range from minimalist mountain-view rooms bedecked with furniture and light fixtures by Melbourne designer Jardan to the Mt. Sturgeon sheep station, home to a six-bedroom homestead as well as eight dog-friendly sandstone cottages with bathrooms built inside old water tanks. Gardens play a prominent role in the Royal Mail experience; the hotel has the largest kitchen garden in Australia, which supplies the restaurant with nearly all its organic produce, and a 24-acre private garden is home to many rare indigenous and non-indigenous plants. With the Grampian Mountains and their year-round waterfalls right at the hotel’s back door, the Royal Mail is also a prime base for exploring the wilderness and its native wildlife. After a day in the woods, guests can indulge in an eight-course tasting menu with matched wines from one of the top-ranked cellars in the world.

An oasis so idyllic, you might first think it’s a mirage, Hotel Fellah is an eight-acre retreat that fuses Moroccan culture with a hipster design aesthetic and a farm-to-table ethos. Locals, artists in residence, and guests mingle in the art center and library, and at the educational farm, kids groom donkeys, milk goats or collect eggs that are sold in neighboring villages. The small café opposite the swimming pool is run by Touco, a resident of nearby Tassoultante village. Don’t miss his tagine, or—even better—pick ingredients from the garden and ask him to show you how to make it.