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Housed in side-by-side 19th-century townhouses amid the gas streetlights and cobblestoned streets of Boston‘s Beacon Hill, the high-end Beacon Hill Hotel retains a distinctly European feel. The original owners and neighborhood residents Peter and Cecilia Rait bought the properties with the intent of opening a hotel and bistro. Nowadays, the property is managed by Saunders Hotel Group, but the who’s-who clientele hasn’t changed. Since the hotel opened in 2000, the intimate property has hosted innumerable A-listers seeking a lower profile, including Todd English.

Each of the 13 rooms has plantation shutters, pedestal sinks, flat-panel TVs with DirecTV, and windows that actually open for fresh air. The second-floor common area invites guests to meet and mingle. Plus, the hotel has a private, residential-feeling roof terrace overlooking Charles Street, perfect for morning coffee or afternoon reading.

Built in 1906 as a private residence and converted in the 1950s, Rosedon Hotel is a low-key alternative to Bermuda’s pricey chain hotels. Despite being located in the bustling heart of Hamilton, the property’s lush tropical gardens have the feel of a country estate where geraniums always seem to be in bloom and balmy breezes waft through elegant, colonial-style rooms. The 40 individually appointed accommodations have enough chintz to please a dowager aunt, plus iPod docking stations and private balconies to satisfy everyone else in the family. Laid-back pleasures await in the public spaces: sample weekly changing finger sandwiches during afternoon tea or dine on fresh-caught specialties at Huckleberry, the on-site restaurant, or simply lie in the sun on one of the white chaises that surround the small pool. Though the resort doesn’t have a beach of its own, a free shuttle is on hand to take you to pink-sand shores nearby.

The Botanical Garden was established in 1600, but moved a few times before settling on its current central site in 1870. The beautiful grounds are particularly noteworthy for the extensive complex of historical glasshouses. There are 27 in total, ranging from the grand Palm House that dates from 1874 to a specially cooled greenhouse used for growing arctic plants. It’s very much a working garden, used for scientific research, but for visitors it’s a beautiful—and free—spot to spend an afternoon.

We stood like a pair of Hemingway’s cats in the thin Scandinavian rain to photograph the oxidized lions washed dark at the front of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. A rainy day is always a good day to see a museum and the Carlsberg, the brainchild of the beer scion Carl Jacobsen, is one museum to visit when the weather encourages it. The well-lit solarium of the winter garden speckled with koi ponds, tall palms, and miniaturized sculptures first welcomes you. There a popular cafe serves coffees, beers (from the Carlsberg Brewery naturally), organic lunches, and locally sourced treats. The most popular dining spot, where a reservation is needed, is along the terrace which overlooks the garden. The museum’s two collections are antiquities and French and Danish art from the 19th century. Sculptures are the museum’s métier- they dot even the quiet corners of the museum- from the serious Roman busts to the Danish sculptures which extol physical perfection and line the bright rooms like alabaster runway models. The patterned tiles and marble columns add airs of formality. Then there are the impressionist wings: van Gogh’s Landscape from Saint-Remy; Manet’s the Absinthe Drinker; Gaugin’s Tahitian Woman with Flower; Degas’ The Little-Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer. One appreciates that you can get up close to the works without a rush of onlookers; the museum’s collections are carefully curated, so as to not to overwhelm, and are laid in a manner inviting you to stay for a while.

Just 45-minutes north of Belize City, Altun Ha is a complex of Mayan ruins dating back hundreds of years. Once the “treasury” for the Mayan people, Altun Ha is one of the most important Mayan sites in the country. Go on a tour of the place with Foolish Dreamzzz, a locally owned operator that will take your group at any size (and the price per person doesn’t change, whether you’re in a group of one or ten). Ask for Kendis Ferguson, the owner and a former history and social studies teacher. He and his company go above and beyond to make sure guests have all their questions answered, and he’ll even make sure you get to climb to the top of the ruins—something not a lot of tour guides in the area make the time to do. The views from there, of course, are amazing.

It may not look like much and there’s certainly no need to dress up. But despite its humble appearance on the posh Brouwersgracht, Swieti Sranang serves up some of the best—and most affordable—Indonesian and Surinamese food in town. Owned by Henk van de Weerd and Juliet Chang, the tiny hole-in-the-wall reflects Amsterdam‘s immigrant influences with Indonesian and Surinamese-inspired sandwiches, snacks, rice, roti and bami/nasi specialties. Swieti Sranang is the perfect source for casual lunch or dinner fixings. Pick up a few Indonesian sandwiches, a bag of banana or cassava chips, a few loempia and kip sate sticks, and you have the perfect ingredients for a canal-side picnic. All dishes are lovingly prepared by Chef Juliet, who was born in Indonesia and raised in Suriname. Most sandwiches and snacks are priced under €3, while main meals are €9 or less, making it easy for two to fill up for about €20. You can sample a few selections from the menu on the new Jordaan Food Tour, (http://www.eatingamsterdamtours.com/jordaan-food-tour/), offered Tuesday through Saturday, beginning at 11am.

The specialty coffee scene was slow to sprout in Paris but thanks to a brigade of entrepreneurial career baristas, the march toward change in consumption and taste is putting the city on the global bean map. At the vanguard of the movement are David Flynn and Thomas Lehoux, both veritable stars in the milieu. David, formerly of Télescope, and Thomas, currently the co-owner of the Canal St. Martin coffee shop Ten Belles, pooled their talents and brought in Anselme Blayney, owner of Le Bal café, to open a roaster in the 19th arrondissement. In a quick few months, the trio’s top-brass beans are popping up all over town in shops like Fondation and Holybelly. The space is reserved for roasting during the week but opens for public cuppings on Saturdays from 11:30am-6:30pm - a prime opportunity to chat with and learn from the city’s best.

Swimming and snorkeling around Xtabi (pronounced “X-tah-bee”) Resort’s underwater caves are a unique experience and a well-kept secret from first-timers. While it’s a great place to stay, overshadowed by places like Rockhouse Hotel, you don’t have to be a guest to enjoy this “meeting place of the Gods” as the name describes. You’ll want to have lunch at the casual, outdoor restaurant first--choices are excellent and include club sandwiches to jerk chicken (even if a tad pricier than from the street grills). After lunch and a rest, change into your swimwear and make your way carefully down the steps until you reach a sandy cove entrance into the sea, beside caves and jutting rocks. Splash in and come out on the front side of the cliffs, where there are ladders to exit or enter as well, if you’re feeling a bit timid. A laid back environment, gorgeous waters--just a tad more jade-colored on this end, for some reason--and underground caves ideal for photo ops make Xtabi a great spot to spend the afternoon. When you tire, climb back up to sip on a Dirty Banana and sunbathe on one of the platforms beside splashing waves.

Aldeia da Pedralva is more than just a hotel. It’s an actual village hidden away among the wildflowers and beaches of Portugal’s Vicentina Coast. The owner Antonio Ferreira was looking for a career change and when he stumbled upon Pedralva village (at the time no more than a pizza place and abandoned, dilapidated houses) he began to buy them up and rebuild them. It took Ferreira and his wife Filipa more than two years to find the original owners and get permission to buy their homes. Today, Ferreira has turned a former ghost town into a destination eco hotel with a restaurant and grocery shop stocked with produce from the on-site vegetable garden. Each of the 31 restored homes has a rustic charm and was furnished by a designer friend of Ferreira. The best part of staying at Aldeia da Pedralva is that you feel like part of a community. Ferreira’s Newfoundland dog Urso often greets guests. Dinner often features fresh seafood caught that day and plenty of Portuguese wine. A stay here is a lesson in how satisfying simplicity can be.

Reach Falls is an off-the-beaten-path delight. Located up in the John Crow Mountains on Jamaica’s east coast, this 30-foot jade-colored cascade tumbles into several pools in the surrounding rain forest. You’ll need a bathing suit and a waterproof camera to capture the natural splendor. Local guides are available to help you make your way across the swimming holes and levels, and show you the best spots. Or you can explore it solo. Because of its distance from tourism spots, there are no crowds, no harassment, just an entrance fee to your very own Garden of Eden. On-site changing rooms are available as you exit by the parking lot. Small fun fact: The falls play a minor role in the 1988 Tom Cruise movie Cocktail.

A lowly warehouse in Antwerp may not seem like a life-changing sort of place. However, this was the start of a completely new life for over 2 million emigrants and a lifesaver for many of them. The brand new Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp tells the story of these emigrants, who bravely travelled from Eastern Europe to North America, leaving everything they knew behind. Although the Red Star Line Museum primarily focuses on the immigrants who travelled on board RSL ships, there is also a modern side to the story. On the ground floor, the exhibit ‘Always on the Move’ deals with the current state of migration around the world. Coupled with temporary photography exhibits, this modern section of the museum reminds us that, even today, emigration isn’t always a choice for the migrants. The Red Star Line Museum tells a powerful and important story in a beautiful and moving way. It should be on the ‘must visit’ list for all expats and descendants of immigrants, so we never forget the struggle our ancestors made on our behalf. More Information: http://cheeseweb.eu/2013/10/red-star-line-immigration-museum-antwerp-belgium/

Tucked away in tiny Parc D’Egmont, just minutes from busy Avenue Louise, is L’Orangerie. Through the week, this restaurant is popular with the ‘ladies who lunch’ and the office tower executives. However, on Sunday the atmosphere changes, when it becomes one of Brussels best brunch spots. The champagne brunch at L’Orangerie definitely wouldn’t qualify as a ‘cheap eat,’ in Brussels. At close to 30 Euros a head, it’s a splurge, but well worth it for a rare treat. The buffet-style offerings include pastries and breads, cheeses, cured meats, smoked salmon and mackerel, a wide variety of salads and grilled vegetables, hot pasta, and an omelette and crepe bar. Juices are also included in the price but hot drinks are not. In the summer, you can sit in the shade of the park’s huge, leafy trees. It’s a great way to spend a decadent, sunny, Sunday afternoon in the heart of the city, and yet still feel like you are away from it all. More Information at: http://cheeseweb.eu/2011/10/sunday-brunch-lorangerie-du-parc-degmont-brussels/

Let’s face it, Stockholm is three things for travelers: It’s cold. It’s expensive. And it’s home to some of the most gorgeous human specimens on this dear planet of ours. I may have found the perfect place to remedy these issues, should they be considered as such—Gilda’s Café. Set in the heart of the boho district of Södermalm in south Stockholm, Gilda’s is the perfect place to shelter from the cold with a warm cup of coffee in hand, inexpensive pastries (fika, anyone?), and some good old people watching. Trust me when I say that people watching does not get any better than in Stockholm. Locals are very fond of hipster ways. They are relaxed, friendly, and could all be on the front cover of a fashion magazine. Beautiful people aside, Gilda’s is a little slice of heaven on its own. Think unmatched tableware, indie music, eclectic furniture, and delicious homemade dishes. Worlds away from the compartmentalism and practicality of Ikea. The change of scenery is most welcome and enjoyable. Save your precious kronors, daydream about a handsome Swedish Viking while sipping a comforting latte, and go to Gilda’s. It’s the ultimate south Stockholm thing to do, and you won’t regret it.

At Pier 39, more than 20,000 sea creatures from the San Francisco Bay and California coastline await your visit. Walking through the aquarium’s transparent tunnels immerses you in the bay’s diverse aquatic life, as you come eye-to-eye with the native sevengill sharks, watch the hypnotic motion of the jellyfish, and even touch a grand bat ray’s wing, if you dare. Four adorable otters live here, too. The aquarium hosts daily naturalist-led animal feedings, and curators give talks about tide pools, octopi, and climate change, interactive experiments. New virtual-reality experiences allow you up-close “access” to whales and polar bears. Otters, considered watershed ambassadors, are indicators of healthy waterways. Splurge on a behind-the-scenes tour and shark-feeding tour in addition to the regular admission ticket, and you’ll have an unforgettable day at this amazing waterside habitat.

A fairy-tale town deserves a magical funfair. Tivoli Gardens is one of the country’s most popular attractions, drawing more than four million visitors a year (in a country with a population of around 5.5 million). Youngsters will enjoy the rides, while their parents will appreciate the nostalgic charm and the wide range of dining options, from hot dogs and churros to “New Nordic” gastronomy.