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...or take the elevator (seriously!) to experience this network of temples and intricate sculpture. Incense is sold throughout the complex, and people sell all kinds of marble wares on the street level.

The National Museum of American Jewish History, a Smithsonian affiliate, features permanent and special collections that celebrate the story of Jews in America. Centrally located on Independence Mall at the corner of Fifth and Market streets, the modern and spacious building is home to a vast and well-organized collection of artifacts; the displays include a variety of multimedia exhibits that will appeal to all ages. Recent temporary shows have focused on topics ranging from baseball to photography to rock music. For visitors with time constraints, a free highlights tour takes about an hour and is offered on most days. Admission is free on the first Friday of each month from April through July.

All those Willamette Valley pinot noirs you’ve heard about? This is the wine shop in Portland where you’ll find many of them. Fresh off a move in 2016 to a former brasserie, Park Avenue Wines now covers 8,500 square feet of space and includes a wine bar called Bardot, storage for your wine (wine lockers!), and plenty of room for evening tasting events. Northwest wine aficionados will want to join one of the wine clubs, one of which focuses solely on wines from the region. As a place to start an education about the wines from the Willamette Valley and environs, it’s hard to beat.

Portland’s only southern Thai fried chicken restaurant also happens to be the city’s best fried chicken restaurant, full stop. It helps to have one of Portland’s ambassadors of Thai cuisine, Earl Ninsom—of impossible-to-reserve Langbaan and takeout staple PaaDee—behind the counter-service concept in the cheery, narrow space where diners rub elbows with the cooks. The unique style of preparing the birds, which are rubbed with cumin, white pepper, coriander, and fresh garlic before they’re breaded with rice flour, fried, and served with fresh shallots, results in a crispy, spicy, just-light-enough flavor profile. Pair with the housemade curry and roti, mixing and matching and dipping as you go, for maximum enjoyment.

Wish that your one-stop shopping and dining location had high-concept ice cream, ramen, and New York–style pizza? Look no further than Pine Street Market, Portland’s first modern food hall. Home to some of the city’s best-loved restaurateurs, it counts among its popular food stands Wiz Bang Bar (featuring the nation’s only high-concept soft serve from the folks at Salt & Straw), Bless Your Heart Burger (done Carolina-style, from Toro Bravo’s John Gorham), and OP Wurst (from local wurst-meisters Olympia Provisions). The 10,000-square-foot space in the renovated 1886 Carriage & Baggage Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was the site of the Old Spaghetti Factory until 1981.

Chef Joshua McFadden is Portland’s “vegetable whisperer.” That’s no small accolade in a town where vegans roam free and farm-to-table is table stakes for most high-end restaurants. Tusk, his Middle Eastern–inflected restaurant on Burnside Street, turns out small plates under the watchful eye of his business partner, chef Sam Smith. Each dish is near reverent of its ingredients, with “Vegetables, Fruits, Grains” literally at the center of the printed dinner menu. Brunch at Tusk is a more eclectic affair, and also one of Portland’s hottest weekend seats. The bright space even makes the wait for a table a pleasant experience and one well worth the time it takes for the chance to taste the creations of one of Portland’s premier chefs.

Nestled within a landscape of moss and lava less than an hour from Reykjavik, the Ion Adventure Hotel is one of the few true luxury hotels outside of Iceland’s capital. Under the careful eye of owner Sigurlaug Sverrisdóttir, a no-frills barracks for geothermal power plant workers was transformed into a concrete-and-glass Nordic-modern showpiece that wears its reverence for the natural setting on its sleeve. Sverrisdóttir is committed to using local products—everything from the artwork to the bath products to the food are sourced from the area—and the hotel’s sustainable materials and practices, like using geothermal cooling for power, have earned it a number of awards. Plus, all 45 of the sleek but comfortable rooms feature fair-trade organic linens and floor-to-ceiling views of Lake Thingvellir or Mount Hengill, an active volcano. The glass Northern Lights Bar juts out toward the horizon, providing a perfect viewing spot when the aurora borealis appears; beneath it sits a large rectangular hot tub adjacent to the spa. As for adventure, the hotel is happy to arrange any number of excursions, including fly-fishing, horseback riding, kayaking and, for the truly bold, snorkeling in the Silfra fissure.

This complex of Taoist religious buildings was constructed in the early 15th century under the Yongle Emperor, who also commissioned the Forbidden City, just to the north. The temple’s central building is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a 38-meter-high (125-foot), three-tiered structure atop a three-tiered marble base. The wooden hall was built entirely without nails. Inside, the beautifully painted walls and ceiling make it a riot of color. On spring and summer mornings and on sunny winter afternoons, locals gather here to sing, dance, play games such as mah-jongg, and sip tea while catching up on neighborhood gossip.

Although severely damaged during World War II, the Old Town of Toulon retains narrow cobblestone streets and picturesque squares with inviting cafés. Toulon is a major naval base and its maritime history is evident in Le Mourillon quarter, the old waterfront area with vibrantly painted fishermen’s houses and an esplanade with restaurants and boutiques overlooking the harbor.

To the sun-starved denizens of most of North America, the name Coconut Grove might immediately evoke a lazy day in the Florida sun, shaded by coconut trees. But Coconut Grove, a district in Miami on the shore of Biscayne Bay, offers so much more than sun and water. Long known for its legacy of attracting free-spirited artists, writers, and musicians, today Coconut Grove still maintains its eclectic vibe and welcomes all to come and experience this vibrant bayside oasis.

Stay
As a base for your exploration, there are various accommodation offerings. But a stand-out that recently underwent an extensive remodel, The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, Miami, is worth your time. The entire hotel, including 115 guest rooms and suites has been redone, and the carefree “bohemian luxe” roots of Coconut Grove are certainly at play in the fresh design. In sleeping rooms and suites, natural materials like jute, canvas, and teak bring the beach feel inside but retain a sleek look while fabrics in a soft white and blue palette soften the sumptuous marble-clad baths and gold accents. And the public spaces? Well let’s leave some surprises for you. Go and see for yourself how the design concept embraces the artistic side of Coconut Grove. Me? I’ll either be at the hotel’s Spa or lounging by the pool. In fact I’m going to list a number of other things I might be doing in and around the hotel at “The Grove“ so that you can do them too.

A Perfect Day at “The Grove”
Start with a scrumptious breakfast in bed at The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, Miami, or brunch at Ariete.
Then plan to explore Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden or visit Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, or while away the hours at Books & Books, a charming, locally owned independent bookseller.
Take a leisurely walk to CocoWalk to shop, and then onto KROMA Art Space & Studios to check out the artists at work.
Enjoy lunch at The Spillover for the Lobster Reuben or the Grove Salad, or dine at Peacock Garden Bistro followed by pool time at The Ritz-Carlton (and then a massage is a must!).
Pop into Vicky’s House for the best milkshakes.
Late afternoon is best spent sailing on Biscayne Bay. Arrange through the hotel concierge.
For dinner, the lobster pappardelle at Isabelle’s is divine.
Top off your perfect day with craft cocktails and live music at The Commodore Cocktail Club.
Back in your room, snuggle up in your comfy bed and dream of tomorrow’s adventures here at Coconut Grove, Miami.

On a promontory within Bouddi National Park, overlooking a secluded bay and a short walk to an empty rust-red beach, Pretty Beach House lives up to its (classically understated Aussie) name. It’s hard to believe this intimate retreat is only a 90-minute drive from Sydney city center. Its location is spectacular and historic—spot the 2,000-year-old Aboriginal rock drawings on a nature walk nearby.

There are four guest pavilions, each outfitted with wood-burning fireplaces, deep-soaking clawfoot tubs, and sun-drenched decks overlooking Broken Bay and Angophora treetops (three have their own private plunge pools). Dining is included in the stay, and it’s exceptional: Celebrated chef Dean Jones takes freshly caught seafood and local produce and crafts them into modern Australian dishes, which you can enjoy anytime you like in the Beach House’s safari-chic dining room or poolside beneath the shady gums.

Why we love it: An exclusive oasis, sheltered from the crowds that have descended on Iceland

The Highlights:
- Access to a new, private area of the Blue Lagoon reserved just for hotel and spa guests
- Rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows and lagoon views
- Custom toiletries made with geothermal seawater

The Review:
As Iceland’s popularity exploded over the last decade, the Blue Lagoon gained a bad rap for being a crowded tourist trap. However, the spring 2018 opening of The Retreat at the Blue Lagoon transformed a corner of the UNESCO-recognized Reykjanes Peninsula from a tourist attraction into an intimate hideaway, perfect for those who want to experience the mineral-rich waters in a cell phone–free private lagoon away from the selfie stick–wielding crowds next door.

It’s easy to spend the entire day here floating in the three newly created geothermal pools located within 800-year-old lava rock (don’t miss the unusual—yet deeply relaxing—underwater massage), but when you eventually have to go indoors, floor-to-ceiling windows allow the bright blue waters and the surrounding volcanic landscape to take center stage. Minimalistic-yet-cozy communal spaces, designed by Basalt Architects and Milan-based Design Group Italia (DGI), are equally pleasing to the eye, especially the living room–like lobby, which is decorated with oversized leather chairs and a 1,600-piece collection of ceramics from the Icelandic Museum of Design & Applied Art. Sixty-two guest rooms—all with deep stand-alone tubs and rain showers—look onto the lagoon or the surrounding lava fields (though don’t try swimming in this part, as it’s been intentionally left unheated so that you can enjoy the view with complete privacy). Before you check out, follow our lead and swipe the toiletries made with geothermal seawater sourced from the on-site volcanic aquifers.

When hunger strikes, guests can enjoy casual, healthy meals at the spa restaurant, or head upstairs to Moss for a seven-course meal at the chef’s table, hewn from lava rock quarried on site. It’ll likely still be light outside when dinner is over, so change into your swimsuit for a dip in the lagoon, which stays open until midnight for hotel guests (in winter, you might even catch the northern lights). After a breakfast of Icelandic skyr and house-made gravlax, venture farther afield to the nearby town of Grindavik to ride an ATV through the volcanic landscape. Retreat hosts can also take guests on guided hikes up the dormant volcano behind the property.

If you are a fan of the old-fashioned brick-and-mortar bookstore, then you’ll be in heaven at the Strand, on Broadway at 12th Street. The store boasts that it has 2.5 million books, or 18 miles of them. While we aren’t sure how they measured books in miles, if you are looking for something to read, you are sure to find it here on one of the emporium’s two levels. Most of the goods here are used, though the Strand also has new copies of all the latest popular releases. There is also a separate rare-book room for serious collectors in the building next door (ask at the information desk for directions). The Strand also hosts regular signings and readings.

Created by the lava flow from the 1914 eruption of Sakurajima, the almost 3-kilometer-long walking trail starts near the Sakurajima Ferry Terminal. The amazing views of the harbor look out over the grasses and small plants that have grown in the lava bed over the past 100 years. Located at the base of the volcano, the nearby Foot Bath Spa is a perfect way to end a vigorous walk.

This remote highland base is eerily peaceful today, but it witnessed one of the bloodiest battles of the American War when around 500 Americans, 10,000 North Vietnamese troops and uncounted civilian bystanders were killed during the 75-day siege. Today the site is occupied by a museum, which contains some interesting photographs of the war years, plus reconstructed bunkers and captured American aircraft.