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This covered food market dates back to 1786 (there has been a market on the site since 1610) and today it’s a bustling indoor food market with everything from fresh fish to spices, cheeses, oils and homemade cakes on sale. It’s also a hub of social activity for the city, where people meet for a shop and a chat. Wander around the market to sample some of the region’s best produce – from the fresh fish landed on the pier at east Cork fishing village Ballycotton (Ballycotton Seafood Ltd) to the Toonsbridge Buffalo Mozzarella from The Olive Stall. Farmgate Café on the market’s upper balcony level looks over the market hall and is a great place for people-watching and soaking up the atmosphere while tucking into fresh oysters or seafood chowder, or coffee and cake.

Why we love it: A wellness-focused stay where relaxation comes first

The Highlights:
- A staff nutritionist who can create customized menus before your arrival
- Suites with outdoor clawfoot tubs for alfresco bathing
- Yoga mats available in every room

The Review:
If you’re dreaming of making your wellness fantasies a reality, Sanará checks all the boxes. In addition to minimalist white interiors that encourage meditation—or, at the very least, tranquility—the boutique resort offers daily morning and evening yoga sessions, vegan meals made with locally sourced produce, and organic bath products crafted on site. Even the mosquito spray is biodegradable (but don’t worry, the 17 guest rooms have air conditioning). Though there’s no pool on the grounds, the resort is steps from a white-sand beach kissed by lapping waves and dotted with shady loungers. If you’re in need of even deeper relaxation, Sanará’s five serene treatment rooms set the tone for crystal healing, Mayan-inspired remedies, and bio-magnetic therapy, as well as soothing facials and massages.

Founded in 1859, this 79-acre oasis is the nation’s oldest continuously operating botanical garden and a National Historic Landmark. Built by Henry Shaw, whose estate still sits on the grounds, the garden boasts one of the world’s largest collections of rare and endangered orchids, as well as more than 48,000 trees, including a few specimens that date back to the 19th century. Also on-site are Japanese, Chinese, English Woodland, and Ottoman gardens, plus a Victorian district with a labyrinthine maze. After touring the grounds, guests can get their hands dirty with cooking and gardening classes, while senior citizens and those with special needs can take part in a therapeutic horticultural program that provides stimulating nature-based activities.

These beloved baths are not just the site of a favorite swimming beach on Lake Geneva; they are a local institution. The baths are busiest in summer when the lake teems with swimmers and boats, but also stay active and open in winter months when local Polar Bear Club members plunge into the icy Alps-fed lake. After the bracing jump, it feels divine to warm up in the bath’s two mixed-sex saunas, and two hammams (one for women only). The facility is fully equipped with lockers, hot showers, and hair-dryers, as well as nooks in front of the large glass windows for soaking up the sun. Les Bains are also home to one of the city’s best fondue spots, La Buvette des Bains. Every September, after the summer season, some locker rooms are converted to a cozy dining room with wood stoves where diners dip bread into steamy melted cheese concoctions, and even take in a cultural performance or lecture on certain nights.

A city within a city, Makati is Manila’s poshest shopping, business, and nightlife district. At the Makati Shangri-La, guests have amazing access to—and respite from—all of the above, including the malls that have made the neighborhood a retail pilgrimage site. After settling in, walk over to Glorietta, where you’ll find everything from high-end beauty boutiques to a family-run pawn shop and multiple Starbucks for good measure. Some of Manila’s best restaurants are also located in Makati, but the Shangri-La’s own Shang Palace is so beautiful and beloved, you won’t want to miss the experience if you have even the slightest interest in Cantonese food. As for the aforementioned breathing space on the guest floors, it starts with the waterfall you’ll pass en route to your room and ends with the custom-appointed bed in your plush, spacious surroundings. Go for one of the Deluxe Suites and you’ll also enjoy panoramic views of the bustle you’ve just left behind.

Resting amid verdant gardens overlooking eastern Crete’s Mirabello Bay, the five-star Elounda Mare Hotel is a family-run Relais & Chateau property that feels like a stylish cocoon—no wonder it has entertained everyone from Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio to Kathleen Turner and Lady Gaga. Designed in the manner of Cretan mansions, the 92-unit resort makes generous use of stone and timber, with warm shades of white and red splashed throughout; balconies or terraces and full-length windows look out on the sapphire Aegean, and bungalows and suites include private pools and fireplaces. While the hotel itself has three restaurants and a bar on site, guests have access to five other restaurants and three additional bars spread among two sister properties, which are separated by olive groves but reachable via golf-cart shuttles. Chances are good that you’ll spend your days sunbathing on the private sandy beach or near the salt-water pool, but guests can also arrange to use shared facilities, like the spa and nine-hole golf course.

What do you get when you mix a little Don Draper, a bit of Andy Warhol, a smidge of The Jetsons, and a touch of PeeWee’s Playhouse? The vision of two local architects, the cheerful Vintage Design Hotel Sax is a paean to post-war optimism in the Malá Strana neighborhood, where each of the 23 affordable accommodations are individually decorated with restored vintage furniture and artwork, colorful geometric wallpapers, and retro pieces. Rooms aren’t particularly spacious but are comfortable nonetheless and include amenities like smart TVs, free WiFi, and air conditioning. There isn’t an on-site restaurant, but the lobby bar sells salads and sandwiches throughout the day, and a space off the lobby stocks free coffee and tea, as well as wines and soft drinks for purchase. The complimentary breakfast, however, is served buffet style (you can pay to order à la carte items) and can be enjoyed from the hotel’s fourth-floor terrace overlooking Prague Castle and the Petřín Lookout Tower.

This extensive white-sand beach is the one Cancún locals love the most, and it’s still largely unknown to tourists. Bisected by a lengthy pier, Playa Langosta has calm, shallow, crystal-clear waters like most other beaches on the Cancún Hotel Zone’s northern side, making it an ideal escape for families with small kids as well as those who just want to lounge beside the sea. Restrooms and a playground are on-site, but beach chairs are not always available for rent, so consider bringing your own.

If you’d like the space and privacy of a vacation apartment but still want the service and amenities of a hotel, the Cottages & Lofts at the Nantucket Boat Basin are ideal. You’ll be whisked away from the Hy-Line ferry and taken to the wharves of Nantucket’s harbor, about as close you can get to the water without staying on a boat. Cottages and loft rooms range from studio-size to three bedrooms, all with full kitchens and private patios. A complimentary shuttle bus can take you to the beach, and bicycles can take you wherever you can’t walk from the cottages. There’s no restaurant on-site, but plenty of options are at the marina, and guests get a discount at the White Elephant’s Brant Point Grill. Children and pets are VIP guests as well: Kids get fishing and beach gear to use during their Nantucket stay, and a pet concierge will assist with stays at the “Woof Cottages.”

On a tree-studded peninsula between Monaco and Nice, this whitewashed luxury boutique hotel features 28 rooms and suites with a serenely chic vibe (think crisp white linens and richly patterned textiles, contemporary art and modern streamlined furnishings). A third of the units reside in the hotel’s main building, a mansion that dates back to 1889 but was fully restored and updated in 2003, and three additional rooms designed to resemble ship cabins are built into a wall with direct views onto the sea; the rest of the accommodations are housed in a quiet Italianate structure and a separate edifice at the edge of the property. Cap Estel’s Michelin-starred restaurant highlights seasonal ingredients, many of which are sourced from the on-site gardens. Guests who come to disconnect from the jet-set scene can relax in the hammam or waterside sauna, or with a massage and dip in the saltwater pool, though many guests would just as soon head straight into the azure waves of the Mediterranean, accessed through the hotel’s private beach.

On a quiet white-sand beach within the gates of the historic Hacienda Pinilla ranch, just a few miles from the bustling surf town of Tamarindo, the JW Marriott is an ideal choice for families, offering a wide range of on-site activities for every fitness level—think surfing, volleyball, golf, hiking, kayaking, horseback riding, and the list goes on. The kids’ club provides organized daily adventures for children ages four to 12 while parents steal a few relaxing hours at the oceanfront infinity pool or indulging in beachside massages at the spa. Five restaurants and two bars serve everything from casual burgers for picky eaters to sushi, Asian fusion, and contemporary Costa Rican for those with more refined palates. And all of the 310 guest rooms have balconies or terraces with ocean, garden, or pool views, as well as marble bathrooms with oversize tubs for maximum comfort. Spring for a spacious one-bedroom suite, which has a separate living-room area—a great plus if your little ones are early risers.

The first thing guests notice as they approach the 600-acre Rio Perdido ecolodge is a large wood-and-steel rotunda that, from a distance, resembles a flying saucer, an award-winning design that houses the resort’s open-air restaurant, bar, and spa. The bungalows are just as stylish: 30 prefabricated cubes are suspended on seven pylons (no trees were cleared during the building process) and feature an airy, modern aesthetic, with twin rolling beds, brass fixtures, and terraces with hammocks sited for gentle breezes. Larger suites are moodier and more romantic, with walls of singed wood and volcanic-stone floor tiles. Soak in the property’s natural springs, which are heated by the activity of nearby Miravalles Volcano, then choose your own adventure. If you’ve worked up an appetite hiking, tubing, or canyoneering, the restaurant serves satisfying Costa Rican casados (rice dishes) and ceviches, which guests can arrange to enjoy from a platform that sits 160 feet above the river that gives the property its name.

Spread out over 45 acres of palm-lined grounds that wind down to Arossim Beach, this luxurious South Goa resort is an ideal base for every kind of traveler. Bon vivants will appreciate the 248 rooms and suites for their high ceilings, marble bathrooms, and views overlooking the pool or adjacent lagoon. Wellness seekers will love the Ayurvedic treatments and yoga and meditation classes. And epicures will delight in on-site cooking lessons that serve as a deep dive into Goan cuisine. For those who’d rather leave their culinary adventures to the experts, the resort offers five restaurants dishing out everything from grilled catch-of-the-day to wood-fired pizzas, plus a few fine-dining takes on classic North Indian and Goan specialties. In late autumn, voyeurs who arrive at the hotel, a popular venue for big fat Indian destination weddings, are rewarded with a parade of hundreds of chic Delhi and Mumbai twentysomethings dressed in their finest attire—definitely something to write home about.

Short of visiting the iconic Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque itself, you won’t find a better view of the whitewashed masterpiece than at this Shangri-La hotel, which shimmers like a jewel opposite Abu Dhabi Island on the mainland of the Arabian Peninsula. The rest of the hotel’s palatial appeal sprouts from a deep appreciation for Middle Eastern tradition, seen in spectacular carved archways, mosaic-tile baths in the rooms, and winding waterways navigated by an abra (local ferry boat). Hop on board to journey to the hotel’s contemporary take on a souk, where you can purchase clothes, jewelry, and other souvenirs before choosing between French, Vietnamese, and Chinese specialties at four on-site restaurants. Four pools ensure you won’t wilt in the desert heat, while a CHI spa provides soothing comfort for those beat from a day spent skyscraper hopping.

This atmospheric all-inclusive resort opened in 1986 on the white sands of Little Cayman’s Preston Bay and consists of eleven rooms in wood and stone cottages, some of which are oceanfront. Guests, mainly advanced divers and repeat visitors, come for healthy corals, diverse marine life, and the hospitality. Since 2015, owner and manager Susan Howard has carried forward the legacy of her mother and the original owner of Pirates Point Resort, Gladys Howard, by fostering an “Island Home Away From Home” vibe. In addition to complimentary bicycle rentals and island-wide conservation efforts, Howard opens up her home on Friday nights for a champagne and sushi cocktail reception.

The resort operates on a safari schedule with wake up and breakfast bells, daily and untimed dives at numerous sites, and hearty lunches upon return to the lodge around 3pm. The hotel sea front view is lovely, with hammocks strung on the white sand beach and easy, protected swimming and snorkeling within the barrier reef.