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Located in the southeastern corner of the island, Savaneta was Aruba’s first settlement and former capital. Founded by the Dutch in 1816, it’s also home to the island’s oldest surviving home. A visit to the sleepy town offers the chance to explore some of the island’s most historic buildings far from the bustle of Oranjestad. At the end of mazelike streets, you’ll find two small beaches lined with a handful of low-slung hotels and restaurants. Blissfully remote, both stretches of sand offer excellent fishing and snorkeling. For something more adventurous, sign up for a kayaking or ATV excursion.

Five open-plan huts sit on the shores of a private island, deep in the wildlife-rich wetlands of Lake Baringo. In the morning, after a breakfast of fresh fruit, take a canoe out to spot hippos and some 450 species of birds. This appeared in the July/August 2012 issue. Read Matt Gross’s feature on running in Kenya.

The family-owned Yandup Island Lodge is located on a private island across from the remote Playon Chico community on the Caribbean coastline of San Blas, Panama. The eco-lodge offers two tours a day: a visit to a beach on one of the archipelago’s deserted islands and a cultural tour that connects guests to the local Kuna Yala indian community.

There certainly are other ways to while away a summer day in Greater Portland, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better experience than island-hopping aboard a Casco Bay Lines ferry. Sure, you can simply ride out to an island for a look-about and return, or enjoy a sunrise, sunset, or moonlight cruise. But for a real immersion, consider the Mailboat Run. You’ll be among islanders, visitors, pets, and freight to-ing and fro-ing between Little Diamond, Great Diamond, Long, Cliff, and Chebeague islands. The 2½-to-3½-hour working cruise is offered twice daily year-round; bring your own picnic lunch on the morning run or snacks for the afternoon one.

A two-hour trek from downtown will bring you to China’s third-largest island, Chongming. Considered a “national geological park,” the island is a known nature escape for city residents. While you’re there, check out the Chongming Museum, stroll through Dongping National Forest Park (they have hammocks and BBQ pits if you want to camp out for a while here as well as bikes to cruise around on), hike up Jinao Mountain to the Shouan Temple, or go crabbing for some of China’s most famous hairy crabs at the at Dongtan National Nature Reserve. How to get there: Ferries depart daily from Baoyang Port or take bus Shen Chong (申崇一线) from Shanghai North Long Distance Bus Station. *Photo Source Bert van Dijk (Creative Commons)

For the time it takes most Angelenos to commute to work, you can be ferried into the alternate reality of Catalina Island, a romantic escape far from the daily traffic jams and urban sprawl. The evergreen-shrubbed hills spotted with an artists palette of summer homes and surrounded by bright hues of blue waters, coves and marinas feels more like the islands off the coast of Spain than the United States. It is rejuvenating to arrive at a place so close to the city yet feel so completely removed.

A two-minute ferry ride from St. Vincent’s Villa Beach brings you to Young Island—the first of the Grenadines. Here, the Young Island Resort welcomes guests and visitors alike to its beachside restaurant for casual breakfasts, local curry buffet lunches, prix-fixe dinners, and barbecue parties. Seated in an open-air hut surrounded by tropical flowers, you can dine on local specialties like freshly caught fish and lobster while enjoying the ocean breeze. Whatever you order, pair it with the restaurant’s signature bread, which comes in banana, coconut, cinnamon, white, wheat, and raisin varieties and gets sliced tableside right before your eyes. Just know that reservations are required to eat here, no matter the time of day.

From May to August, a ferry runs from the port of San Sebastián to the island that sits serenely in the middle of the Concha Bay. The island is quiet, isolated, and empty. There is a café on the island with a mysterious timetable, and a lighthouse that makes for a picturesque snapshot. Grab a loaf of bread, some cheese and ham, and settle down for a picnic and a reverse view of San Sebastián.

A 25-minute ferry ride from Slussen takes you to Fjäderholmarna (the Feather Islands) where you can sample slowed-down archipelago living. Once on the island, there are several artisan shops like Krukmakeri, which makes pottery, and Åtta Glas, where you can blow your own glass. You can also grab a seafood lunch at Fjäderholmarnas Krog & Magasin and then explore hiking trails and beaches all around the compact island.

Since its opening along a dazzling stretch of sand known as Cabbage Beach in 1962, The Ocean Club on Paradise Island has been the preferred stay of old-money patriarchs and traditionalists. Though much at the serenely posh resort has remained unchanged, the 105-room property has been modernized to meet today’s standards with spa-sized marble bathrooms, sweeping WiFi, and a restaurant run by star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. But it’s the feeling of a privileged, unhurried yesterday that continues to draw an appreciative upper-crust crowd. An on-site tennis pro provides tips for improving your backhand, Versailles-inspired gardens complete with a 12th-century Augustinian cloister offer moments of quiet contemplation, and rounds of golf end with martinis at the resort’s bar. These details, plus knowing that a personal butler and afternoon champagne and strawberries are included in the price, keep guests returning year after year.

Friends International is a wonderful home-grown Cambodian NGO that has now expanded around the world. They’ve reached out to some 60,000+ at-risk kids, youths and their families and communities through social services, training and education programs. Their social enterprise restaurants are some of the best in Southeast Asia, but I also love Friends ‘N’ Stuff, which is their line of fun eco-friendly products made by disadvantaged families as an additional source of income. Made from recycled materials, their range includes everything from the pencil cases and wallets, above, to jewelry and kids toys. They’re sold at the Friends ‘N’ Stuff shop at their restaurant, Marum, in Siem Reap, as well as at the weekend Made in Cambodia market at Shinta Mani Resort and other boutiques around town. When you buy them, you know you’re not only buying something that is eco-friendly, you’re helping to pull a family out of poverty.

At Point Udall, on the east coast of St. Croix, a sundial called Millennium Monument was erected for the New Year’s celebration in 2000. The stark sculpture represents the azimuth of the first sunrise of that year, the new millennium, at this easternmost point of the United States. Point Udall also affords visitors panoramic views and marks the starting point of a hike that leads to the beach at Isaac Bay.

Nearly hidden behind a tall row of hedges is Delano South Beach, a landmarked hotel built in 1947 and renovated by Ian Schrager and Philippe Starck in 1995. Schrager and Starck wanted Delano to feel like a home; to that end, Starck created a series of discrete “living spaces,” with mismatched furniture, in the hotel’s common areas. Each of the spaces is intended to evoke specific images and experiences from his childhood, such as a wall of nightlights. The Delano’s backyard and pool area are an extension of the lobby’s “living room,” and that’s why a table and two chairs sit in a shallow section of the pool, and why the hotel’s veranda features the kind of comfortable furniture usually found inside a building, rather than outside it. In rooms, guests will find oversized marble bathtubs, said to be a favorite among NBA players because of their seven-foot length, along with Malin + Goetz toiletries.

With its outdoor cafés and Technicolor facades, the 17th-century Nyhavn Canal is perhaps one of the most Instagrammed attractions on the planet. The best place to experience it all is 71 Nyhavn, an intimate boutique hotel overlooking the harbor at the end of the canal. Occupying a pair of former seaport warehouses built in 1804, the 130 rooms—many of which are newly renovated—mix original details (wood beams, brick walls) with contemporary comforts (leather headboards, furnishings by Arne Jacobsen and, in the lobby, avant-garde paintings from the owner’s private collection). Downstairs, SEA serves southeast Asian fare by the team behind Michelin-starred restaurant Kiin Kiin—a nod to the once-exotic trade routes that gave the canal purpose.

Inspired by vibrant Southeast Asian night markets, D.C. chef Erik Bruner-Yang (of Toki Underground fame) and D.C. streetwear mogul Will Sharp created a sleek, two-story indoor/outdoor space that’s part menswear store, part café and restaurant. The first level is all about shopping, and the floor is lined with glass-encased displays featuring Sharp’s clothing line, Durkl, as well as a library full of designer sneakers. Upstairs, sip locally roasted Vigilante coffee while snacking on Frenchie’s pastries and desserts. The best part, though, is when you step onto the patio and take a seat at the open kitchen serving up Yang’s blazing hot and flavorful Cambodian and Taiwanese cuisine. Don’t miss out on the American Wagyu tartare, the Khmer tamarind salad, the steamed pork bao buns, and zha ji pai (Taiwanese fried chicken).