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Feel like learning to East Coast Swing, Salsa, Tango, Waltz or Kizomba while you’re in Seattle? From events to classes, to venue rentals and Footloose-inspired advocacy (repeal the ‘dance tax’ in Washington State), this is the perfect place for a creative date night. The organization is made up of three venues that include the Century Ballroom, the West Hall and the East Hall (pictured). Be sure to check online in advance for availability and times that certain types of lessons are taught, and then make a reservation. You’re in the perfect place for dinner as well, in that hip East Pine St and 10th neighborhood, but wouldn’t you know that the Century Ballroom owns a lovely dining spot on the same floor of the building where you’ll be dancing. The intimate Tin Table is a great spot for a cocktail and some food to fuel all of that movement. Have fun!

Set on almost four acres in the Catskill Mountains, a couple of hours outside of New York, The Villa at Saugerties is a tranquil four-room inn surrounded by stunning gardens, complete with weeping willows, streams, and a lily pond. All four rooms here are impeccably maintained, with gas fireplaces and lovely bathrooms complete with Moroccan tiling. While the Villa’s pleasant grounds and the 40-foot swimming pool are enough to keep guests from leaving the property, there’s also plenty to do in the sylvan surrounded, from hiking and mountain biking on local trails to touring the myriad quaint old towns for which the Hudson Valley is known. The gourmet breakfasts here cooked with local ingredients get rave reviews, as does the warm hospitality from the inn’s owner-operator couple, Amanda and Joe.

Chef/owner Aaron Silverman’s farmhouse restaurant, in the heart of Barracks Row, serves creative (and Michelin-starred) cooking inspired by his travels and culinary training in the American South, Mexico, the Mediterranean, and Southeast Asia. Pork sausage and lychee salad is a menu mainstay; most other dishes are rotated out frequently to make way for “new stuff,” anything from grilled cucumber with coconut and anchovy to jumbo lump crab with squash blossom. Groups of six to 12 can make online reservations, all others should be prepared to wait a while. Line up before the 5 p.m. opening time to snag a seat at the counter facing the open kitchen and wood-burning stove.

A modest, friendly family establishment (serving since 1963) where locals and visitors-in-the-know visit for flavorful James Beard award-winning New Mexican cuisine including carne adovada with warm, marinated roast cubed pork in a brick red chile sauce.

A delightful peach-colored villa set directly on Treasure Beach, this Jamaican-owned guesthouse is a gem, and feels more like a vacation home than a hotel. There are six spacious guest rooms and two larger suites, each with their own patios or balcony with a glorious sea view. The interior is intricately decorated with carefully chosen African-themed paintings and sculptures, and the owner—who returned after many years in the US—takes pride in providing true Jamaican hospitality. There’s a bar and no restaurant on site, but that doesn’t prevent the large kitchen and staff cook from taking your daily orders for breakfast and dinner, dishing out excellent local specialties that are served poolside with the sea in front of you. It’s one of my favorite places to stay and get away from it all.

Rocky’s has been in business in Detroit since 1969. In its current form on Russell Street in the Eastern Market neighborhood, it’s a superstore for candy and nuts. However, it also offers spices, oils, specialty cooking items like gluten-free flours and mixes as well as ‘Made in Michigan’ products, such as McClure’s Pickles. Most items are only available in bulk. Some items are pre-packaged. Take your time exploring the aisles, Rocky’s is not small and hidden gems abound in its many aisles. It’s an ideal place to take the kids but travelers of all ages will find something to love. Products can also be ordered online and shipped to your home.

Located in Buffalo’s booming Theatre District, Buffalo Proper is a great place to stop before or after a show. Guests can look forward to nearly 30 specialty cocktails, plus seasoned bartenders ready to mix all the classics. Favorites include the BFLO Bramble (vodka, blackberries, mint, lemon) and the Bare Knuckle Boxer (whiskey, lemon, honey, and strawberry), but there’s also beer and wine should cocktails not be your thing. While the two-story, lofted space is massive, it fills up quickly on weekends, so go early to secure your spot at the bar or one of the high-top tables. Then, put in an order for your favorite drink, along with elevated bar fare like Japanese-style fried chicken, white bean burgers, and grits with crème fraîche and cheddar.

While Lloyd may be best known for its inventive Mexican fare, it’s also one of the most forward-thinking cocktail spots in Buffalo. What started as a food truck catering to the business lunch and weekend festival crowds became a North Buffalo staple when it opened its first brick-and-mortar location on Hertel Avenue in late 2015. Today, it continues to be a go-to for classic cocktails like margaritas and palomas, made with fresh ingredients and quality spirits. The mezcal drinks are delicious, especially the Green Hornet (mezcal, honey simple syrup, spicy tomatillo shrub, lemon, cucumber), but if you’re not into smoky spirits, try the Midsummer’s Daydream (rum, strawberry-peppercorn shrub, aloe liqueur, lemon, pineapple, rosé).

Until Toutant opened in 2015, Buffalonians were hard-pressed to find any quality Southern food in their hometown. But now, when the craving for buttermilk fried chicken hits, they head to this Downtown spot, where chef James Robert combines his Louisiana roots with a passion for seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. A bit more refined than your everyday barbecue joint, Toutant is housed in a three-story, industrial-chic space, complete with a long bar for sipping craft beers, classic cocktails, and vast selection of whiskeys. While dinner brings such delicious dishes as house-smoked sausage, pan-fried cornmeal catfish, and traditional Creole jambalaya, brunch is the real winner here. The biscuits with two fried eggs and sausage gravy are hands down the best above the Mason-Dixon Line.

Before becoming a small tavern, this hole-in-the-wall spot served as a cooper’s workshop that made barrels for the local winemakers. Today, its modest confines have been made cozy with a few wooden tables (actually former workbenches), a smattering of candles, and old tools from the workshop. Its appeal lies not just in the convivial atmosphere that comes from being a family-run restaurant since 1992, or the fact that strangers eat in close quarters, but also in the hearty menu, which offers classic dishes from Baden and the Pfalz region like Schäufele (pickled and slightly smoked pork shoulder), Saumagen (sow’s stomach stuffed with meat and potatoes), schnitzel, and deliciously creamy Käsespätzle. The wines are also excellent, meaning Schnitzelbank is usually packed. Arrive early for a better chance at a table.

Beaver Creek’s credo is “Not exactly roughing it,” and Beano’s Cabin—tucked up on the ski hill itself—is a fun way to do dinner in any season. In the winter, you can arrive at the restaurant courtesy of an open-air sleigh; in summertime, you can take an hour-long horseback ride, a tractor pull, or a 10-minute shuttle van. Once on-site, adults enjoy a five-course menu, and kids under 13 have the option of a simpler three course-meal, featuring Rocky Mountain classics like roasted venison and Colorado lamb. As expected, being up on the ski hill makes for a beautiful view no matter the time of year, although the fall is particularly stunning. (Reservations required.)

A classic New England bed and breakfast with a boutique hotel vibe, the Union Street Inn is housed in an impeccably maintained 1770 whaling captain’s home just off Main Street in downtown Nantucket. A short walk from the Hy-Line ferry and harbor, the inn has a convenient location in town (including parking, a huge perk on the island) and can also outfit guests with beach gear for a day on the sand. A quintessential gray-shingled exterior contrasts with the bright blue chinoiserie patterns and crisp white Frette and Matouk linens in the inn’s 12 immaculate rooms. Union Street’s cherry on top is the made-to-order gourmet breakfast, which might feature fresh peach cinnamon rolls or homemade carrot cake, depending on the season.

Lebanese food is ubiquitous in Abu Dhabi, but Almayass restaurant at the Sheraton on the Corniche combines Lebanese classics on the menu with an array of Armenian dishes that pair perfectly. If you try one dish on their impressive list of hot mezes, be sure to make it the ras asfour bi kara, marinated veal cubes topped with a sweet-and-sour cherry sauce. Armenian cuisine is famous for its sausages, and Almayass serves a delicious sujuk maa bayd ferri, Armenian sausage fried up with quail eggs. Almayass also answers the perennial Abu Dhabi question: “Where can we go to smoke a shisha outside?” Tucked into a private lagoon, Almayass’s outdoor seating area provides an intimate environment for some after-dinner shisha and cocktails.

This 248-room hotel in one of the city’s tallest skyscrapers—Roppongi’s glass-sheeted Tokyo Midtown—offers some of the best views in the city, but the interiors are just as eye-catching. The property starts on the 45^th floor and espouses classic European decor, with four colorful abstract works by California painter Sam Francis, each 12 feet high, dominating the lobby. Rooms and public spaces look onto Mount Fuji, the Imperial Palace, and Tokyo Bay; inside delicate woodwork, hand-tufted carpets, patterned chiyogami wall coverings, a lobby waterfall, and Murano chandeliers set the scene. The hotel proudly touts the most expensive guest room in Japan, the Ritz-Carlton Suite, yours for the princely sum of $16,200 per night.

With soaring 10-foot ceilings and sprawling 700- to 1,200-square-foot configurations, the one- and two-bedroom accommodations at Twelve Midtown are more like modern apartments than hotel rooms. Each features a contemporary neutral-hued color scheme and comes with a full kitchen outfitted with stainless-steel appliances, plus separate dining and living rooms to encourage living like a local. But a few hotel perks made the cut, including a Starbucks in the lobby, a seasonal rooftop pool, and a full-service, 24-hour concierge desk to help you make the most of your visit—this is vacation, after all. There’s also an all-day restaurant serving classic Italian fare, including pizzas, pastas, and vegetable-forward antipasto.