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Koreans are masters of skin care, and Korean beauty products are sweeping the globe. One of the most popular beauty brands is a label called Skin Food. The brand takes natural ingredients such as celery, broccoli and coconut (basically a salad for your face) and turns them into cleansers, toners, masks and makeup. Add to that colorful packaging, affordable prices and lots of free samples, and you’ve got yourself a must on your shopping itinerary for your trip to Seoul. Skin Food and other beauty stores aren’t hard to find—they can be found in almost every mall, subway station and shopping district of the city.

At the mouth of the Amazon, Marajó is the world’s largest fluvial (that is, river) island. With an area of 40,100 square kilometers (15,500 square miles), it is just a little smaller than Switzerland yet with a population of only some 250,000 residents. During the rainy season, much of this flat island becomes a vast lake. It is a popular destination for surfers, given the large waves created by the island’s tidal bore, and bird-watchers, who come in search of colorful species from scarlet ibises to blue herons.

Despite being so close to the harbor and the ocean, Reykjavík’s city lake has a charm and atmosphere all its own. Bordered by a main road on one side and a string of pretty, colorful residences on the other, the natural, stone-edged Tjörnin is home to a community of ducks, swans, and geese that hang out here even in winter. A popular strolling spot to clear the cobwebs after a night out, it’s also often busy with local families and visitors, who come armed with bread for the waterfowl (but beware of the seagulls—they can be aggressive). The nearby Reykjavík City Hall is also worth a look for its huge 3-D relief map of Iceland, featuring clearly marked glaciers, volcanoes, and fjords.

Both beginner and experienced kayakers will have fun on this leisurely (and super-easy) paddle across Mendenhall Lake. (Both guided and unguided options are available.) The paddling is, really, just 10 percent of the fun—maybe 25 percent. As you cross the lake you’ll encounter icebergs aplenty that decided to skip out on their glacier parent in favor of a solo float. Paddle across the lake to the frigid waterfall and, of course, to the face of Mendenhall Glacier itself. Photos of the 13-mile-long glacier’s colors won’t quite do the real thing justice, but snap away anyway. Your eyes will be blasted and soothed and dazzled by all the icy crayon colors you can imagine, opaque white to clear ice to a stunning robin’s-egg blue. Just don’t get too close to the glacier or the icebergs: Glaciers calve and icebergs can flip. What you’re seeing above the water? That’s just a small part of the icebergs’ good looks.

This five-kilometer (3.1-mile) hike starts at Bow Lake, directly in front of the legendary, red-roofed Num-Ti-Jah Lodge. The turquoise waters and historic stone-and-log structure make for great photo ops before you even get on the trail. Then, the path winds around the lake before climbing across a series of moraines left behind as the Bow Glacier has receded—the lunar terrain will make you feel like you’ve landed on the moon! The trail eventually ends at the Bow Glacier Falls, dropping vertically from the rock face towering above. With only a 155-meter (510-feet) elevation gain, this hike offers an amazing payoff for little effort, though footing can be challenging on rocky sections with some loose rock.

Cuquita Cookita is the latest venture from celebrated local chef Cuquita Arias de Calvo. She serves up “gourmet-homemade” in this colorful eat-in or take-out café. Desserts and other sweets are a specialty too, like her banana cake and lime brownies (among the biggest crowd-pleasers). The establishment also sells a variety of culinary items, including Cuquita’s latest book, Panamá Chombo Style, which recently received first prize at the Gourmet World Book Awards, in Yantai, China, in the best African cookbook outside Africa category. In Panama, a chombo is a man of African descent. With the book’s publication, Arias de Calvo pays special homage to Afro-Panamanian cuisine.

It’s a mouthful to pronounce, but it’ll prove to be among the most authentic San Miguel experiences you’ll ever enjoy. The city hosts over 700 weddings annually, and the prelude to almost every ceremony is a callejoneada, a parade in which the wedding party wanders through cobblestoned streets, tequila in hand, smiles alit, and voices singing. Giant mojigangas—papier-mâché puppets towering 10 feet in the air and dancing wildly—will visually announce the callejoneada, then you’ll start to hear the mariachi tunes. An adorable burro, adorned with colorful paper flowers, pulls a tequila cart from which all attendees indulge. The spirit is contagious, even watched from the curb.

San Miguel is chock-full of unique shops offering everything including art, antiques, collectibles, and trinkets. There’s something for everyone, from furniture to jewelry, at Mixta, a shop housed in a beautiful 18th-century structure on Calle Pila Seca. The idea—as the name suggests—is to mix local design with international ideas. As you find yourself seduced by the shop’s mishmash of old photography, shawls woven by an indigenous women’s cooperative, designer dresses, reproduction Eames chairs, silkscreen-print handbags, and colorful Chiapaneco table linens, the common denominator shines through, bright and clear: a brilliant eye for beauty.

Walk down this narrow alley connecting Valencia and Mission Streets and you’ll be surrounded by dozens of colorful murals by local artists depicting environmental and social justice, artistic freedom, and community collaboration. Funded by the nonprofit Intersection for the Arts, more than 700 murals have been painted in this vibrant display of public art since CAMP began in 1992. In a city known for its rising rents and gentrification—and especially in the Mission neighborhood at its epicenter—Clarion Alley is a sight worth visiting.

In the colorful seaside town of Dingle, you’ll find the Chart House, a lovely modern restaurant in a low, stone cottage with a garden that provides many of the goodies found on the menu. Dishes are served with a creative twist, including black pudding wrapped in filo pastry with pear and lime chutney, and roast rack of Kerry lamb with cumin-spiced red onion marmalade. And of course, Dingle Bay is the source for much of what goes into the fresh seafood chowder. The limited early-evening menu, served from 6 to 7 p.m., is a good value.

A classic fish house in the sleepy village of Savaneta, Zeerover is all about fresh, Aruban-style seafood. Cooled by ocean breezes, the spot may feel like a bit of a dive to some, but its fish comes straight from the sea—in fact, you can watch from the restaurant’s perch on the pier as fishermen pull in their catch. The menu reflects whatever the boats bring in that day, often snapper, wahoo, or even barracuda, and includes savory sides like banana hasa (plantains), pan bati (corn bread pancakes), and funchi (fritters). Be sure to also try the shrimp; the peel-and-eat delicacies are always cooked to perfection. Note: The restaurant is closed on Mondays.

Some find this narrow, neon-lit French Quarter street appealing, others appalling. But it’s worth a stroll either way. It’s as if all the sins of mankind and then some were rounded up and corralled here—tawdry strip shows, cheap and potent drinks, the coveting of neighbors’ wives, petty larceny, big-ass beers, bad cover bands, and so on. (Bad cover bands were not technically mentioned in the Old Testament, but to many they’re the street’s most shameful sin.) The heart of the party zone stretches eight blocks from Iberville Street to St. Philip Street, with the thickest concentration of bars on the Iberville end. New Orleans allows alcoholic drinks outside, as long as they’re in plastic cups, or “go-cups"—meaning you can roam the length of Bourbon Street with your beer or hurricane in hand.

Dream about a Caribbean beach bar and chances are you’ll imagine someplace like MooMba, just south of Palm Beach. Here, you’ll find oversize palapas, tiki torches at night, and a crowd looking for fun with their feet in the sand. From its lounge chairs positioned under swaying palms to its extensive list of tropical cocktails, the watering hole is really what an island vacation is all about. To eat, there’s a buffet, with Sunday’s beach barbecue theme being your best bet. Go at happy hour, which is timed to coincide with the sunset, then stay into the evening for live music and DJs.

Small and intimate, Hotel Casa Oaxaca feels quintessentially Oaxacan: It’s colonial in style, with whitewashed walls contrasting with vivid pops of carnelian red and fuchsia. It’s surrounded by local vegetation. And it’s filled with Oaxacan handicrafts and art. Common areas invite visitors to settle in and relax, like the on-site library, pool, and terrace with beautifully-made cotton hammocks. The hotel’s seven rooms are arranged around the central patio. Visitors consistently say the service is exceptional, with attention to detail and a “go the extra mile” attitude mentioned frequently as one of the main reasons to return. Another is the hotel’s central location, as it offers an easy walk to many of Oaxaca’s top sights.

The Fireside Lounge is unapologetically, gloriously tacky — which is why we love it. Tucked away inside the Peppermill Casino, the little corner bar can be a bit hard to find, so it’s usually less busy. The banquette seats around the water-filled firepit (imagine a hot tub with an Olympic torch stuck in the middle) get snapped up first, but the cozy booth seats have individual TV screens playing music videos. This is the kind of place where you can, and should, order a drink served in a fishbowl-sized glass with gummi worms hanging over the side. Happy hour is M-F from 4-7 pm and features free shrimp cocktails with your drink purchase, and there are late-night specials after midnight.