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Mexico City is characterized by its diverse, ancient neighborhoods and brought to life by the many cultures that inhabit them. Follow your curiosity towards a market selling local produce or a museum showcasing the city’s history and you’ll never run out of places to explore in-between.

São Paulo is one of the world’s largest cities and the largest city in South America. It’s also home to huge Japanese and Italian populations (a result of immigration in the early 20th century as São Paulo was an important part of the coffee industry). The city is known for its variety of food, nightlife, and culture, including art and museums. It’s also a great place to experience Brazil’s indoor and outdoor markets and see some very cool architecture thanks to Oscar Niemeyer’s work here.

The capital of the Northern Territory isn’t known for its shopping, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be. Beyond Aboriginal artwork and market handicrafts, there are plenty of stylish boutiques to outfit travelers in fresh swimwear and modern Australian fashion. There are also precious local pearls, second-hand books, natural body products, and anything one could ever want made out of crocodile skin. These great boutiques deserve more than a window shop.

Canals are an integral part of the Dutch landscape so it’s only fitting you see them up close and personal, from a boat. Viewing Amsterdam by watercraft puts you level with Golden Age mansions, world-class monuments like the Anne Frank House and Westerkerk, and historic landmarks like the city’s narrowest house. Numerous companies offer canal tours of Amsterdam, including Holland International, which has day, evening and holiday cruises. Around the year, you can see the city in long vessels with enclosed cabins for protection against the unpredictable weather in the Netherlands. Choose from hour-long cruises covering city highlights or dinner, pizza and candlelight voyages. Audio guides are available in 19 languages (including Dutch), and there are toilets on board the boats. If you have more than a few hours to spend on the water, opt for a hop-on hop-off tour in a smaller, electric-powered 12- and 35-person boat. From March‒October, Holland International’s Canal Hopper floats through Amsterdam’s UNESCO-honored canal ring, stopping at 16 city landmarks including the Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank House, Rembrandt Square, the Albert Cuyp Market, and Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam’s oldest neighborhood. There are departures from 11:00‒18:00, Friday‒Sunday from March‒October. In July, August and during holiday periods, the Hopper sails daily with fair weather.

Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market is a spacious, sunlit, vintagey-looking indoor market with a variety of artisanal and locally made foods: Rain Shadow Meats, Calf & Kid cheese, the Marigold & Mint flower shop, and Taylor Shellfish. There are also a few wine bars and restaurants in here, like Sitka + Spruce, Homegrown Sustainable Sandwiches, and Bar Ferd’nand. There’s outdoor sidewalk seating when the weather is nice, and some indoor tables and bars. You could put together one heck of a fancy dinner party with just one shopping trip (Sonic Boom Records next door can provide the background music) — but it’ll cost you.

In Miami’s trendy Mary Brickell Village, Perricone’s Marketplace & Cafe is the kind of place you can just relax in. The indoor/outdoor patio keeps you out of the blazing Florida sun but still provides a romantic ambience. To start, tear into baked Brie cheese wrapped in puff pastry dough brushed with drawn butter and powdered brown sugar. The top is then sprinkled with shaved almonds and sticky apricot jam. The melty cheese combined with the sweet sugar and jam is a perfect introduction to an unforgettable meal. Continue to the bruschetta bread basket, the lobster ravioli in a pink vodka sauce, and the lamb chops seasoned with rosemary and served perfectly pink atop a bed of couscous and steamed asparagus. Other highlights include the salmon in a lemon-butter sauce. For dessert, sample the house cake, a combination of chocolate and hazelnuts. As rich as a brownie, it’s the kind of dessert that you want to savor and pairs nicely with vanilla bean gelato. There’s an awesome Italian market in the lobby to stock up on pesto, seafood dip, and plenty of to-go truffles. Be sure to try the peanut butter teardrop.

Mexico’s Pacific Coast beach town Puerto Vallarta is all about fun. Not sure what to do while in Puerto Vallarta? We’ve got you covered. Puerto Vallarta has fabulous nightlife, a charming downtown, a long malecón, or boardwalk, great al fresco dining options, and the best sunsets of the West. Visit the beach where the Richard Burton-Ava Gardner flick “Night of the Iguana” was filmed, eat fresh, delicious seafood, and then dance until dawn in one of Puerto Vallarta’s many neon nightclubs.

For authentic souvenirs from all over the world, head to the West Side Bazaar. The incubator on the Grant Street Corridor supports refugees, immigrants, and low-income entrepreneurs on their path to becoming successful business owners, providing them space to pursue their dreams. Start in the stalls, where you’ll find everything from Rwandan peace baskets and Burmese puppets to Sudanese jewelry and macramé art by an Iraqi woman named Nadeen Yousef. Afterward, refuel with your choice of Mexican cuisine, Asian snacks, Ethiopian fare, halal food, and more.

Don’t expect spice in El Salvador; like its Central American neighbors, this country’s food isn’t spicy hot. It does, however, tend to the heavier side, with dishes like pupusas—thick corn tortillas stuffed with a variety of fillings—common on menus. Restaurants range from casual to formal to downright atmospheric, such as inside a volcano! As for drinks, look for homegrown coffee, locally brewed beer, and a traditional corn-based drink called atol.

Istanbul has a rocking nightlife that spans both continents and all hours of the evening—and early morning. While options for wild nights are limited in the tourism precinct of Sultanahmet, the beats pick up across the Golden Horn in the Beyoğlu District with rock, alternative, and world music venues along the side streets off Istiklal Caddesi. For supper clubs and VIP style, head to Ortaköy or Kuruçeşme to party by the Bosporus.

Historians place the arrival of the first humans in the Hawaiian Islands on the southern side of the Big Island of Hawaii. From the Island’s South Point mooring places and petroglyphs on the volcanic lava fields, to churches and gathering places dotted throughout the historical ahupuaa (a region of land from the uplands to the sea), the Big Island is a showcase for the history of humankind in the Hawaiian islands.

Houston may have the reputation as a business-oriented city, but it also has a plethora of unique and offbeat attractions. Discover Houston’s unpretentious side by visiting a monument inspired by oranges, a beer can house, or a weekly bingo night at the lodge. Yup—wacky, weird, and quirky—this city has got it all and may surprise you.

For locals in Miami, start the day by visiting a local market where you can shop for artisan breads, fresh produce and cultural gems. Shopping in Miami is always a special experience, but locals tend to choose smaller boutiques. For those who need a lot of things, there’s also a huge outlet mall north of the city which is a day-long activity. A lot of the shopping venues in Miami are filled with restaurants, bars and entertainment, offering something for the entire family and fashionista.

Sure, you could bring back some “Sleepless in Seattle” T-shirts that you got at a souvenir shop outside the Pike Place Market. But wouldn’t you rather support small businesses, independent designers, and local artists — and get some great stuff at the same time? These Seattle stores will send you home with truly unique mementoes of your trip.

Fine dining at the very highest level is somewhat thin on the ground in Da Nang and Hoi An. Nevertheless, there are stirrings at the top end of the market, with Pierre Gagnaire the biggest name to stamp his presence on the central coast dining scene. Other chefs are also doing a fine job in everything from fusion cuisine to exemplary hotel venues.