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The Louisiana-style, year-round barbecue at Buster’s is in a league of its own. Main-course options at this no-frills (read: It’s a glorified picnic shelter) Calistoga eatery include shoulder, pork ribs, tri-tip, chicken, pork loin, and pulled pork—all cooked medium rare unless otherwise specified. Most dishes come with sides such as baked beans, macaroni salad, and cole slaw. All portions are heaping, and every dish comes with signature garlic toast. Dessert options include house-made sweet potato pie and fresh-baked cookies. Because of Buster’s proximity to downtown Calistoga, the restaurant is a great stop after a morning hike on Mount St. Helena. On warm days, try to grab a table outside and watch the ‘cue masters work the outdoor grills, and on Sunday afternoons, stick around for live blues and jazz on the patio.

Fly by Jing is chef Jenny Gao’s pop-up supper club, where 10 lucky diners get to sample 10 to 15 courses of “Sichuan soul food.” Gao was born in China but raised in Toronto, and her dinner menus reflect this East-West tension. Imagine a Chinese-Italian fusion dish with organic black pork dumplings over fresh pasta, the bowl topped with a cured egg-yolk. Dinners happen twice a month and cost about $77, including one cocktail, beer, and wine. Subscribe to Gao’s email newsletter to scoop up tickets to the next culinary event; seats sell out fast.

Among the three Cayman Islands, Brac is the most topographically endowed, thanks to its distinguishing feature: the Bluff, a limestone cliff rising along the length of the island and topping out at about 140 feet at the eastern end. Between that and the island’s densely forested interior, the local hiking options have a lot to offer—one of the best cases in point being the Lighthouse Footpath, a trail that runs two and a half miles (one way) along the bluff’s edge and that serves up endless sea views and likely encounters with the absurdly adorable brown boobies and soaring frigate birds. Try to go in the morning or late afternoon, and of course, take along plenty of water: You’re looking at a two-hour outing to the most beautiful of boonies.

Husband-and-wife team Hugue Dufour and Sarah Obraitis have pulled off a remarkable feat, managing to entice gourmets to travel to Long Island City in Queens for a meal. While Obraitis manages M. Wells Steakhouse, Dufour presides over the kitchen. Having honed his craft at Montreal‘s celebrated Au Pied de Cochon, here Dufour reimagines an old-school chophouse by venturing beyond the typical prime cuts of beef to include sweetbreads and pig’s head on the menu. Among the sides, the poutine is a nod to Dufour’s Quebecois roots as are seasonal dishes like the meat pies sold during the winter holidays. Other steak-house classics are updated with touches like candied nuts on the wedge salad. If you want to sample Dufour’s contemporary Quebecois cuisine and aren’t in the mood for steak, the M. Wells Dinette at MoMA PS1 is another option, though it has a limited menu.

Though it is just outside the French Quarter, St. Joseph’s Cathedral is one of the most famous landmarks of the colonial era in Hanoi. The neo-Gothic church was modeled after Paris’s Notre-Dame Cathedral and sits on the west side of Lake Hoan Kiem. The church dates from 1886, making it the oldest church in the capital city. (Vietnam has a Catholic population of around 4 million people.) After the Viet Minh officially took control of North Vietnam in 1954, following the Geneva Accords, Catholic leaders and institutions were repressed and St. Joseph’s was closed for decades. In 1990, services resumed, and now several masses take place each day, sometimes drawing more worshipers than can fit in the building.

Teshima’s Restaurant is a historic Japanese diner on the west coast of Hawaii Island in Kealakekua. Welcoming and reasonably priced, the diner serves Hawaiian Japanese comfort food. The set meals are the best value, a sampling of small dishes that might include sashimi, sukiyaki, fried fish, rice, and sides of cucumber, cabbage, and miso soup. The ahi is excellent (and the wasabi so soft and fresh), but the restaurant is really known for its shrimp tempura: Every local we asked about Japanese food told us to try it here. You can get it on its own, or as part of the “deep sea trio” of shrimp tempura, fried fish, and sashimi.

The Coronado Bridge links San Diego to Coronado Island—and the present to the past. In the span of just 2.12 miles, you’ll travel from the digital age to a century when “electrified” hotels were practically unheard of. When the Hotel Del Coronado debuted in 1888, its electric lights and telephones made a sensation—as did its resplendence. In 1892, a young guest named Noel proclaimed in a letter to her family back east that “the red and the white between the bluest sky and the bluest water is like a beautiful dream in a fairy story.” Legions of A-listers have checked in ever since, as a who’s who of vintage portraits attests. But while a stay here is delightfully nostalgic—featuring bike rentals, beachside cabanas, and evening clambakes—the 757-room hotel doesn’t live entirely in the past. Take advantage of its upscale spa, spin classes on the beach, and restaurants serving updated takes on coastal cuisine along with creative cocktails. In the historic Victorian Building Suites, you’ll find modern coastal-chic interiors, streaming TVs, and, of course, Wi-Fi. The Beach Village Suites include additional modern luxuries—like a Sub-Zero fridge and dedicated concierge to help you fill it.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was created through the cooperation of the governments of Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. Their cooperation has united several smaller fragmented parks into a larger border-less area for wildlife to roam. Highlights include viewing predators like cheetah, hyena and black-manned lions, along with bat eared foxes, meerkats, wildebeest, and other species. One of the best camps on the South African side is Kieliekrankie. It’s an unfenced campsite located towards the middle of the park located on the top of a dune. Four self-catering cabins come with a kitchen and outdoor grill. There is a ranger on-hand to help check you in and oversee your stay in the event some curious leopards or jackals come to visit your cabin. Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is a big park and a lot of the roads are corrugated, so a 4x4 vehicle is strongly recommended (but not necessary). Make sure to stop at Twee Rivieren with your passport if you plan on exiting through Namibia or entering Botswana.

Situated at the eastern end of Playa del Carmen’s quiet, charming Calle 38, Shangri-La Beach is named after a small hotel that used to sit right there but has since been renamed and renovated. This stretch of the city’s coastline has a more tranquil atmosphere thanks to its location several blocks away from jammed beach clubs downtown as well as from 5th Avenue’s hustle and bustle. At Shangri-La, going to the beach is less of a scene and more about guests from nearby hotels plus a few locals catching some rays on a lunch break. Best of all, you’ll find soft white sand, turquoise seas, and blissfully calm waves here.

Designed by Thai architect Khun Lek Bunnag—who has garnered a reputation for building luxury resorts that highlight the natural beauty of southeast Asia (Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai; Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve)—the centerpiece of this peaceful boutique property is a 330-foot swimming pool that’s anchored by four massive gold-leaf columns and meanders through a forest-backed eight-acre garden. Vast domed and wood-covered rooms are controlled with iPads and express a fusion of modern Thai and Indian aesthetics—think sleek marble surfaces, whimsical panelled walls, and silk throw pillows. Guests are mostly couples and child-free travelers unfazed by the freestanding bathtubs that sit next to king-size beds and showers separated from sleeping areas by glass sliding doors. The many unfenced walkways over the swimming pool and other water features make the hotel unsuitable for very young children, though older kids might appreciate outdoor movie screenings.

Zurich’s Old Town has one foot firmly in the past and the other very much at the forefront of Swiss culture. Wandering through the pedestrian-only cobbled streets of the Altstadt (which you can do for hours!), you’ll find Switzerland‘s highest concentration of clubs, as well as theatres, comedy troupes, street performers and young fashion designers selling their wares in small, elegant shops on medieval streets. Landmarks include the Grossmünster’s double towers, built by Charlemagne, and the Peterskirche, which has the distinction of being the church with Europe’s largest clockface. Don’t miss Limmatquai, along the Limmat River, one of Zurich‘s most thronged shopping sites where restaurants and shops are housed in Baroque gilded houses from the 1700s, something like the canalside houses of Amsterdam. It’s a great place to actually walk into the past and have the vibrant present all around you! Check out the Artistry and Craftsmanship itinerary to Switzerland, created by Bob Preston of Swiss Panache, on AFAR Journeys.

It’s a sad fact that many swaths of Johannesburg aren’t exactly walkable, but that’s not the case at Melrose Arch, a trendy complex filled with some of the city’s hottest restaurants, galleries, and shops. Guests are in the heart of the action if they book a stay at the African Pride Melrose Arch Hotel, a slick property with 118 stylish, contemporary rooms adorned with modern African art. And now that the hotel falls under the Marriott family umbrella, guests can expect all sorts of perks and upgrades associated with the brand.

The Maiden’s Tower, which seemingly floats in the Bosphorus off Asia, is one of the more popular symbols of the city. Once a Byzantine tollbooth and later an Ottoman lighthouse, it’s most famous for a legend involving a princess and a prophecy that she would die from a snakebite. Her father exiled her to the tower in the hope of protecting her but, alas, the prophecy could not be avoided—a snake made its way to the island, either in a bouquet of flowers or a basket of grapes (depending on the version of the tale).

This leather workshop is hidden away in a former Franciscan monastery next to Santa Croce. The Scuola del Cuoio was originally founded to provide skills and work for some of the city’s orphans after World War II; masters and apprentices still produce wallets, purses, journals, and jackets. Take a quick tour of the beautiful cloisters, frescoed corridors, and workspace, or sign up for a full workshop and try your hand at making something of your own. Everything is crafted on-site using traditional methods. Be sure to get your purchases personalized with a gold-stamped monogram.

Being in Santorini was like a dream come true. The breathtaking views were like none other I had ever seen. The white buildings against the beautiful blue sea. I spotted these two dogs and thought to myself, “Wow! What a life. What I wouldn’t give to be able to live here and enjoy this view on a daily basis.” They looked so relaxed sitting in the warm sunlight. Every time I look at this picture it takes me back to that moment. I was literally speechless. Just soaking in my beautiful surroundings. We were on a tour, headed to a wine tasting, and we stopped for pictures. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. This was an unforgettable trip, better than I could have ever imagined.