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Overtourism is becoming a serious problem around the world. Here’s how outfitters are working to be part of the solution.

From using a tree as a mailbox to gathering around a giant pink penis, there’s not much we won’t do for love

Make sure you’re ordering your cappuccino at the right time in Italy.

Picturesque vistas. Oyster galore. A night market. It’s easy to fall in love with New Zealand—it certainly was for Alton Brown.

The issue actually predates the current presidency.

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There are many ways coffee is made around the world, and a surprising number of them involve socks.

Split! Eight Quirky Border Towns

Durango’s Cyprus Café is committed to growing much of their own produce in the gardens and greenhouse of nearby Dance Ranch, and by sourcing natural meats and sustainable seafood. Recommended favorites from the creative Mediterranean-inspired menu include the stuffed poblano pepper appetizer, as well as a warm duck salad with orange segments, green olives, and manchego cheese. The setting, in a renovated Victorian house, means seating inside and out: tables in the dining room and at outdoor tables on a patio and under a breezeway. The restaurant has received two Best in Durango awards: Best Patio Dining and Best Health Food.

The mission of the state-run Cyprus Handicraft Centre is to support Cyprus’s long history of crafts and artisanal products. You’ll find a large selection of handmade items here like lace, pottery, weaving and baskets and you can see artisans making them at the store. Cypriot weavers still use traditional techniques that will have you thinking of Homer’s Penelope sitting at her loom. The main location is in Nicosia, but there are also branches in Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos.

You will probably smell a whiff of roses emanating from Aquaflor well before you arrive. Inside the stunning 16th-century Palazzo Corsini-Serristori in the Santa Croce neighborhood, Sileno Cheloni creates scents that vividly evoke the Tuscan seaside or pine forests. Cheloni studied with a Sufi master in Cyprus and worked in Milan and Lucca to learn Renaissance techniques before opening this shop, made up of three rooms lined with wooden apothecary cabinets that display glass bottles. Large tables are piled with soaps in scents like tomato-leaf and rose. Spend some time in the Parlor of Essences to create your own unique bouquet or learn about the rare oils that are used to fashion the signature fragrances.

In all my travels, the one of my favorite parts of the world to return to time and time again is the central coast of California. The spectacular scenery is incomparable from Pacific Grove all the way down south to San Luis Obispo. One of the most iconic coastal drives is the Scenic 17 Mile Drive that winds its way along the coast from Pacific Grove to Carmel. Yes, it is a popular tourist attraction but I love it too much to avoid coming here. Instead, you’ll find me here in the winter when the crowds are thinner and I can soak in the views in relative peace. It’s also a great time of year to spot sea lions and otters basking in the warmth of the sun and frolicking in the water. Officially, there are 21 points of interest on the Scenic 17 Mile Drive but for most people, there are really only a handful of stops worth getting out of the car for. One of my favorites is Pescadero Point, situated on the southern end near Pebble Beach. There, a small grove of Monterey cyprus stand, clinging to the cliff rocks. The trunks of several of the trees have been twisted and bleached by the wind and the sun giving the trees an almost surreal silhouette. In the winter, the green leaves of the ice plants take on warm shades of red, yellow and orange. Listen and all you’ll hear are the waves crashing against the rocks. I just love being enveloped by Mother Nature here. If you come in the winter, bring a jacket to keep warm and binoculars to spot the wildlife.

The freshly pedestrianized alleys in the “Historic Triangle”—the traditional commercial heart of Athens, with whole streets once dedicated to textiles, door handles, or buttons—is the city’s new gastronomic destination. Countless street food joints have come and gone in the last few years; but none have the consistent quality and original flavor of Feyrouz. Run by a charming family with roots that stretch from Antioch to Istanbul, Lebanon, and Cyprus, Feyrouz is a culinary journey to the Near East. Pull up a stool or a find a spot at one of the sidewalk benches and tuck into cheesy pide, delicately spiced lahmacun, sourdough pies, and zingy vegetarian soups, none of which cost more than a few euros. The Bosphorus rice with curried chicken, chickpeas, and yogurt sells out almost as soon it emerges from the kitchen at 2 p.m. Their newer, smarter sister venue across the street specializes in Anatolian sweets. Try the künefe, a crispy kataifi nest filled with Cretan goat’s cheese and drizzled with heather honey syrup, or the buckwheat baklava with pistachios from Aegina. Enjoy with a glass of turmeric tea sprinkled with sumac or a Turkish coffee flavored with cardamom.

Cyprus’s Chirokoitia is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved Neolithic sites in the Eastern Mediterranean. You can tour the site of the actual dwellings and then see nearby reconstructions of five Neolithic homes. The name itself comes from “pig beds” as that was what the original holes in the ground were thought to be. The site is uneven and not wheelchair accessible but the replica area is. The nearby village of Lefkara is a center of traditional lace- and silver-making. You can also shop for antiques, weavings and great Cypriot coffee and pastries here.

A short walk from Larnaca’s palm-fringed seafront is the old Turkish Quarter (the Skala). Old Larnaca’s whitewashed buildings, now home to shops selling pottery and other artisan goods, feel distinctly Old World—like a seaside port from Zorba the Greek. Pick up treasures like hand-painted olive oil bottles that look like they’ve been unearthed from ancient Greek sites. Sea sponges and local shells are also for sale and hang from shop walls in colorful Instagram-ready displays. Wander the narrow alleyways and stop for a Greek/Turkish coffee to savor the feeling of strolling backwards in time. A copy of Lawrence Durrell’s memoir of old Cyprus, Bitter Lemons, is a great companion on your tour.