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The longest developed rail-trail in the country, Katy Trail State Park snakes across Missouri for 240 miles, from the western edge of the state to the St. Louis metro area. Built on the former corridor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, the well-maintained park closely follows the Missouri River, offering bikers, hikers, equestrians, and everyone in between a scenic way to see much of the state. The section between Cooper and St. Charles counties is an officially designated segment of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, adding an educational aspect to any exploration. Most choose to bike a portion of the trail, though hiking, running, and horseback riding are also great ways to experience the park, all the while surrounded by forests, wetlands, prairies, and abundant wildlife. A favorite stop along the way is the charming town of Rocheport, where you can make a pit stop at the bluff-top Le Bourgeois Winery for fine wine and views of the Missouri River Valley.

For many centuries, the Hohenzollerns were one of Germany’s most powerful families, their influence only diminishing with the end of the monarchy after World War I. During their dominance, they lived in this majestic neo-Gothic castle, visible from miles away thanks to its prime location on a conical hill. Inside, a series of opulent rooms remain resplendent with period furnishings and valuable oil paintings. The Treasury—which hosts personal items of Frederick the Great and Queen Louise, the Prussian Royal Crown, and a great deal of expensive porcelain and silverware—and the royal chambers can only be seen via a guided tour, but the grounds are free to explore. Also open to the public is the café-restaurant Burg Hohenzollern, with decent regional food and an outdoor beer garden in summer.

Set at the end of Duval Street, near Sunset Pier and Mallory Square, Pier House takes advantage of its waterfront address with three tiers of balconies and a pocket-sized stretch of private beach. Its location means guests are within walking distance of all of Old Town’s highlights, from the Clinton Square Market to the Harry S. Truman Little White House. Many come to follow in the footsteps of the mayor of Margaritaville himself, Jimmy Buffet, who played his first gig in town in the hotel’s now infamous Chart Room Bar. Order a rum runner, then head to the heated outdoor pool; though it’s on the small side, it has sweet views to Key West Bight. After an adventure-packed day, the rooms and suites offer low-key comfort, decorated with traditional furniture and local art and overlooking the ocean or tropical gardens and koi ponds. Equally serene is the full-service spa, one of the few on Key West.

Bavaria meets Florida at this Marriott Autograph Collection property, midway between downtown Orlando and the theme parks, and close to the Orange County Convention Center. The hotel’s unique decor pairs antlers and fake fur with pastels and palm trees, and adds elaborate chandeliers and original artwork throughout. Accommodations have fairy tale–inspired carved headboards and marble bathrooms; book a corner room for a separate seating area—in a turret overlooking the lush grounds. The Poseidon spa pampers you like royalty with body, skin, and beauty treatments that employ ocean-derived ingredients, and massages can be arranged in room or in the garden. Breakfast and lunch are served at the bright and airy Garden Bistro, with dinner and drinks available in the Antlers Lounge, but you can walk to restaurants and attractions along International Drive, including the Orlando Eye Ferris wheel. Just be back before dark: From the Sky Terraces, guests have views of nightly fireworks and may spot another nearby castle—Hogwarts at Universal Studios.

A city within a city, Makati is Manila’s poshest shopping, business, and nightlife district. At the Makati Shangri-La, guests have amazing access to—and respite from—all of the above, including the malls that have made the neighborhood a retail pilgrimage site. After settling in, walk over to Glorietta, where you’ll find everything from high-end beauty boutiques to a family-run pawn shop and multiple Starbucks for good measure. Some of Manila’s best restaurants are also located in Makati, but the Shangri-La’s own Shang Palace is so beautiful and beloved, you won’t want to miss the experience if you have even the slightest interest in Cantonese food. As for the aforementioned breathing space on the guest floors, it starts with the waterfall you’ll pass en route to your room and ends with the custom-appointed bed in your plush, spacious surroundings. Go for one of the Deluxe Suites and you’ll also enjoy panoramic views of the bustle you’ve just left behind.

Straddling a forested isthmus on Corfu, Kontokali Bay Resort & Spa avails its guests of five-star luxury while maintaining a fun, welcoming atmosphere for families. There are a wide range of accommodations (plus all-inclusive packages), from the 170 rooms in the main building to the 89 suites and bungalows clustered in lush gardens around the property; all have terraces or balconies, some with views of the bay or sea. For the VIP treatment, book the presidential suite, which features a private pool with two Jacuzzis, an indoor hammam, and a small gym. Beyond the rooms, guests have several choices for sunning and swimming, including two sandy beaches with loungers and umbrellas, a saltwater infinity pool overlooking the Ionian Sea, an indoor heated freshwater pool, and a kids’ pool in the playground area. Dining options are equally diverse: go casual at the beachside bistro, Mediterranean buffet, or taverna-style food court, or sample dishes that look as good as they taste at Asterias, the fine-dining restaurant.

The first hotel to arrive in Denver‘s up-and-coming River North Art District (RiNo), The Ramble brings even more style to the increasingly trendy neighborhood. Accommodations in the 50-room boutique hotel feel both design-forward and homey thanks to antique Persian rugs, a cool color palette, and rich textures. Personal iPads make room service orders easy, and the mini-bar is stocked with carefully chosen snacks (gluten-free vegan protein bars, organic peanut butter cups). As notable as the rooms themselves are, the drinking and dining offerings—all provided by acclaimed New York bar Death & Co—are the real story. For those many days of Denver sunshine, grab a seat in The Garden, an open courtyard space. An intimate 20-seat bar with a cocktail tasting menu overlooks the lobby restaurant, where dinners feature small bites as well as family-style fare. And at the event space Vauxhall, a dedicated bar will host events like film screenings—and, of course, Broncos game viewings.

Even if it weren’t arguably the grandest hotel in all of Prague, you’re simply not going to find a more centrally located address than the five-star Four Seasons. At the foot of the Charles Bridge in medieval Old Town—with views across the Vltava to Prague Castle in one direction and over the Jewish Quarter and Rudolfinum Concert Hall in the other—the 157-room property is, in fact, three distinct historic buildings—one Baroque circa 1568, another Neoclassical from 1827, and the last an 1883 Neo-Renaissance edifice—tied together by a contemporary main building built in 2001. Given a sumptuous makeover by renowned French designer Pierre-Yves Rochon in 2012, the rooms and public spaces feel at once stylishly modern and timelessly refined. Though the neighborhood’s attractions beckon, don’t miss a chance to dine at CottoCrudo, the riverside Mediterranean restaurant and bar that is considered one of the city’s best.

The undisputed grande dame of Filipino hospitality, the Manila Hotel has so many tales to tell that even Hemingway was impressed. “If the story’s any good,” he’s reported to have said, “it’s like Manila Hotel.” The Nobel laureate was but one in a series of visiting dignitaries, from military brass (General MacArthur took up residence in 1935 and left shortly before Japanese troops occupied the property in the ’40s) to Hollywood A-listers (including Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Sammy Davis, Jr.) to rock stars (when the Beatles notoriously snubbed Imelda Marcos by accident in 1966, they stayed here). The hotel has had plenty of cosmetic work done as well, including a dramatic renovation for the 2012 centennial festivities. So while you can still stay in, say, MacArthur’s quarters (known as the MacArthur Suite), the bathrooms now come with Bulgari toiletries and the bedrooms with HDTV. There was little the hotel could do to improve upon the already amazing bay views, as you’ll see from the suite’s dining room windows.

When it opened in 1969, the Fairmont Dallas set the bar high for luxury hotels, dazzling visitors with opulent interiors, a Neiman Marcus outpost in the lobby, and 11 separate kitchens. Its legendary Venetian Room hosted acts like Ella Fitzgerald, Jerry Lewis, and Ike & Tina Turner. Now an integral part of the downtown skyline, the hotel remains a favorite for a whole new generation. The 545 rooms are bright and sophisticated, with city views, marble bathrooms, and minibars stocked with organic options. In a nod to its Arts District location, the hotel hosts a unique local artist-in-residence program, and the Four Diamond–rated Pyramid Restaurant and Bar pulls ingredients from a 3,000-square-foot rooftop vegetable and herb garden for its “terrace-to-table” modern American fare. There’s no spa, but wellness is represented with a 24-hour gym and a Junior Olympic–size pool, where guests can also enjoy family-friendly “dive-in movies” and evening DJ sets in the summer.

Though it’s technically part of Eilat and connected to endless local activities via a beachfront promenade, the 375-room Dan feels like an ecosystem unto itself, complete with multiple waterfalls, pools, restaurants, and even squash courts, plus a spa, salon, and disco. Not your average megaresort, the venerable lodging was designed by globetrotting interiors guru Adam Tihany, who grew up just a few hours away in Jerusalem. For the full effect, consider one of the new rooms or suites, which feature muted, desert-chic décor, but know that any room will come with the most important amenity—views of the Red Sea. When you’re ready to leave the property, a whole menu of snorkeling and diving excursions awaits, as does Eilat’s Underwater Observatory Marine Park. The hotel is also happy to arrange jeep tours through the desert (don’t miss the Red Canyon and Solomon’s Valley) and visits to the International Birding and Research Center Eilat, known for its flamingo pools.

Located in the northwest corner of the park, just below the travertine terraces of the hot springs that gave the property its name, Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel has recently broken ground on the second phase of a two-part renovation that is updating the historic 1936 structure’s 97 guest rooms. The 118 basic-but-comfortable cabins are still available in the meantime. While some have en-suite bathrooms (a few enjoy an enclosed six-person hot tub), others require sharing lavatory and shower facilities. All guests have access to the hotel’s restaurant and grill—a good spot for sipping a huckleberry margarita at the end of the day—but most can be found observing the elk and bison that roam free on the grounds from their cabins’ small front porch. If you need a break from wildlife viewings, self-guided tours of old Fort Yellowstone, built for the Army cavalrymen who once protected the land and which today houses the park’s headquarters, are available.

Formerly the private residence of Gioacchino Murat, king of Naples and Napoleon’s brother-in-law, Palazzo Murat has the mark of aristocracy—white-walled interiors are outfitted with elegant antiques, oil paintings, and decorative tiled floors—but also the welcoming atmosphere of a dear friend’s home. The 18th-century villa is tucked away behind cascades of bright bougainvillea and greenery-filled grounds fragrant with jasmine and citrus trees yet centrally located in Positano’s pedestrian zone, making it an ideal base for shopping holidays and seaside idylls alike. The pool is especially impressive, flanked by a lawn studded with chic sunbeds and backed by a storybook scene of pastel-hued houses stacked higgledy-piggledy along the hillside. Just steps away is the charming Al Palazzo restaurant, which incorporates ingredients from its vegetable patch and twinkles with candlelight in the evenings. As for the guest rooms, soothing white spaces are accented with pops of blue and lemon yellow, and French doors open onto lovely balconies with views of the gardens, town, or sea.

On a tree-studded peninsula between Monaco and Nice, this whitewashed luxury boutique hotel features 28 rooms and suites with a serenely chic vibe (think crisp white linens and richly patterned textiles, contemporary art and modern streamlined furnishings). A third of the units reside in the hotel’s main building, a mansion that dates back to 1889 but was fully restored and updated in 2003, and three additional rooms designed to resemble ship cabins are built into a wall with direct views onto the sea; the rest of the accommodations are housed in a quiet Italianate structure and a separate edifice at the edge of the property. Cap Estel’s Michelin-starred restaurant highlights seasonal ingredients, many of which are sourced from the on-site gardens. Guests who come to disconnect from the jet-set scene can relax in the hammam or waterside sauna, or with a massage and dip in the saltwater pool, though many guests would just as soon head straight into the azure waves of the Mediterranean, accessed through the hotel’s private beach.

What do amenities mean in the age of the millennial traveler? At the stylish yet understated Alda Hotel, guests receive a complimentary Android phone that’s preloaded with apps to help you explore the city, from the hottest new restaurants to the best shops for Icelandic wool. If your beard needs a trim, a barbershop is connected to the hotel by way of the Barber Bar, so clients can settle into the chair, craft cocktail in-hand. Rooms are sleek and spare, in Nordic hues of gray and white with an occasional splash of color; all bathrooms have contemporary walk-in showers, while upgraded rooms also feature large soaking tubs. Rooms on the third floor enjoy views to the mountains and North Atlantic, while those on the fourth floor have access to a rooftop terrace with city, mountains, and ocean vistas. The Alda is just a few minutes’ walk to downtown (including the pickup spot for most tours) and to the seafront; at the end of the day, the outdoor hot tub is a perfect way to relax and inhale the clean Icelandic air.