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A recent addition to the Puerto Rican capital’s culinary scene are food hall–style spots where diners can choose among multiple kiosks, or stalls, each featuring a distinct kind of cuisine. Lote 23 is one such spot, located in the working-class neighborhood of Santurce. More than a dozen food entrepreneurs have fare on offer here, from pizza and tacos to bao and burgers. If you just need something to cool yourself off in the tropical heat, there are popsicles and cocktails, too. The alfresco eating area has plenty of picnic tables where you can sit and enjoy whatever you’ve ordered.

This intimate, 110-seat restaurant has been hailed as one of the West Village’s true gems since it opened in 2008, both due to the chef’s fresh take on classic Italian cuisine and the inviting ambiance the cozy, dimly-lit eatery exudes. An open kitchen grants diners front-row seats to a culinary production with a rotating cast of fresh pastas starring tagliatelle, orecchiette, and garganelli. Seafood also features prominently in the form of charred octopus, roasted cod, scallops or Arctic char. Oenophiles will delight in the extensive list of Italian wines by region, including an impressive 2,500-bottle cellar that also plays host to private dinners. Just be sure and save room for dessert; the buttery olive oil cake flies out of the kitchen every dinner. Don’t have time to make it down to L’Artusi for dinner? The weekend brunch menu is equally divine.

Convenient to Montevideo’s cruise ship terminal, the Mercado del Puerto was first inaugurated in 1868 and long served as the city’s principal meat and produce market. The clock here is almost as famous as the building itself. Constructed, like the entire market, in England and then shipped to Uruguay, it dominates the central hall of the cast-iron building. The Mercado del Puerto no longer operates as a market and today houses a number of popular restaurants serving typical Uruguayan dishes.

This surfer town draws tourists keen to catch a wave, so it’s little wonder that it’s chockablock with folks who want to sell their wares to the visitors. From New Agey shops to a farmers market, there are lots of opportunities to shop and support the local economy. Be sure to bring cash, as many vendors don’t accept plastic.

As of May 2018, El Conquistador Resort and Las Casitas Village are closed indefinitely, due to damage sustained during Hurricane Maria.

Situated atop a 300-foot bluff on the eastern tip of Puerto Rico, El Conquistador Resort, a Waldorf Astoria Resort, spreads across 500 acres overlooking the converging waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. A stay at El Conquistador is a transformative experience. Guests can relax at the Eucalyptus steam room, enjoy exotic cocktails while gazing at the El Yunque Rainforest, or even kayak around a private island. Guestrooms and suites are divided into five villages, and feature ocean views, 23 restaurants, an 18-hole golf course, a state-of-the-art aquatic playground/water park for families, and the resort’s private island, Palmino Island, featuring water sports and white sand beaches.

One of the newest - and most popular - attractions to hit these shores, “Xoximilco Cancun,” is a floating fiesta, offering entertainment, colorful anecdotes, history, good food and drink - and three hours of sheer delight. Thanks to the entrepreneurial genius of the Xperiencias Xcaret visitors can experience an improved recreation of Mexico City‘s renowned Xochimilco. Both are replicas of the canals in the ancient Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán and the lake it was founded on. A series of floating gardens (chinampas) separated by canals became the marketplace for flowers and agriculture, which were transported in flat boats known as trajineras. The party in Cancun begins at 7: 30 p.m., when you’ll be given the name of the boat you need to board. When the marine bell rings, you head off on your dinner “cruise,” featuring delectable Mexican cuisine and local refreshments, including Tequila. As you glide along the canals, an assortment of musical ensembles glide by, treating you to traditional live music, including: mariachi, bolero trio, jarocho quartet and marimba medleys. A small gift shop offers plenty of souvenir options Recommended for children 10 and older.

Guadalajara visitors craving an escape from the city should know that the ocean breeze isn’t far away. The bohemian beach town of Sayulita is about a four-hour drive, and even closer by plane. Popular in the 1960s among American and Canadian surfers, the sleepy fishing village has more recently become known for its laid-back vibe and impressive food scene. If you’re looking to get even farther off the grid, the surrounding area is filled with beautiful bays that are less trafficked by tourists than the main town.

Built in a former auto garage in Nashville’s Gulch neighborhood, this five-room boutique hotel replaces industrial vibes with low-key sophistication: The whitewashed rooms—some with loft-style living spaces—feature high ceilings, custom furniture, and high-end amenities like Sferra linens and Turkish cotton robes, and the subway-tiled baths gleam with vintage taps.

There is no front desk, but guests receive a passcode for the entry keypad before arrival, and a concierge service is always on call. Have some down time? A comfortable sitting area is set up with board games and a large sideboard stocked with complimentary refreshments and coffee throughout the day, which makes the 404 the perfect spot for urban explorers who like to come and go as they please. But don’t miss dinner at the 404 Kitchen. Housed in a shipping container and accessed through another keycode doorway, it’s one of the city’s top restaurants.

Cozy Dolina serves a lovely breakfast spread with an Eastern European bent. Try the nutty granola atop Greek yogurt with fruit, ricotta pancakes, and a hearty breakfast burrito with organic eggs, hash browns, and asadero cheese (topped, in good New Mexican fashion, with red or green chile). There’s also robust espresso and coffee, local bone broth, and baked grab-and-go sweets like chocolate croissants, banana pie with a flaky, buttery crust, and Slovakian-style vanilla cream puffs.

To get from point A to B on the river delta, you’ll need to board a water taxi. These polished wood boats cruise the canals day and night, dropping passengers off and picking them up at rental houses, cabin complexes and restaurants along the way. The ride, of course, is part of the fun. Board one at the harbor - and make sure you know where it’s going before you sit down, or it might be awhile before you find yourself back in civilization.

Also called Matías de Gálvez, Santo Tomás de Castilla has been functioning as a leisure cruise port since 2004. Whatever you call the coastal town, it was once under Belgian rule. The European influence is most notable in the streets—literally. The main promenade was constructed using Belgian stones, and it is lined with local shops and homes. The Belgian cemetery houses 19th-century pioneers.

Like the island nation’s other famous export—rum—cigar crafting is an art form. The best puros are made from aged tobacco and hand-rolled. And this intimate company, owned by a German expat, prides itself of small, quality productions. The shop at the factory is the best bet for freshness. A tour offers a sample. By request, tours take visitors through the 40 steps of cigar making. They include tobacco selection, as well as rolling and pressing. The shop at the factory is the best bet for superfresh cigars.

Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, no longer lacks small, design-driven hotels. Located in the city’s Old Town, Amapa has 55 guest rooms that display Mexican weavings by fiber artist Mariella Motilla and hammocks handmade in the Yucatán peninsula. From $200. This appeared in the May/June 2018 issue.

Iguanas swim here in the ocean, which, separated only by a line of palm trees, nearly laps right up to the front of La Casa de Marita. The three-level building began 20 years ago as a house, literally Marita’s house. It has continued to expand over the years, adding a room here and a wooden deck there. The idea was not to create a large hotel, but a family-friendly inn that’s just friendly and comfortable enough that everyone feels welcome. They’re short of being luxurious, but the colorful, funky rooms have clay-tile floors and are equipped with eclectic wooden furniture; those on the ocean side have small balconies crisscrossed with hammocks. An on-site restaurant caters mostly to hotel guests, often preparing buffet dinners or beachside tables for groups or special occasions. There are a few chairs and tables with umbrellas on the beachfront, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but here, it is all one needs.

One of the most luxurious Western guest ranches, opened in 2005, Paws Up Montana, in Greenough, sprawls over 37,000 acres of classic Montana landscape: elk-filled meadows, rocky peaks, and ponderosa pines in the Blackfoot Valley, with the river of the same name running through it all. The most sought-after accommodations are the “glamping” tents on the banks of the Blackfoot or along Elk Creek that are available May through October and organized into five separate camps, taking just six guests each. The camps combine a Western lifestyle with an African safari formula: canvas suites with private baths, a communal dining pavilion with fireplace and fire pit, private camp chef, and butlers to help organize guest activities. Families and friends who prefer four walls between themselves and nature stay in enormous wood-and-stone villas with heated hardwood floors, fireplaces, leather furniture, huge flat-screen TVs, and panoramic windows; some of these homes come with outdoor hot tubs and tented bedrooms for kids.

All guests have the opportunity to hike, rappel, canoe, play paintball, take cooking classes, and more, but the main action is on-site fly-fishing and horseback riding for all levels on 100 miles of private trails or in a 23,000-square-foot equestrian arena; adults and kids 12 and up can help move small herds of Black Angus cattle on sample stock drives. If parents want private adventure time, kid wranglers entertain young’uns. In the evening, communal entertainment takes place in a renovated barn that serves as stock sales venue, dance floor, and movie theater. Despite the busy activity menu and flow of golf carts transporting guests to and fro, the ranch is large enough, and accommodation so widely spaced that guests can survey the landscape and not see anyone.