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L’Alcova, within the posh Ca’Sagredo Hotel, is an intimate dining experience with just nine tables on a delightful panoramic terrace fronting the Grand Canal. It serves a traditional Venetian menu that changes daily and is sourced from the Rialto Market across the street. Dishes like monkfish with cherries and wild baby asparagus, and burrata-filled tortellini with clams, fresh basil, capers, and pine nuts, are paired with a well-curated wine list representing Italy’s different wine regions. The desserts here are stellar, so try to save room. It’s also not unusual for the chef to come chat with diners post-meal. This is a great romantic pick—just make sure to reserve ahead.

The Jaipur Modern boutique stocks products that put a contemporary, worldly twist on the region’s highly-skilled artisan craft traditions—so it’s fitting that the shop’s restaurant does something similar on the culinary front. Committed to partnering with organic and sustainable farms, individual farmers, and agricultural projects—as well as maintaining its own farm—the Kitchen incorporates fresh local ingredients into a globally-influenced menu, resulting in dishes like pizza topped with free-range chicken, spiced couscous, potato rosti with farm-fresh poached eggs, and a lengthy list of cold pressed juices. Most unique is a separate menu—the first of its kind in India—that showcases the versatility of superfood quinoa, sourced locally from Organic Farmers Co. The “Q Menu” features the grain in everything from veggie sushi, pad thai, and dumplings to decadent deserts. Including house-baked cakes and cookies.

Best seen in early afternoon, when the puja (worship) is going on, or at twilight, when the setting sun makes stones glitter, this temple shows the strong influence of Indian culture and religion in Fiji. Sri Krishna Kaliya is an important place of worship for the Hare Krishnas (there are more here per capita than anywhere else). Around the temple, gorgeous murals tell the story of Lord Krishna’s history.

While sake may be standard at other sushi restaurants, this game-changing spot pays homage to Japan’s other great boozy tradition: whiskey. In the lively modern space—all blond wood, concrete, and industrial lighting—chef/owner Engin Onural serves a creative lineup of sushi, including the Sandfish (a spicy tuna and crab-meat roll topped with fried potato slivers) and zucchini flowers filled with tuna and cream cheese. Things get really interesting at the bar. Using all craft ingredients—house-made syrups, fresh juices, artisanal spirits, and local brews—the bartenders create inspired whiskey-centric cocktails. Try the elegantly layered Old Fashioned (made with Nikka Pure Malt, Pierre Ferrand 1840 Formula cognac, bitters, and Demerara sugar), and a play on a Spanish gin and tonic called Foraged, which features Death’s Door white whiskey infused with wild juniper berries Austin forages himself, plus fresh grapefruit, Szechuan peppercorns, rose petals, and yuzu.

Like its nearby sister, the Belmond Hotel Monasterio, the Belmond Palacio Nazarenas is a hotel with ancient roots: the onetime private residence-turned-convent—and now turned hotel—has original Inca walls and colonial-era frescoes.

As a newer hotel (it opened in 2012, following years of renovation and restoration), the all-suite property also has plenty of modern touches. All rooms are enriched with oxygen, to help guests adjust to the altitude, and have iPads, WiFi, and espresso/tea bars; depending on the category, they might also have heated bathroom floors, balconies, or original Inca and colonial design features.

Other perks include Cusco’s first outdoor heated pool (with an adjacent pool bar), an intimate restaurant highlighting seasonal ingredients, and butler service for all—just like the Palacio’s original residents would have enjoyed.

There’s a lot to recommend the Camino Real in Polanco, especially if you’re an architecture and art aficionado. The hotel, designed by the late Mexican architect Ricardo Legoretta, is considered one of his master works; the shape of its pink and yellow exterior is intended to call to mind a pre-Hispanic pyramid, and its caldera-like fountain in the driveway, designed by Noguchi, is perpetually roiling. Inside, you’ll find museum-quality art, including pieces by Mexican masters José Luís Covarrubias and Rufino Tamayo, as well as Alexander Calder. Rooms are large, quiet, and comfortable, and the hotel, a favorite among business travelers, has a full complement of amenities, ranging from pools and a fitness center to a number of restaurants, including Morimoto.

The tony suburb of Houghton, whose best-known resident was Nelson Mandela, is home to leafy lanes lined with stately estates. Not too far from the Mandela family manse is the Residence, a stylish boutique property that lives up to its name, evoking a private lair of a chic distant relative that guests are fortunate enough to visit for a spell.

The rooms are plush, with velvet headboards, sumptuous rugs, and glittering chandeliers, but the bathrooms are a sight to behold: the gleaming marble tiles and outdoor showers and tubs merit a special mention. Nods to the nautical can be found in the Boat Lounge, where mini sailboats and life preservers inspire the decor. There’s often a pianist tickling the ivories in the Piano Lounge, where guests can retire with a post-prandial cocktail.

Guavate, a section of Cayey better known as the Ruta del Lechon (“Pork Highway”), bursts into a rush of food-infused ecstasy every Friday and Saturday. People from all parts of the island come to watch someone roast a whole pig over the open fire before chopping it with a machete. Side dishes abound. I recommend sorrullos (corn sticks), bacalaitos (cod fritters), alcapurrias (fritters made of plantain dough and stuffed with meat), and rice with different types of beans. The blood sausage is not for me, but my father and boyfriend devour it every chance they get. Here in the mountains, shacks of all sizes let you pick your poison—beer, piña colada, or mojito (made from lime, mint leaves, rum, and sugar)—and drink to the beat of salsa and reggateon music. This creates the euphoric atmosphere for which Puerto Ricans are so famous. The cherry on top of the piña colada: Guavate lets you absorb the laughter, music, and food for a reasonable price. If you want the pig, but not the rambunctiousness, take your food to El Yunque National Forest and eat it by a waterfall (see my “Swimming Under a Hidden Waterfall” highlight). To find it, get on Luis A. Ferre Expressway, take the exit toward PR-184, and follow the signs for Guavate. You’ll start seeing pork soon after you take PR-184, but wait about fifteen minutes (until you’re around km 27) before you stop to get all the real action.

Established in 1800, the Library of Congress is the oldest federal institution in the United States. The library was destroyed by British troops just 14 years after its conception, and Congress used Thomas Jefferson’s collection of 6,487 volumes to replace it. Today, the collection of the Library of Congress—housed across three buildings—grows by approximately 12,000 items a day and is the second largest library in the world with 164 million items and 838 miles of shelves (that’s farther than the distance from Washington, D.C. to Chicago!). The library holds the world’s largest collection of comic books and one of only three remaining Gutenberg bibles. The Library of Congress offers daily guided tours to explore its historic collection and famous Beaux-Arts architecture.—Miranda Smith

Centuries-old catacombs decorated with human bones pepper the crypts at this Franciscan monastery dating to 1774. Decked out in impressive Spanish Baroque architecture, the canary-yellow church and monastery also house a remarkable library with some 25,000 antique texts (some predating the Spanish Conquest) and are flush with romantic courtyards and cloisters. Don’t forget to look up: A magnificent Moorish-style cupola, carved of Nicaraguan cedar in 1625, oversees the main staircase.

It might be a part of the Colorado River—a man-made reservoir carved out of the river in 1960—but everyone calls the body of water bisecting Austin Lady Bird Lake. On hot summer days, scores of walkers and joggers move along the lakeside paths through nearby Zilker Park, but you can also take to the water by canoe, kayak, water bike, or stand-up paddleboard. You can’t swim here, but the left fork (heading west) in the river will take you to Barton Springs Pool, a popular Austin hangout, where you can splash in the water to your heart’s—and body temperature’s—delight.

Facing the Arabian Sea and the Gateway of India monument, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel blends Moorish, Florentine, and Indian architecture. The historic palace wing reopened in 2010 with 243 new rooms and 42 suites, including one that houses the sitar on which legendary Indian musician Ravi Shankar composed his Concerto No. 1. George Harrison checked into the Taj in 1966 to take lessons from the maestro.

Cuevas del Indios (Indian Caves) of Arecibo offers a tidbit of ancient history of a lost people. An easy-to-find natural wonder, with a simple $2 fee for parking, this you won’t want to miss. Bring some sunscreen and your camera. Begin your hike up sharp and spiky cliff sides (no worries, I was able to do it all in sandals). Work your way up to the top of the cliff and enjoy the fantastic view below. Ocean spray from the massive waves breaking against the side of the rocks will cool you off with a little salty mist. Dare to look over the edge to see a landscape of arches and tunnels, burrowed below your feet. Climb down into the rocks to find a wonderful—and surprisingly well-preserved—variety of Taino Indian petroglyphs. A small climb down a somewhat sturdy, handmade ladder lands you at the base of the cave with stone carved images surrounding you. Now is your chance to experience some history. Wander through the smaller tunnels, and listen to the ocean making its way inside the cave with every massive wave crashing outside.

This former industrial site is a one-stop shopping spot for last-minute souvenirs. Weave in and out of the countless alleys and stalls; among the art galleries, toy shops, crafts stores, farmers market and waterfront restaurants, you’re likely to find something tasty to sample or so unique that you have to bring it home.

Myrtle Allen is Ireland’s answer to Alice Waters: The centenarian chef has lobbied the Irish parliament for better food policies, earned some Michelin stars, and, 50 years ago, opened a restaurant called the Yeats Room in the town of Shanagarry, an hour east of Cork City. She eventually added bedrooms upstairs and called it Ballymaloe House, and her sous-chef-turned-daughter-in-law, Darina Allen—who has written canonical Irish cookbooks and helped lead Ireland’s Slow Food movement—tacked on the Ballymaloe Cookery School and farm two miles from the main house.

This is thus the seat of Ireland’s food royalty, and it shows. The restaurant spins flavorful dinners out of whatever comes in from the farm or East Cork’s fishing boats, and the cookery school has become known the world over for teaching expert and novice chefs to make pizzas, ferment pickles, cook baby food, and grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Even without all that, the ivy-fronted house—and cabins and cottages on the farm’s grounds—make for a simple, pleasant country retreat.