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Seoul Forest is the city’s equivalent of New York’s Central Park. Divided into five unique areas, it covers a massive 12.4 million square feet, making for an oasis in the middle of the city. There’s no shortage of activities for families here—children can feed deer in the Ecological Forest, view rare insects in the Butterfly Experience Zone, or spot rabbits along park trails. In the summer, they can escape the oppressive heat at the Jumping Fountains. While the kids cool off, adults can stroll the sculpture park, picnic by the lake, or rent bikes and explore the forest’s many gardened paths.

Located in the historic neighborhood of Sarona, a 19th-century German Templars settlement, Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market is a gourmet center. Inspired by food markets around the world, such as London’s Borough Market and New York’s Chelsea Market, the 94,000-square-foot space houses nearly 100 specialty food shops, stalls, and eateries. From cheese shops, knife makers, butchers, and local-produce stores to chocolate boutiques, bakeries, and ice cream parlors, there is something for everyone at Sarona. Visitors can walk around and learn about Templars history, or join one of the daily tours. In the summer, locals and tourists alike rent baskets from Picnic in the Little Italy section of the market, and eat lunch on the grass lawns.

At the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, above the town of Sandy, Utah, the Alta Resort offers 2,200 skiable acres and an average of more than 550 inches of snowfall a year. While the steep slopes of the Wasatch mountains draw expert skiers, there is plenty of terrain for intermediate skiers and a number of programs within the ski school to get beginners and first-timers out and enjoying themselves. As for families, even those with little ones as young as two months old, day care is available all day long and into the early evening through Alta Children’s Center, and on Fridays and Saturdays until 6:30 p.m. with its Après-Ski Care. To get tykes skiing and on the slopes, Alta partners with the ski school.

In 2016, Ace added another link to its chain of ultracool hotels when it opened an outpost in a renovated 1928 building in the Central Business District of New Orleans. While the Ace employees here are just as edgy as their counterparts elsewhere, they temper that cool with the warm ease of New Orleans’s locals.

Guests enter the hotel through a lobby of mismatched low-slung sofas and vintage coffee tables set in conversation-friendly groupings beside a lovely and ornate wooden bar. Most of the furnishings and artwork complement the hotel’s dominant forest green hue, which itself seems to have been inspired by the color of the streetcars that trundle past on Carondelet Street. Afternoon and evening and late at night, the lobby bar is kept busy by hotel guests as well as a stream of others drawn here by the stylish vibe.

The grand koa wood staircase was shining with a new coat of oil as the focal point of the room; it’s beautiful curves lead the eye gently from the second floor down to the first floor. Men and women dressed in ornate gowns and neck-restricting tuxedos floated around the staircase receiving each other with a proper handshake or curtsy. The party was just beginning as horses pulled up to the ultra modern palace depositing people of stature out of their buggies. The year was 1882 in the island nation of Hawaii. Even though I like to live in the present, I couldn’t help but imagine the past as I was led through the Iolani Palace in Oahu. The docent painted a perfect picture of arriving at a ball in the mid 1880’s – the sites, sounds, and even the dinner entries that would be served. After the docent led tour you can have the pleasure of saying the you’ve been in the only palace in America! More Info: Iolani Palace Tour Information: Guided Docent Led Tours – Adults: $20 / Children (5-12) $6. This tour is available from 9:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. Monday through Saturday. Audie Tours – Adults: $13 / Children (5-12) $6. This tour is available from Monday through Saturday 11:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Be sure to check the times and costs on the website which will have up to date information and details. Get all of the details including great historical information, information on the restoration, and learn about upcoming events on the Iolani Palace website: www.iolanipalace.org.

If, like most visitors, you head for Tucson between Thanksgiving and Easter, you’re probably seeking sun and warmth while the rest of the country deals with the winter blahs. And you’ll most likely find what you’re looking for. There’s a reason why golfers, cyclists, hikers, and runners flock to southern Arizona this time of year. But, once or twice a decade, the lush Sonoran desert might get a snowfall—it never lasts for long, but every saguaro, ocotillo, cholla, and prickly pear cactus will be edged in ephemeral white. As soon as the sun comes up over the mountains, you’ll start hearing the drip drip drip of the inevitable melting...And by the next day you’re likely to be wearing shorts again. Saguaro National Park, which flanks both the western and eastern edges of Arizona’s second-largest city, is the ideal place to go for a hike in the rare desert snow. The Eastern (Rincon Mountain) division of the park has a hilly eight-mile one-way loop road with access to numerous trails. Drive slowly and yield to the runners and senior-citizen-cyclists-in-spandex with thighs of steel. Get out and up into the saguaro-studded hills before the unlikely landscape disappears...Keep your eyes open for bobcats, mule deer, and the pig-like javelina. (You’re less likely to encounter a rattlesnake in the winter months, but this is still desert wilderness.) And if there’s no snow, you might be treated to spring wildflowers. Don’t forget your sunscreen...

Skiing, celebrities, and log cabins might come to mind when you think of Jackson, Wyoming, but the just-opened Anvil Hotel offers a hyperlocal new take on the picturesque town. New York design firm Studio Tack transformed a motor lodge into a 49-room hotel with a Shaker-inspired mid-century aesthetic, complete with iron bed frames and Woolrich blankets. Downstairs, there’s a general store selling hipster Western gear, as well as plenty of places to mingle with travelers and residents, including a zinc-topped bar serving cocktails by the famed New York City−based Death & Co. team.

Rockefeller Center was one of the great construction projects of the Great Depression, a complex of 14 buildings between Fifth and Sixth avenues and 48th and 51st streets built over the 1930s. It’s also one of America’s grandest examples of Art Deco design, from the Indiana-limestone-clad buildings themselves to its interior murals and allegorical figures in panels above the entries to the various buildings. (Daniel Okrent recounts the fascinating history of the complex in detail in his acclaimed Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center.) For many travelers to New York, the center is a favorite destination even if they aren’t students of architecture or urban planning. It’s the home of Radio City Music Hall, where the Rockettes perform; its 70th-floor observation deck offers sweeping views of the city; and every morning tourists gather outside the windows of the NBC studios during the broadcast of The Today Show.

The center also hosts temporary large-scale art installations, like Jeff Koons’s enormous dancer and flower puppy in recent years, and the lighting of its Christmas tree marks the unofficial start of the holiday season. Another bucket-list experience here is taking a turn on the small sunken ice rink under the golden statue of Prometheus. Just across Fifth Avenue from Rockefeller Center is another New York landmark, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, looking better than ever after a multiyear renovation that included a thorough cleaning of the Gothic building’s facade.

What do Al Capone and Bruce Willis have in common? They both did time here at Eastern State Penitentiary. (OK, Willis wasn’t an inmate, but he did shoot the film 12 Monkeys here.) The facility’s first inmate was brought through these doors in 1829, and the prison was in use until 1971. After closing, it became a target for vandals and housed a sizable colony of stray cats. Real estate developers proposed repurposing it as condominiums (high-security, of course), but preservationists won out. They raised funds to stabilize the crumbling interior and remove trees that were growing inside some cells. Wander through its stark interior and learn about the fascinating history of this unique site and its previous tenants, including Capone. Don’t miss the special art installations that are on display here all year round.

Why we love it: A boutique hotel that puts guests in the heart of it all

The Highlights:
- Allergen-free Pure Wellness rooms
- A convenient location right downtown
- An award-winning steak house on site

The Review:

A boutique stay in the heart of downtown Boise, Hotel 43 seamlessly blends cozy charm with urban style. Works by local artist Amy Westover enliven the cathedral-like lobby (its ceiling soars to 60 feet), while vibrant drapery and bathrobe-clad teddy bears on each bed make the 112 guest rooms feel both chic and homey. If you need more than William Roam bath products and a jetted tub to feel pampered, book one of the Pure Wellness rooms, which offer purified, hypoallergenic accommodation for even the most sensitive of guests.

Hotel 43 also provides travelers with a free pass to the Boise Art Museum, plus loaner bikes for cruising to the Shakespeare Festival or farmers’ market. Come dinnertime, however, you’ll want to stay put for a meal at on-site Chandlers Steakhouse, where Kobe-style beef and fresh seafood are accompanied by live jazz each evening. In the morning, head to Metro Café for Caffé D’arte coffee, freshly baked pastries, and house-made granola, or grab the complimentary airport shuttle to catch your flight home.

When tragedy strikes—like the Paris terrorist attacks or the Parkland mass shooting—Nalu’s South Shore Grill creates mile-long leis from local ti leaves for those affected. Representatives then present the leis to the victims personally, while offering chants for healing. Oftentimes, the restaurant also creates the leis to celebrate accomplishments, like the return of the Hawaiian canoe Hōkūleʻa after its three-year, round-the-world voyage. Aside from being a beacon of humanitarian light, Nalu’s is a favorite for local dishes like poke bowls, island-style beef short ribs, and loco moco (a ground beef patty served over brown rice and topped with eggs, homemade gravy, and black lava salt). If you want to give back, order the roasted beet and goat cheese salad and 50 percent of the purchase price will go to charity.

Why we love it: A faithful reimagining of a classic travelers’ hotel

The Highlights:
- Conveniently located right next to East Tennessee State University and near downtown
- Delightfully comfortable sleigh beds
- Historically accurate decor, including oil paintings and antique furniture

The Review:
While the original Carnegie Hotel in Johnson City was lost to a fire in the early 20th century, guests can get a taste of history at this faithful re-creation, which offers upscale accommodations for both business and leisure travelers. Today, the hotel combines historical grandeur with modern amenities, such as a state-of-the-art fitness room, a heated outdoor pool, and a full-service spa for massages and body treatments. In the 128 rooms and 11 suites, guests also find sleigh beds with mattresses so comfortable they’d be wise to set two alarms for the morning.

The on-site restaurant, Wellington’s, serves elevated Southern cuisine made with traditional Appalachian ingredients, while the bar offers craft cocktails and a wide selection of whiskey. After your meal, take a nightcap down the hall to the clubby Roosevelt Library lounge, where you can admire original oil paintings, dark wood accents, and antique furniture that recall the Carnegie Hotel of yore.

A trip to the Land of 10,000 Lakes wouldn’t be complete without spending some time on, well, a lake—even if you’re only visiting the cities. In Minneapolis, everyone heads to Bde Maka Ska, the largest of five in the city’s Chain of Lakes. Located in the Uptown neighborhood, the 401-acre lake is surrounded by parkland and trails, making it a favorite of locals for everything from ice fishing in the winter to swimming, biking, and volleyball games in the summer. Along the shore are rental options for nearly every water sport, from sailing and kayaking to paddleboarding, plus lockers for stashing your stuff when you’re out on the water. For those who prefer dry land, there are also several Nice Ride stations where you can access the city’s bike-share program, and a seasonal restaurant serving sandwiches, wings, and tacos.

Come to this neighborhood corner establishment for the seafood, but don’t overlook the beef tartare, complemented by radish, nori, and ranch (and don’t be ashamed to order two if you’re with a party of three or more). Pricing is akin to the Ordinary, without that big brother’s fancy full experience, but it’s worth a visit for treats like tempura blowfish tails—bone-in adult lollypops of crispy, savory flavor, with lemon and spicy mayo on the side. Unconventional entrees like the smoked fish curry (amberjack one week, mackerel the next) with pumpkin and peanuts and hints of citrus, make each bite a pleasant and surprising adventure of textures and tastes. The tiny dining room gets packed quickly on weekends, and the residential setting means they still haven’t acquired a liquor license a year in, but the flavor is worth any sacrifice. The small but excellent wine list includes creative sparkling varietals, and the restaurant is one of a few places in town to serve Life Raft Treats desserts—don’t leave without a waffle-flavored ice cream in the shape of a small chicken leg, coated in toasted corn flakes, wrapping a frozen cream-filled chocolate wafer.

Key West doesn’t have many swimmable beaches, but this elegant 1920 oceanfront resort sits on the largest private one in town—an 1,100-square-foot strand punctuated with tall palms. While the shoreline itself is on a rocky shelf, a long dock extends out to the shallows for laps and snorkeling. Just off the beach, two large pools are set into green lawns and lush landscaping in front of the Spanish-style main building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The hotel’s wooden coffered ceilings, arched entryways, red-tile roofs, and other key architectural details recall the hotel’s glamorous heyday, while the clean, refreshed rooms are entirely modern, with sleek wood-framed beds, white linens and curtains, and ocean views. Children under 16 stay for free and babysitting is available for adults who want to take a break at the Spa al Mare, which has an open-air cabana right on the sand for al fresco massages and treatments.