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Home to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, this curved glass building is also a premiere venue for the Toronto International Film Festival. During the year, this iconic building in Toronto serves as concert showcase and special event venue. National Geographic’s Live Series, for example, is great for travel buffs. Tours are available by appointment.

One of the city’s top restaurants, Cicciolina offers Italian-style dishes with a Peruvian flair, such as quinoa-encrusted prawns and osso buco with pumpkin ravioli topped by local cheese and a touch of Andean mint. There’s plenty to choose from, including seafood, duck, beef, alpaca, chicken, and even a few vegetarian dishes, as well as perfectly done handmade pasta. You can pick from either the tapas or the full-restaurant menu in the bar area, but not the other way around, so you may want to go twice, as the tapas are fabulous, too. A great wine list and yummy desserts finish out options in a small, lovely venue. Reservations are a must.

In the shadow of El Yunque, The St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort is situated on 486 acres of former coconut plantation and native maritime forest. There are still plenty of palms here, but now the flora also includes all manner of tropical flowers and trees, positioned around numerous trails for walking, running, and biking. Families love the resort for its many amenities, from four tennis courts and a Robert Trent Jones Jr.-branded golf course to a luxurious spa and state-of-the-art fitness center. A new partnership with Aquavento Water Sports provides equipment for everything from kayaking and paddle-boarding to fishing and sailing on nearby lakes, while the Soul of Bahia program gives guests the opportunity to volunteer with a rescue organization for local cats and dogs or help maintain a turtle sanctuary during hatching season. Still, the most popular activity might just be lounging at the pool or on the two-mile-long golden beach.

Part of a $60 million renovation following Hurricane Maria, the hotel now features a design by celebrated Puerto Rican designer Nono Maldonado and San Francisco-based firm Hirsch Bedner Associates. The plantation-style dark woods and warm browns have been swapped out for more modern, sea-inspired colors, and the 139 rooms have a chic, residential feel, with sprawling bathrooms, private terraces, and glass bar cabinets that can be stocked to your personal tastes by a 24-hour butler. Occupying a two-story building overlooking the ocean, the Casa Grande lobby is the place to go to experience the hotel’s daily Champagne sabering ritual, enjoy live music from a Steinway piano, admire the mural over the St. Regis Bar, or enjoy Greek-inspired fare at the hotel’s signature restaurant, Paros. The poolside restaurant and beach shack have also been redone to ensure uninterrupted views over the water.

If Mandapa, “temple” in Sanskrit, feels more like a community than a hotel, that’s because it is. The resort occupies 24 green acres on a property previously owned by a group of neighboring families, who retain access to the land and its on-site temple. As a result, it maintains three acres of rice paddies and a traditional rice barn on stilts, and the villagers bring daily offerings to the temple, giving Mandapa a strong connection to local culture.




The hotel’s open-air lobby sits 300 feet above the Ayung River valley, overlooking 35 hillside suites with views of the jungle and rice paddies and 25 villas along the flowing river. The suites are furnished with traditional Balinese pieces and artwork and stand-alone soaking tubs, while the high-ceilinged villas, decorated with vividly colored botanical panels, have large pools and separate master suites.





Everywhere, local materials and design elements feature prominently, from the thatched roofs to the fringed umbrellas that shade the lounge chairs by the pool. The riverside spa is another place to discover Balinese products through deeply relaxing treatments and spiritual ones with a local healer, too. Five dining and drinking outlets include fine-dining restaurant Kubu, a spot for high tea, a cocktail and dinner venue called Ambar, and Sawah Terrace, where Sundays feature a Royal Brunch. Ubud’s center is only 10 minutes by car, but the guided vintage VW convertible tours on offer are arguably the best way to get around. From $1,250

Every day at noon at the Plaza de Armas (also called Plaza Mayor), trumpets blare, drums pound, and cymbals crash as the guard changes outside the presidential palace. Enjoy the Spanish fanfare like a local: from a plaza bench with an ice cream cone. The Plaza is also the site of festivals, concerts, and the much-loved annual National Pisco Day when the fountain spouts free high-proof grape brandy for all.

We picked up some gyros to-go during our stroll through the historic Plaka neighborhood below the Acropolis. Thespidos street was particularly memorable for the cafe we stopped at and discovering Brettos bar, which we decided to come back to enjoy as the end a lovely evening.

For contemporary, high-end Yucatecan cuisine, look no further than K’u’uk. Chef Pedro Evia has taken the spirit of regional food and given it a modern twist. He presents common Yucatecan recipes like suckling pig, then uses ingredients like star fruit and sapote to showcase subtler flavors than those found in traditional cochinita pibil. All the essences of Yucatecan delicacies can be found here, but in ways that are almost unrecognizable, such as in the atole ceviche or the dessert of Yucatán honeycomb with pollen and passion fruit. Located amid the grandeur of a colonial mansion close to the Monumento a la Patria in Mérida, K’u’uk has high ceilings, original-tile floors, and large chandeliers that set the scene for an exclusive dining experience. Guests opt for a recommended nine-course tasting menu or order from an à la carte bill of fare that changes periodically.

It’s fun to imagine that Xcalak, a sleepy coastal village south of Mahahual on Mexico’s Costa Maya, is what the entire Caribbean coast of Mexico looked like before the creation of the Cancún megaresort in the 70s. No Spring breakers, no cruise ships, no thumping beachside clubs, no big hotels. Just white sand and palapas, palm trees and pelicans, hammocks and fishing boats. Just you in secluded relaxation away from it all. Several clean and basic hotels are located on the old coast road and fresh, cheap seafood is abundant at local favorite Toby’s. Dive and snorkel trips can be arranged at XTC Dive Center (www.xtcdivecenter.com), located about 300m north of town.

Head chef Matt Clarke has created a rare gem in this southerly city. With a recently refurbished contemporary dining room and bar overlooking Stanley Harbour, the Restaurant at the Malvina House Hotel champions high-quality local ingredients. Clarke specializes in fresh fish and chargrilled meats, though the menu extends to such interesting options as upland goose pâté and reindeer. The fish & chips, fried local squid and duck confit are among the most popular dishes at this casual eatery.

Cross Punda’s Queen Wilhelmina Bridge, and bam! You’re in Scharloo, Willemstad’s youngest colonial district. Known for baroque mansions once inhabited by the island’s wealthiest merchants, this historical neighborhood is also a hipster haven. Thanks to Street Art Skálo, a group of up-and-coming local artists, you can admire life-size murals on Bitterstraat and Parke Leyba from Curaçao masters like Francis Sling and Garrick Marchena. Afterwards, grab coffee on Beyglz’s colonial terrace and shop for 100-percent-handmade bath and body products at Integra Natural.

The San Francisco Proper Hotel is the hottest new hotel in town. The reason why? International grande dame of maximalism, designer Kelly Wearstler, revamped a down-and-out tourist hotel deep in the heart of the city, and established the Proper as a magnet for trendsetting visitors and locals. When guests arrive at the 131-room hotel and step inside the flatiron building, they’re treated to Wearstler’s signature pattern-on-pattern aesthetic. In the ground floor lobby, Wearstler sets the mood with salon-style seating areas using richly reupholstered vintage furnishings and Cubism-inspired paintings. Michael Adams, formerly of Central Kitchen, oversees the hotel’s main restaurant, Villon. And while the Proper isn’t the place for those looking for a Zen retreat, it is the place to order a Fifi the Flea cocktail (Tequila Ocho Plata, Ancho Reyes, Ancho Reyes Verde, grapefruit, honey, vanilla, lime, smoked salt) at Charmaine’s, the stylish rooftop bar. Between the fire pits and the bird’s-eye view of Market Street all the way to the bay, it’s no wonder the Proper has become the destination to see and be seen.

We arranged a private tour of the Mekong River Delta through the Park Hyatt Saigon. We were driven from the hotel to Cai Be in a Cadillac with snacks and drinks, then escorted to our private river boat (also loaded with fresh fruit, coffee and tea, and other snacks). Our english-speaking tour guide brought us onto a small rowed boat through the smaller channels of the delta, explaining local life and the various trades of the people who live there. We saw a floating market and had lunch at Mr. Kiet’s historic house. Highly recommend spending the morning and afternoon on this tour.

Formerly the residence of the Maharajah of Jaipur, and now one of Jaipur’s most elegant luxury hotels, the 19th-century Rambagh Palace has had a front-row seat to history—and has hosted a long list of royals, dignitaries, and celebrities along the way. As an homage to those regal roots, the hotel’s fine-dining restaurant spotlights the cuisine of four of India’s former princely states: Rajasthan, Awadh, Punjab, and Hyderabad. In what used to be the palace’s banquet hall—still dripping with gilded mirrors and Italian frescos—enjoy dishes like laal maas (a Rajasthani spicy lamb curry), chicken cooked with raw mango and saffron, skillet-grilled lobster, and apricot-stuffed cheese dumplings simmered in tomato gravy. Cap off the night with a drink in the nearby Polo Bar, which serves fine spirits and cocktails inspired by the royal equestrian sport.

John Gaw Meem is considered one of New Mexico’s most influential architects—and that fact alone makes this ranch, designed in 1932 by the so-called Father of Santa Fe style, worth a visit. But Meem isn’t the only big name associated with the property: Landscape architect Rose Greeley designed the gardens and artist Peter Hurd painted a mural on the property. The hotel is set on 25 acres of lavender fields, first planted in 1999 and now used for a line of in-house spa products. There are organic gardens, too, which provide the kitchen with Chimayo chilies, casaba melons, big cheese squash, and other seasonal produce. The look here tends toward clean lines, neutral hues, and quiet elegance over fussiness, though the historic rooms tend to have a bit more New Mexico flair—kiva fireplaces, exposed ceiling beams, local art—than the newer farm rooms. The latter are located in 1930s-style dairy buildings, carefully constructed to feel both of the era and of the place.

In a tucked away corner of Lisboa, in the no-man’s land between the core of Lisboa and Belem, is the bustling new design and arts district, the cornerstone of which is the LX Factory. Set on movie-set looking ground of an old manufacturing district, the LX Factory is a great place to get away from the more tourist parts and hang out amid the design firms, production studios, restaurants and shops — all having a design-centered focus. Very cool retail and restaurants, even a hotel, all tucked under the constant roar of the off/on ramps to the Big Bridge. It’s a destination place, so don’t do what I did and try to walk there from Barrio Alto on a 98 degree day! The cool thing is they didn’t gloss it up, but kept the place to its core history, with wonderful decay and industrial bones still in place. Two great places to be sure to check out: the 1300 Taberna restaurant, set in beautiful space with factory skylights and extremely nice people and, the Ler Devagar bookstore — which is the store that attracted me to this special place and often cited as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. It is set amidst an old printing plant, which like the rest of the area, they left all the old parts in place, so the whole bookstore is built around the old two story printing press, with seats, racks and even a cafe nestled amidst the old printing units, catwalks and folders. So cool. Worth the trip. A lot happenin’ here.