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Zurriola beach is slightly off the radar, or at least as much off the radar as one of a city’s three beaches can be. The only tourists that typically venture over are of the surfing persuasion, and sitting to watch the sunset on the wall that borders the beach. Surf lessons are available from the stores that line the promenade. It’s the locals’ spot for hanging out, and the one beach that you should spend your days on if you are slumming in San Sebastián.

Housed in a Victorian home in the center of town, Explore Booksellers is an Aspen institution. Inside, books on business, history, art, travel, and more are crammed into every corner, with an entire room dedicated to children’s literature. The shop also stocks numerous regional titles as well as cards, journals, and gifts and regularly hosts events with local and visiting authors. When you’ve finished shopping, grab lunch on the second floor, where Pyramid Bistro serves healthy, veggie-forward fare.

The Raiatea Lodge Hotel located on the island of Raiatea is one of French Polynesia‘s only 3-star hotels (most are budget pensions or luxury resorts). Guests can enjoy comfortable and stylish accommodations in an intimate boutique hotel that features 15 rooms. Room amenities include balcony views overlooking the garden and pool, rain showers, air conditioning, sumptuous bedding, a television and free WiFi. Make sure to wake up early to see the sunrise over the lagoon from your balcony and hear the birds singing early in the morning. Moreover, they offer a range of free activities, like snorkeling in the lagoon, kayaking to the nearby Motu Miri Miri and cycling around the island, as well as guided tours for a fee. Don’t leave without having an artisanal breakfast or piece of fresh fish from the lagoon in their restaurant, or a cocktail enhanced with fresh local fruits and flowers from their bar.

The most high-adrenaline way to see Sydney Harbour, BridgeClimb has been dressing up locals and travelers in jumpsuits and safety harnesses to ascend “The Coathanger” since 1998. Along the way, they learn fun facts about the Sydney Harbour Bridge, like how it was built using six million rivets, which bridge workers tossed to each other when they were white hot and ready to weld. You’ll also gain a new appreciation for the Sydney Opera House as well as the world’s deepest natural harbor, which just so happens to be the birthplace of European Australia. At the top, strike your favorite Zoolander pose, or try “the koala,” which Ben Stiller invented during his climb.

coffee in Santiago is even worse than in Paris (if that can even be possible?) but lucky for picky people like me, Wonderful cafe makes a very respectable + smooth cappuccino. It comes with latte art as well. Light lunches and other foods (i.e. bagels) are also available. Located in the up-and-comng Lastarria neighbourhood. You are welcome!

Vilakazi is perhaps the most famous street in Soweto—or all of Johannesburg, for that matter. It’s the only street in the world to have produced two Nobel Prize winners—His Excellency Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu. It’s also where 13-year-old Hector Pieterson was shot dead, sparking the riots on June 16, 1976.

At the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakane streets, you’ll find the Mandela House, which serves as a beautiful testament to Madiba as well as to the greater fight for equal rights in South Africa and around the world. The rest of Vilakazi Street, however, is pretty average—a place where people live and work every day. In its simplicity, it proves that greatness can come from the most ordinary of places. Since it’s still home to so many people, approach the street with respect. Hire a local guide and take care when exploring the surrounding neighborhood of Soweto.

The morning market in Luang Prabang is bursting at the seams with culinary curious - some you may indeed want to put in your mouth, and others, well - others you’ll need to see for yourself. Luang Prabang is the busiest tourist destination in Laos, but early in the morning, the market is generally void of foreign faces, making it a perfect place to meet the locals, dine on Lao food, and watch the people as they wander. Grab yourself a frosty bevy and a slice of blood sausage and check it out.

On the still-bucolic site of a former coconut plantation just west of Montego Bay, Round Hill is another of the legendary hotels created in the early 1950s to accommodate wealthy Brits and Americans who were discovering the pleasures of a Jamaican winter. Since then, it has evolved into a thoroughly modern resort that manages to retain its original, exclusive, clublike spirit. In the beginning, Round Hill consisted of a group of shareholders (British playwright Noel Coward was one) who rented out their private villas when they were absent. That’s how it still works, although the celebrity shareholder most mentioned these days is designer Ralph Lauren, who rents neither of his two villas. Along with 27 other villas, which can be divided into 86 suites, there’s the Pineapple House, a seafront block of 36 rooms, all decorated, predominantly white on white, by Lauren. The ambience is quiet luxury, the service is relatively formal (the doorman wears white), and the children among the guests are treated as the heirs and future holiday decision makers that they are. Almost every villa has a story, whether it has to do with Coward, the Kennedys, or How Stella Got Her Groove Back. And Montego Bay, whose city lights can be seen only from the highest villa (#28), is still another world away.

Just 45-minutes north of Belize City, Altun Ha is a complex of Mayan ruins dating back hundreds of years. Once the “treasury” for the Mayan people, Altun Ha is one of the most important Mayan sites in the country. Go on a tour of the place with Foolish Dreamzzz, a locally owned operator that will take your group at any size (and the price per person doesn’t change, whether you’re in a group of one or ten). Ask for Kendis Ferguson, the owner and a former history and social studies teacher. He and his company go above and beyond to make sure guests have all their questions answered, and he’ll even make sure you get to climb to the top of the ruins—something not a lot of tour guides in the area make the time to do. The views from there, of course, are amazing.

With its waterfront location across from the San Francisco Ferry Building on the edge of downtown, the 1 Hotel is an ideal launchpad to explore San Francisco. Rooms have expansive views of the Bay or the city, and travelers can step out onto the Embarcadero for a morning run, to browse at one of three weekly farmers’ markets at the Ferry Building.

The luxury hotel upholds a commitment to environmentalism, using local and reclaimed materials for the biophilic interior design, sustainability sourced bedding, and providing filtered water taps instead of single use water bottles. Rooms are equipped with soft cotton robes, slippers, and yoga mats to help turn a stay into a relaxing, wellness-minded retreat.

On the first floor, the bar and restaurant, Terrene is a lovely place to swing by for a drink or meal—whether you’re a guest or not. If the weather is nice, don’t miss the chance to enjoy a cocktail on their expansive outdoor patio (complete with space heaters) with great views of the Bay Bridge. If you’re looking for something more substantial, they have an excellent selection of fresh, Mediterranean-inspired dishes, like roasted carrots with a feta dip and refreshing tuna tartare.

Pets are welcome and there’s also a rooftop spa on site, complete with stone tubs and scenic views.

Why we love it: A socially conscious spot that connects like-minded travelersThe Highlights:- Inspiring community vibe
- Comfortable, well-thought-out rooms
- A critically acclaimed on-site restaurant

The Review:
Founded by third-generation hotelier Katherine Lo (her family runs the upscale, Hong Kong–based Langham group), the Eaton brand aims to bring together travelers, locals, and members who share a like-minded sensibility—namely, one centered on creativity, awareness, and making change. As with Eaton’s Hong Kong location, the D.C. outpost—the first in the U.S.—fosters new ideas by providing private and communal working spaces, areas designed to inspire connection and conversation, and a regular calendar of programming.

Those checking in among all this buzz can choose from five comfortable room categories, from cabins to suites. All have a “global nomad” vibe, with colorful textile accents, Himalayan salt lamps, and organic cotton-and-latex pillow-top mattresses, along with Grown Alchemist bath products, healthy mini-bars, Bluetooth speakers, and USB charge points. Some, like the Artist Studios, have wall canvases where you can leave your lasting mark. Once settled in, gather with others at the on-site American Son restaurant (Chef Tim Ma’s Asian-accented spot), enjoy wellness treatments and classes, or do whatever else helps get spark your imagination.

This hotel is on our list of the best hotels in Washington D.C.

The fourth hotel from continually growing LA-based chain Palisociety, this 49-room boutique property celebrates its 1920s-era roots with a design that maintains original Art Deco details. Its location in Culver City also brings attention to a sleepy, untouristed enclave stepped in cinematic history. Rooms mix wood paneling with jewel tones, plaid, and comfy floral chairs, and some have French doors that open onto the hotel’s inner courtyard. Classic and contemporary art is carefully selected and intentionally placed, while retro details like rotary dial phones on the desks complete the Golden Age ambience. Amenities include oversized robes, a mini bar stocked with local snacks, and in-room tablets featuring curated neighborhood guides, room service, and more.

As Austin has grown, so has the city’s hotel needs—as evidenced by this super-sized Fairmont, opened in 2018. Connected to the Austin Convention Center via direct access, the 37-story tower houses 1,048 rooms, ranging from spacious standard options with city, park, or lake views to suites with separate living, dining, or entertaining areas. Enjoy touches like signature pillow-top mattresses, Le Labo products, work desks, and plenty of charging hubs in all, or upgrade to the Fairmont Gold level for access to a well-stocked 35th-floor lounge, among other perks. With all that space, the Fairmont is able to offer lots of resort-level amenities, too, including a seventh-floor deck with a seasonally heated pool and 13 cabanas, ample meeting and conference facilities, and downtown’s largest spa, with nine treatments rooms, an expansive gym, a full-service salon, steam and sauna areas, and more. Multiple dining options—including the Garrison grill, indoor–outdoor Rules & Regs, and food hall-style Revue, serving an array of global flavors—draw locals as well as hotel guests, as does the lobby level Fulton, where drinks are served against a backdrop of live music.

Housed in a refurbished building on a four-acre private peninsula, this all-inclusive luxury resort is far more expensive than most hotels on Lake Titicaca, but it’s well worth the splurge. Not only are all of your meals, cocktails, and most excursions included, but the lodge invests deeply in the local community—it hires more than three-quarters of its staff from the surrounding area, sources as many ingredients as possible from regional farmers, and turns to nearby artisans for its textiles and other crafts. Additionally, the on-site restaurant is one of the best in the area. If you’d prefer a more private dining experience, take your meal on one of the hotel’s wraparound terraces, or order 24-hour room service.

All 18 rooms face the lake and feature heated floors (it can get chilly at night at 12,500 feet of elevation), a banquette overlooking the water, a free mini-bar, and deep bathtubs. King rooms are the most economical, but the two corner rooms—with their spacious layouts and panoramic views of the lake—are the most requested. For the best sunrise or sunset vistas, choose either the “Dawn” or “Dusk” rooms.

Affectionately nicknamed by locals as the “Castle in the City” for its copper-green, fairytale-like roof, the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver was once a Canadian Pacific Railway hotel—a fact that’s intertwined with the history of the city (and the railroad) itself. Guests can learn some of that story via displays in the vast lobby, where they sit alongside designer outlets like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. The lobby—as well as the Notch8 restaurant and bar, function spaces, Heritage Suites, and 507 guest rooms—recently emerged from a $55 million renovation done in advance of the hotel’s 80th anniversary. A revamp of the Fairmont Gold “hotel within a hotel” concept and lounge will launch in 2019.

The decor in the spacious rooms is sophisticated and classic, with dark woods, polished brass, and plush velvets accenting the crisp, white linens and muted palettes. Some suites even connect, making the Fairmont a solid choice for family travel. Enjoy Canadian dishes, afternoon tea, and bar bites—plus more railway travel nostalgia—in Notch8 (which is named for a train’s top speed), then work it off in the indoor pool or the well-stocked gym, which features Technogym equipment and a Kinesis wall. The Absolute Spa offers signature services using West Coast ingredients.