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One of Canada’s most iconic hotels, the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is cradled by the Rocky Mountains, its grand, castle-like structure surrounded by towering peaks and the pristine, protected wilderness of Banff National Park. The hotel was founded in 1890 by Cornelius Van Horne, the general manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway, who envisioned creating a refuge for “the outdoor adventurer and alpinist.” What began as a one-story log cabin ended up helping to kick-start tourism in the Canadian Rockies, launch the Canadian mountaineering scene, and draw a host of notable names to the region, from Marilyn Monroe to Queen Elizabeth II.

Today, guests arrive in a grand lobby outfitted with imposing chandeliers and sweeping staircases. Common areas are decorated with old-timey photos from the hotel’s past, while the 552 spacious rooms and suites are all about showcasing views of the stunning turquoise lake and snowcapped Victoria Glacier. There are plenty of activities to enjoy year-round, from canoeing, hiking, fishing, rafting, and horseback riding in warmer weather, to skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, and snowmobiling in the winter. In between, savor everything from European alpine dishes, authentic Italian fare, and Canadian comfort food to a large selection of bourbons and whiskeys at the seven dining outlets, or head to the spa and health club for a pampering treatment or dip in the indoor heated pool.

The Larco Museum is the starting point of your visit to Peru. It has the largest collection of pre-Columbian pieces in the Americas and tells the history of Peru without being tiresome. That’s a feat in itself, because we’re talking about 10.000 years of history! Everything you’ll see in Lima and around the country will make sense after this visit. The quality and beauty of the pieces are amazing, showing all the complexity of the local cultures. It’s a beautiful museum, very well curated, the exhibits are simple and to the point and everything is explained in displays and videos. The museum offers also a super interesting guided visit for families with children. Other famous part of this museum is two private rooms dedicated to erotic pieces, showing the connection between erotic and fertility.

If you’re in Madrid and in the mood for tapas, you might not know exactly where to go or what to taste. The Mercado San Miguel (metro Sol) takes away all that decision-making by providing you with a taste experience all under one roof. The old, derelict market was renovated just a few years ago and turned into an upmarket culinary emporium of sorts. It has more than 30 food stalls, each selling something different. My favorite is the bellota ham sold at Carrasco, but there is plenty more. You can sample sherries and Rioja wines at the wine bar, or do as Spaniards do and pick away at tapas as you make your way through the market. I highly recommend the croquettes, or croquetas, in one of the outside alleys: they have ham, chicken, shrimp, cheese and a variety of others. The more standard tapas area easy to find, like tortilla, and seafood is beautifully laid out for you to pick and choose. Right in the middle is my top-rated tapa place. I couldn’t find a name for it but it’s the largest counter, shaped like a U, and has everything from potatoes aioli to steamed razor clams, with everything in-between.

Playa del Carmen’s winning charm emerges all along this wide pedestrian avenue, which runs parallel to the beach. Eateries here include everything from cheap fast food like Pizza Renzo to upscale restaurants and cafes; the best people-watching is from outdoor seating at the sports bar Tequila Barrel or Chez Céline bakery. The shopping scene offers international luxury brands side by side souvenir shops, but the most interesting Mexican handicrafts await at boutiques like Sin Pecado and Sol Jaguar. Since this part of town has little shade, it’s best to avoid the midday sun; instead, try an early-morning visit with some streetside coffee in hand, then revisit at sunset to kick off an evening of dining, shopping, and bar-hopping.

If you’re not scuba-certified—or you just don’t have time for a dive—snorkeling the waters of Manzanillo can be just as rewarding. Various outfitters can lead you on an aquatic excursion that includes snorkeling around a shipwreck. Keep an eye out for colorful fish species such as the rainbow wrasse, as well as corals and jeweled moray eels, among other marine fauna and flora.

Inside Papeete’s Vaima Center, the new Museum of Street Art Tahiti is dedicated to graffiti and other street art. Sarah Roopinia and Jean Ozonder curated the museum. The duo also founded Festival Ono’u, Tahiti’s international street art event, held over three days in October. Papeete has quite a vibrant street art scene with some 30 different murals created by world-renowned graffiti artists since the project began in May 2014. Head to the museum and festival website for a walking tour map. Many of the murals are truly impressive and have brought a colorful façade to a once grey walled capital. .

Due to its prime location and sophisticated design, one thing you’re guaranteed to get when you stay at The Cosmopolitan is a stellar view. Every room has a balcony — a wonderful vantage point for viewing the city’s lights. Though the views are certainly a selling point for The Cosmopolitan, you don’t just check into the average hotel room when you stay here. Rooms are spacious with casual seating, a desk, and an incredibly comfortable bed. Every bathroom has a roomy tiled shower and deep sunken tub — also with a stunning view. To complement the resort’s edgy, avant-garde feel, a number of visually stunning and thought-provoking coffee table books are scattered throughout the room as well. Open since December 2010, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas has quickly become a favorite for those visiting from out of town and locals looking to spice up a few hours of their day. In true to Las Vegas fashion, the property has everything you need and those checking into The Cosmopolitan don’t have to leave the property during their stay given the many dining, entertainment, and shopping options on site. But once they walk into their rooms and settle in, they might be tempted just to hunker down in their private oasis.

This lake filled with giant, translucent chunks of iceberg is one of Iceland’s most distinctive and photogenic sights. Featured in high-profile movies, including two of the James Bond series and Batman Begins (as well as many local TV commercials), the sight is reached via a scenic drive along the country’s main ring road (Route 1). The icebergs originate at the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, which looms in the distance behind the lagoon, and look especially otherworldly when they reach the nearby black-sand beach. The area is also a paradise for bird lovers, with arctic terns and skuas nesting in the area (they may dive-bomb you if you get too close to their nests), and it’s possible to spot the occasional seal. A nearby visitor center offers simple fast food and drinks as well as souvenirs.

The Cumbemayo Stone Forest, which covers an area of 25,000 sq/mt, is the largest known megalithic building site in the Americas. There is plenty of space for you to get lost and feel as though you’re going several thousand years back in time. The site is surrounded by beautiful water channels, hills, and forest. The aqueduct is a channel finely carved into the stone, more than 1 km in length, with borders and straight angles build in to control flow speed. You’ll also find sanctuaries, caves with stone carvings, and an ancient fortress.

It may not look like much from the simple street entrance, but vintage-loving shoppers will find plenty to browse at this underground, two-floor antique mall. You’ll find black velvet paintings, vintage pinup magazines and comics, and antique collectibles, plus some truly impressive taxidermy mounts downstairs. For a more packable souvenir, try one of these colorful and charming Pyrex pieces or some midcentury barware.

One of Mexico City’s most historic neighborhoods—a once-independent city-state politically joined to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan—Tlatelolco is a fascinating side trip few tourists make. At its center lies the district’s so-called Square of the Three Cultures, where a colossal public housing development (of revitalized interest to architecture buffs) surrounds a 17th-century Spanish church (notably embellished with stained-glass windows by 20th-century artist and architect Mathias Goeritz) as well as the ruins of pre-Hispanic Tlatelolco pyramids and other structures. In addition to being the exact spot on which the Aztec empire fell, the square was also the site where Mexican armed forces perpetrated a bloody 1968 massacre of university students and political activists. Tragedy aside, the area is still home to thousands of hardworking average Joes, and the community garden, known as the huerto, is pure down-home bucolic charm; it’s well worth a pop-in.

With the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire, Iberian overlords set about imposing their customs on the subdued populace, eliminating traces of pre-Hispanic religions they deemed heretical by demolishing major temples and building churches and other structures atop their ruins. Centuries later, in 1978, workers laying electrical lines happened upon the remains of the Templo Mayor, the Aztecs’ most important ceremonial center (and, yes, the location of their notorious human sacrifices). Subsequent excavations have revealed superimposed pyramid foundations and priceless artworks, many now displayed at the on-site museum. Thrillingly, treasures keep turning up—including the spring 2017 discovery of a stone box containing some of the finest Aztec gold ever found, just off the Templo Mayor’s steps.

Few experiences provide cultural intoxication like exploring a city’s past. And, good news, Quito’s oozes fascination. The best place to travel through the pre-Columbian era, Spanish conquest and eventual independence is a visit to the marvellous Museo de la Ciudad. Lurking a few blocks from Plaza San Francisco, this over 400-year-old hospital, the city’s oldest building, was converted into a museum in the 1970s and today enthrals visitors with reconstructed indigenous houses, graphic art work, clear and concise videos and English-speaking guides. For just $3, visitors stroll around the typical Spanish colonial building which has a permanent exhibit on the first floor and temporary one on the ground. Note that like many museums in Quito, it closes on Mondays.

Oaxaca has no shortage of gorgeous colonial-era buildings; in fact, that’s what draws many visitors to this stunningly beautiful Mexican city. But Casa de Siete Balcones, a seven-room boutique hotel, is particularly special, with unusually spacious rooms and, as its name suggests, seven balconies (yes, one for each room). The building itself dates to the 18^th century. The structure, along with the rooms’ heavy wood furniture and the cobbled street just outside the door, has the effect of transporting guests to another era. Other design details that will appeal to visitors with nostalgia for an earlier century include Spanish tile floors, and a courtyard filled with plants and flowers; the Spanish-style patio also features a bubbling fountain. Rooms are filled with natural light, and service is friendly and attentive.

Manhattan can, famously, feel like endless rows of apartment blocks and office towers for most of its length. At least above 14th Street, a regular grid of streets and avenues, bisected only by Broadway, has transformed the city into a dream for real estate developers. The green spaces interrupting the pattern—Union Square, Gramercy Park, Madison Square Park—are few and far between, with one enormous exception: Central Park. Running from 59th Street to 110th Street, and between Central Park West (Eighth Avenue) and Fifth Avenue, it is one of the world’s largest urban parks, measuring some 843 acres. It is the masterpiece of the 19th-century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted working in collaboration with Calvert Vaux. Inside its borders are stately allées and naturalistic scenes, ice-skating rinks (in the winter), an enormous reservoir, and a faux castle. The park is hugely popular, and so to call it an escape from the bustle of the city is often not accurate, especially on mild summer days and the first warm ones in the spring when thousands of residents head to its playing fields, bike and run along the road that loops the park, and enjoy picnics on the Sheep Meadow or one of its other lawns.