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A quick drive from the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Gardens, Chez Tante Athalie prepares memorable Creole cuisine in an idyllic setting. The restaurant only offers lunch, served Monday through Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. Whether you order from the prix-fixe or limited à la carte menus, you’ll get a traditional taste of Mauritian cooking. The airy dining space opens onto a garden that displays vintage cars and features a quaint stone patio; the setting is so picturesque that it’s been the backdrop for multiple photo shoots. Chez Tante Athalie has also become a community gathering spot for local book launches.

For luxury accommodations near some of the buzziest parts of L.A., book a room at the chic Four Seasons L.A. at Beverly Hills (ask for one with an eastern view so you can see the gorgeous skyline at sunset). Schedule a wellness treatment at the spa, which offers spot-on massages and, for the hippy-inclined, reiki sessions. And don’t miss Sunday’s brunch, a smorgasbord of options ranging from fine cheeses, made-to-order omelets, and vegan chocolate chip cookies that could pass a blind taste test.

You might detect the aroma of fresh coffee on your stroll along the Macedonio Alcalá tourist corridor, and if you’re hankering for a caffeine hit, just follow your nose. Cafe Brújula has three locations, but the more central of the three is on Oaxaca‘s main pedestrian street. Order your coffee and snacks at the counter, then make your way to the back of the building and find a spot in the typical Oaxacan arched patio. Besides great coffee (roasted in small batches at their location on Garcia Vigil), they also offer tasty salads and sandwiches. There’s free Wi-fi, so if you need to get some work done, this is a good spot for it.

Set on Cox Bay, one of the best surf spots in Canada, the Pacific Sands resort offers one- bedroom suites and two-story beach houses with fireplaces and bay-view patios. If you forgot your raincoat or rubber boots (two must-haves in Tofino, which receives 100 inches of rain per year), don’t worry. The resort stocks them in every room. From $144. (250) 725-3322. This appeared in the August/September 2013 issue.

The Saturday tianguis is a Mexico City tradition, and many neighborhoods have one of these open-air flea markets, where vendors peddle everything from rare books, maps, and postcards to locally made T-shirts, vintage jewelry, and art. One popular tianguis is the Tianguis Cultural del Chopo, near the Buenavista Metro station. This tianguis has been around since the 1960s and has long been known for its countercultural offerings. If you’re looking for old-school vinyl records or punk rock tees, this is the place. Even if you don’t plan to buy, spending a Saturday wandering through a tianguis just browsing the wares is a fun experience.

Though toma means “take it” in Spanish, this intimate cafe offers far more than takeaway service. Toma’s staff are able to interact with customers while showing off their impressive coffee knowledge (as well as English language prowess). Homemade pastries, cookies, and cakes are available, with some gluten-free options. The current consensus around town is that Toma Café has the best staff, bean sourcing, and know-how on pulling a proper shot. Best coffee in a city of coffee drinkers is a mighty statement, but I’ll stand behind it.

After 30 years at the forefront of Sydney‘s fine-dining scene, Quay Restaurant underwent a multi-million-dollar renovation and reopened in 2018. The restaurant swapped white linens for Tasmanian spotted-gum wood tabletops and exchanged the previous purple-and-gold palette for blues, grays, and browns that better reflect Quay’s harborfront location facing the Sydney Opera House. Executive chef Peter Gilmore loosened up his menu, too, offering either six or 10 inventive courses such as the Oyster Intervention—a crumble of oyster cream, crushed fried dehydrated oysters, chicken skin, tapioca, and caviar served in a ceramic oyster shell—creating a dish that’s all bivalve flavor without the slippery texture. Fans of the old Snow Egg dessert will be won over by White Coral: a multitextured masterpiece of aerated ganache, coconut cream, and ice cream.

Bourbon Beach, a popular beachfront music venue on Negril’s Seven Mile Beach, hosts local bands, reggae artists, or themed parties on an almost-nightly basis, to the delight of tourists and locals. People-watching at Bourbon Beach is great, the drinks stiff, and you get to dance in the sand to live reggae in Jamaica. The music starts up around 10 p.m. and continues until 2 a.m. Upstairs, a wide-open deck is open for stargazing or getting away from the crowd. Cover charges are only collected on nights when a recording artist performs. Alfred’s, nearby, is another longstanding option, offering live local acts three times a week for a US$5 cover.

Switzerland is, and always will be, synonymous with the finest, smoothest, and above all, most delicious chocolate on earth. No wonder then that the Swiss indulge in this luxury more than any other country in the world. While each town creates its own unique taste of champagne, orange and other cocoa flavors, Zürich-born Teuscher, located on Bahnhofstrasse, is world famous and exports its chocolates to cities around the world, including Beverly Hills and New York. For the full history of Swiss chocolate Maison Cailler in Broc is great and offers a for a fully-interactive, automated tour with the added incentive of a tasting session at the end. The complete experience includes a train journey from Montreux on the Chocolate Train.

To while away time, you can go people-watching and vintage shopping in Stockholm’s answer to New York’s SoHo—South of Folkungagatan, called “SoFo” on Södermalm (“Söder” to locals). This busy bohemian district boasts some of the edgiest cultural experiences in town. Visit stores like Sneakersnstuff for funky limited-edition sneakers and running shoes, or wade through rows of vintage clothes at Beyond Retro, offering styles from Victorian-era attire to 1990s grunge-rock Pearl Jam–inspired clothes, with every era in between. If you’re into vintage—vinyl records, throwback clothes, paraphernalia, odd knickknacks—you won’t find them anywhere else if you don’t find them in Stockholm’s SoFo district.

If you’re looking for the epitome of “Hipster Berlin,” you can’t find anyplace more suitable than Mein Haus am See. In the most hip area of Mitte, Rosenthaler Platz, the cafe is more than just a coffee spot. It’s also a bar and club. During the day, you’ll see locals working on their laptops or drawing in sketchbooks, but when dusk starts to settle, the lights will dim and usually a DJ will be setting up the sound system. Get a seat in the back of the stadium benches and watch time just pass by. As an added bonus: Mein Haus am See offers free Wi-Fi and is open 24 hours!

The sign says “New Antique Store,” which might seem like a misnomer but is in fact a very accurate description of what Urban Remains offers. They sell reclaimed architectural artifacts from old buildings, mostly in the Chicago area and mostly from the 20th century. The Urban Remains warehouse is a giant treasure trove where you’ll find door hardware, industrial furniture, vintage signs, ornamental iron gates and mechanical bits and bobs. If it’s beautiful or functional, Urban Remains probably has it but you might have to dig to find it. Their prices aren’t cheap but sometimes you find just what you weren’t looking for and you simply must have it.

Den Haag grew up around the Binnenhof, but has evolved into a cultured and sophisticated city with attractions that extend far beyond its governmental functions. Still, the courtyard created by its government buildings is one of the top 100 among Dutch UNESCO monuments. If you’d like to see Dutch politics in action, you’re in luck if you’re visiting Den Haag on a Tuesday, when one-hour guided tours are offered at 13:00. In addition to touring buildings that surround the Binnenhof, you can sit in the public gallery and participate in lively discussion about proposed legislation.

Not unlike the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Empire State Building in NYC, the Mont Royal acts as a natural landmark for orientation-challenged travelers. The “mountain” (some would call it a big hill) overlooks the entire city and offers unparalleled panoramas of downtown and the Eastern Townships south of the city. The entire mountain is actually a city park, with many things to do besides admiring the view: tam-tam jams, bird watching, cycling, forest treks—and even skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating, and sledding in the winter. Brownie points if you make it to the Kodiaronk lookout at dawn, in time to see the sun rise behind the skyscrapers.

This place is nothing short of a local institution. Bo-Bec has served countless cones and ice cream sandwiches since it opened in the late 1980s, but the owner never changed the warm, genuine smile he offers every customer who walks in. And that makes all the difference. Bo-Bec doesn’t serve just any ice cream. Everything is handmade, and about half of the flavors available at the counter are original concoctions, be it maple nougat or rose water strawberry. They even have vegan ice cream! The perfect spot for a post-dinner treat or to take away and eat in the massive park around the corner.