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With its tiny, intimate location (inside a 1920s-era former home) and all the accolades (including a James Beard semifinalist nod for Best Chef, Southwest), this Bishop Arts District spot remains one of the harder reservations to snag in town—but it’s well-worth it to keep trying. When you do make it in, you’ll be treated to chef/owner David Uygur’s seasonal Italian-inspired menus, which might include crostini topped with a Calabrian chili and bacon pâté, risotto with celery root and foie gras, or duck leg confit served with polenta, topped off with olive oil cake with prune jam and burnt-cinnamon gelato. The meats are house-cured, the pasta homemade, the ingredients local, and—with Uygur’s wife overseeing the dining room—the atmosphere full of charm, all of which has helped make this a favorite for date nights, special occasions, and foodie splurges.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Vladivostok was a vast military zone with a string of fortifications. Even today, it remains an important military center as the home of Russia’s Pacific fleet, and you can spend days just visiting the complex of forts built by Russia’s top military engineers. An artillery battery that faces Amur Bay and long protected the old town is now the cool Vladivostok Fortress Museum. Exhibits within the citadel range from weapons and armor from the Middle Ages to displays that tell the story of the fort’s construction. On top of the building, heavy guns stand as if still at the ready.

At the town of Rendsburg, the famous High Bridge is a must-see for bridge enthusiasts. Built in 1913, this protected landmark consists of both a steel railroad span and a lower section suspended by cables that ferries passengers and automobiles across the Kiel Canal. A spectacle to witness in action, the so-called “iron lady” transporter crosses the canal every 15 minutes and makes the bridge one of only a dozen transporter bridges still in operation today. Ship passengers are greeted by ship spotters from a welcoming platform on land, while a recording of the national anthem of the passing ship’s country is played over loudspeakers.

The andBeyond Lake Manyara Tree Lodge is the only permanent lodge in the Lake Manyara park. This tree house hotel emphasizes the mahogany forest where it is located in Lake Manyara National Park. The original nine suites of the Lake Manyara Tree Lodge are all built on stilts with large decks suspended above the forest floor crafted from local timber and makuti palm fronds. A family suite takes that model and supersizes it, creating a second bedroom for the kids.

While here, arrange a tour with Deeper Africa to Lake Manyara National Park. Guides will take you to see birds and primates in their natural habitat, including silvery-cheeked hornbills and vervet monkeys, as well as black mamba snakes, wild orchids, and countless butterfly species.

Why we love it: A sprawling retreat offering high design and a beachfront location

The Highlights:

• Guest rooms with private plunge pools or whirlpools
• The only Thalasso therapy wellness spa in Baja
• Five separate pools, plus 4,000 square feet of beachfront

The Review
Though the Baja Peninsula has welcomed a slew of luxury properties over the past few years, it seems the 128-room Solaz is only in competition with itself. First, there are the sophisticated stone-and-wood interiors, which balance high-tech details (remote controlled lighting) and luxe amenities (outdoor showers, private plunge pools) with locally sourced decor and wall sculptures by Mexican artist César López Negrete.

Guests even have the option to add personal butler service, which can arrange everything from swimming with whale sharks to ordering a bottle of local wine from the property’s wine cellar. Outdoors, the landscaping features endemic desert plants like agave and cacti, with a hardly a palm tree in sight.

Then there’s the spa, a 10,000-square-foot refuge that features the region’s only Thalasso therapy seawater treatments and a Himalayan salt igloo. Five pools (including two sleek infinity ones that overlook the Sea of Cortez), four dining outlets (a Mexican breakfast spot, a seafood restaurant, a poolside cafe, and a coffee lounge), a beachfront fitness center, and 4,000 square feet of white-sand shoreline complete the desert dream.

Some say that The Chapel of the Holy Cross is located in the heart of a vortex. Others regard it as a place of contemplation and spirituality. The Chapel itself was actually built by a devout student of Frank Lloyd Wright named Marguerite Brunswig Staude in 1956. Staude wanted to create a lasting tribute to her religious beliefs, and was so taken with the beauty of Sedona that she began work on the Chapel. Nestled between massive red boulders, the Chapel is a must see in Sedona. And, if you look carefully enough in the red rocks next, you can still see an Rx carved into the rock as a tribute to Marguerite’s father, a pharmacist.

This sprawling 19th-century former gasworks complex west of the Canal Ring was a polluted site for decades after its closing in the mid-1960s. It was cleaned up and reopened in 2003 as a park, and its architecturally significant red-brick buildings were turned into cultural venues, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and shops. The Gashouder, a massive circular structure measuring more than 27,000 square feet, hosts mainly techno parties, while the nearby North Sea Jazz Club is an intimate space for live jazz performances. You’ll also find TonTon Club, a restaurant and arcade with video games, air hockey, and table tennis; Pacific Parc, a café with live rock music and DJs; and a three-screen art-house cinema.

Félix Meana and Katie Button, veterans of elBulli in Spain, converted Asheville’s former downtown bus depot into a stylish tapas bar. Cúrate means to cure oneself, which diners can do with traditional Spanish dishes such as Catalan sausage bocadillos, codfish salad, and honey-drizzled fried eggplant. This appeared in the July/August 2012 issue. Read Emma John’s feature on the North Carolina bluegrass scene.

One of the longest-standing restaurants in Chinatown’s Yaowarat Road area, Tang Jai Yoo fits the template of many of the dining venues in this part of town. The decor is faded and the harsh lighting would cast a sickly glow on even the most glamorous diner. Unlike glitzy restaurants elsewhere in the city, people come here solely to eat. Superstar TV chef Anthony Bourdain is among those to have lauded its signature whole roast suckling pig. Other choice items on the Thai-Chinese menu include steamed crab with black olives and ground pork, and deep-fried mantis prawns with chili and salt.

The Stari Grad (or Old Town) of Kotor is steeped in history, from the Venetian lions standing guard at the entrance to its piazzas with names like Square of Flour and Square of Weapons after the items that were once traded there. The labyrinth of stone streets winds past impressive palaces, ancient churches, charming shops and cozy cafés; for guided tours head to the Tourist Center kiosk in front of the Sea Gate.

Fusion, one of Playa del Carmen’s oldest and best-loved beach bars, has an indoor restaurant area, but it’s most famous for its outdoor lounge, right on the sand, under palm trees, and hard by the Caribbean. Fusion’s central location in the busiest part of the downtown area makes it ideal for enjoying a day under a palapa’s shade, or a night out on the town with live music and fire shows. The menu offers a variety of international cuisine, so you can find almost anything you’re craving, whether it’s tacos, Argentine empanadas, or classic pub grub à la burgers and wings.

Located in Tagaytay in Luzon, just an hour and a half by car from Manila, Taal Volcano has a complex and unique landscape and offers one of the most picturesque views in the Philippines. Taal Lake is a freshwater lake that partly fills the Taal Caldera, a large collapsed area formed during prehistoric eruptions. Within the lake is the nine-square-mile Volcano Island, which is the active part of the volcano and consists of at least 47 cones and craters, including the Binintiang Malaki cinder cone, which looks how you imagine a volcano should. In the center of Volcano Island is the crater lake, which hosts a small rocky island called Vulcan Point. So there is an island within a lake on an island (which is a volcano) within a lake on an island! (Vulcan Point is in the crater lake on Volcano Island, which is in Taal Lake, which is on the island of Luzon.) The volcano has not erupted since the seventies, though there are occasional signs of unrest. Visiting Taal’s crater lake is a great day-trip option: You hop on a boat across Taal Lake to Volcano Island, where you can hike or ride on horseback to the crater lake. Or you can simply take in the great vistas from Tagaytay, enjoying the cool weather and exploring the many places to eat.

Plan on spending the better part of a day at the National World War II Museum, even if you profess limited interest in history. This fine, sprawling museum—formerly the D-Day Museum—is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, and was established here because of the role the locally made Higgins landing craft played on D-day. Don’t expect the usual repository of static artifacts, like machine guns and airplanes—although you will find those on display. It’s more about gathering stories, from film and oral histories, and from all sides of the conflict. The museum was the idea of Stephen Ambrose, noted author of books about WWII, who wanted to share with the public the interviews that didn’t make it into his books. It’s grown massively since its humble beginnings, and does a remarkable job of capturing the era through both a microscope and wide-angle lens.

A short walk from Daikanyama Station is one of the metropolis’s iconic bookstores, Tsutaya at T-Site. Designed by Klein Dytham Architecture, the Tsutaya bookstore is celebrated not only for the beauty of its three buildings but also for the extensive selection of books, magazines, CDs, and DVDs. Tsutaya opens at 7 a.m., perfect for travelers who land before hotel check-in. You can have a coffee or a cocktail in the Anjin Lounge while perusing books. The concierges are specialists in a variety of topics to help guide consumers through the books, music, and movies.

Québec City has an abundance of elegant restaurants, both contemporary and classic, where you could easily imagine you are dining in Paris or New York. Bistro St-Malo, on the other hand, is a no-pretense, casual favorite, albeit one that still serves excellent renditions of French and Québecois dishes. Steak frites, duck confit, and boudin (blood sausage) are among the classic bistro options served here. The setting is as memorable as the cooking—the stone walls, hung with oil paintings and knickknacks, gives the restaurant a feeling similar to that of the many antique shops that sit near it on Rue Saint-Paul. In the summer, alfresco dining on the street, which runs along the waterfront of Lower Town, adds to the cafe’s popularity.