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On a rocky plateau overlooking the Dead Sea lies the 2,000-year-old cliff-top fortress of Masada. Next to Jerusalem, it is the most popular destination for tourists visiting Israel. In addition to its sheer natural beauty, Masada is also the setting of one of the most powerful and tragic stories in Jewish history. During the First Roman-Jewish War in 73 or 74 C.E., 960 Jewish zealots—men, women, and children—committed suicide on top of the mountain rather than submit to capture by the Romans. Among the ruins are the Northern Palace, an ancient synagogue, and a Roman-style bathhouse with mosaic floors. The ascent to Masada can be done by cable car or by walking up the Snake Path, a moderate climb which should take around an hour.

Co-owner Diego Luna, one of Mexico‘s most internationally recognized movie stars, helps draw celebrities and other see-and-be-seen folks to La Bipo, his bar in the Coyoacán neighborhood. Designed as a cantina-style watering hole, La Bipo has a full cocktail bar and plenty of beer options. Decor is inspired by Mexican pop culture. As one example, the menu evokes lucha libre by appropriating the same kind of font used for posters promoting Mexican wrestling.

Long considered one of the top hotels on Oahu, the Kahala has always been a particular favorite among the type of guests who travel with their own security detail. A number of past U.S. presidents, plus kings, queens, princesses Grace and Di, a handful of Nobel Peace Prize winners, rock stars, and movie stars, all have slept under its venerable roof at some point during the hotel’s 50-year history. The see-and-be-seen set moved on long ago, but privacy seekers still make a beeline here. They’re drawn less by the property’s fabulous beach (though that’s reason enough to stay here) than by its exclusive location—in a well-fortified cul-de-sac in the ritzy Kahala neighborhood. But there’s a warm and fuzzy side to the hotel, too. A pod of dolphins has full-time residency in the hotel lagoon, and visitors of all ages can swim with them (for a fairly steep fee). Rooms have a preppy beach house vibe—raffia ceiling fans, linen loveseats—and many come with heart-stopping sea views.

Lying off the northern Freguesia de Santana peninsula, Ilha Grande’s Blue Lagoon (Lagoa Azul) is not a proper lagoon despite its name but rather an area of shallow Caribbean-colored waters. From Abraão, schooners bring you there to snorkel with striped and colorful fish. An old whitewashed church is all that remains onshore from the colonial era, and over a post-snorkel lunch in the small village that sits on Japariz Beach, you might spot dolphins swimming in the sea.

After grabbing lunch on the ultra-local Plage de la Datcha on the south of Grande-Terre, hop on an afternoon boat shuttle from the beach to nearby Îlet du Gosier. You can spot the islet from shore—and if you’re fit, you can even kayak or swim over. With a wraparound white-sand beach, shallow waters for snorkeling, and the rustic Ti’ Robinson bar for rhum cocktails and Creole dishes, it’s the perfect day trip from somewhere like Pointe-a-Pitre.

With over 20 lakes, Minneapolis is truly a water city—which is roughly what its name means in the Dakota language of the area’s original American Indian inhabitants. The 1555-acre Chain of Lakes district highlights the best of this water-filled landscape. From the active water and ice sports of expansive Lake Calhoun to the more leisurely picturesque shoreline of Lake Harriet, each lake glistens with its own unique personality.

Want to know more about Taoism? About 70km west of Xi’an, in Tayu Village, is the Louguantai Temple, where it’s said that Lao Tze, the founder of Taoism, wrote the Tao Te Ching and set the fundamentals for the religion. Built over two thousand years ago, the temple is located within a park, with numerous structures inside, and a statue of Lao Tze nestles among beautiful greenery, so expect so spend a day—if not more—wandering around to take it all in.

At the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, above the town of Sandy, Utah, the Alta Resort offers 2,200 skiable acres and an average of more than 550 inches of snowfall a year. While the steep slopes of the Wasatch mountains draw expert skiers, there is plenty of terrain for intermediate skiers and a number of programs within the ski school to get beginners and first-timers out and enjoying themselves. As for families, even those with little ones as young as two months old, day care is available all day long and into the early evening through Alta Children’s Center, and on Fridays and Saturdays until 6:30 p.m. with its Après-Ski Care. To get tykes skiing and on the slopes, Alta partners with the ski school.

This ice field—named for the Baltimore university—numbers among Alaska’s most picturesque; it’s also one of the planet’s few advancing tidewater glaciers. On a clear day, sunlight ignites the turquoise blue of its 76-meter-tall face (called “a snout”), which is backed by the snow-gilded crags of the Fairweather Range. Stretching 20 kilometers in length, this river of frozen water flows more than three meters each day and has a cave where it kisses the ocean.

About 20 minutes from downtown, there’s a long, flat stretch of sand called Kite Beach because local kitesurfers flock here every afternoon when the wind picks up. You can rent a kiteboard and hire a coach for the day to teach you the basics—or take it easy and bring a picnic while you watch the kites dip and swoop like huge butterflies across the aquamarine sea. Just want a swim? You can splash around until midnight thanks to two “Smart Power Poles” that light up the water.

A short drive outside the town of San Pedro de Atacama, Tierra Atacama has wonderful views of fields and Volvano Licancabur. The hotel is part of the Tierra hotel group owned by the Chilean-American Purcell family (who also own Tierra Patagonia, Tierra Chiloé, and Ski Portillo). The property originally served as a cattle corral, but Chilean landscape artist Teresa Moller has transformed the grounds, preserving the ancient algarrobo and chañar trees and restoring the adobe walls.

The bedrooms are decorated in natural colors, with local touches like ceramics marching along the sills of the extra-large windows. Animal-skin rugs and alpaca throws provide a touch of warmth for the cool desert nights. You can see the incredible silhouette of Volcano Licancabur from all the rooms, but the Poniente rooms are slightly larger and have better views. There is a friendly communal vibe at the hotel, and upon arrival guests meet with the head guide in the main lounge to choose from the range of group activities on offer each day.

While Cape Point is not, in fact, the southernmost tip of Africa—as is often claimed—it is generally accepted that the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet somewhere between here and the real tip, Cape Agulhas. Still, Cape Point is about as dramatic as you can get, with the land falling steeply away on three sides, the wind whipping around the cliffs, and the ocean churning below. The road to the point, at the end of a drive from Cape Town, goes through 20 miles of nature reserve full of baboons and antelopes. For those who don’t want to walk up to the lighthouse, there is a funicular, but to reach the point itself, you’re going to have to hike.

Napoléon and his armies marched through it; revolutionaries and Nazis gathered beneath it; the Berlin Wall ran right behind: It’s safe to say that Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate, completed in 1791, has pretty much seen it all. Designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, who drew inspiration from the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens, the gate is best approached via Unter den Linden, the tree-lined boulevard that runs between the gate and the former Royal Palace. You can combine a visit here with nearby sights such as the Reichstag, Tiergarten Park, and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Since 2016, an impressive high-tech museum at the gate has offered a history of the city through the perspective of the iconic structure.

One of St. John’s most beautiful seaside spots, Hawksnest Beach offers a beautiful and easy-to-reach locale with convenient parking, picnic tables, barbecue grills, and ample shade. That accessibility, alas, can mean crowds, so try to arrive early and find your spot on the sand. A long snorkeling reef begins a few yards from the shore.

Opened in 2003, Carlisle Bay is set on a lush, isolated section of Antigua’s south coast and has a 21st-century design that feels more contemporary than Caribbean. With muted shades of grays, whites, and greens, the hotel projects an uncluttered, understated luxury. Its most remarked-on feature, though, is the way it appeals to both couples and families by keeping the two separate. Each group has its own cluster of rooms at its own end of the beach, and never the twain have to meet, except perhaps for lunch at Ottimo, the poolside Italian restaurant. The crescent of beach is tucked into a sheltered bay, so the waves seldom do more than whisper up onto the white sand, against a backdrop of forested hills. It’s all very restful, but the long list of free non-motorized watersports and the extensive kids’ club ensures everyone has plenty to do.