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Built on a deck overlooking the Vigie marina, The Coal Pot is a local favorite that makes a breezy, delightful spot for a lunch or dinner with a view. Named after the traditional methods of island cooking, the restaurant specializes in some of the best seafood on the island, including St. Lucian crab back and traditional saltfish with green fig (banana), as well as steaks, poultry, salads, and soups. Weekday lunches have a fixed three-course option. Reserve ahead for a bayside table: At night, the setting couldn’t be more romantic.

A sense of discovery pervades at this innovative, open-air retail development in Culver City, which opened in 2016. Six buildings house first-to-market concept shops, pop-ups, and creative company headquarters. The place is constantly evolving, with a stylish lineup of businesses stepping in temporarily (St. Frank housewares, Charlotte Stone shoes) or permanently (Bird Brooklyn’s first West Coast outpost, Magasin men’s boutique, design shop Poketo). Be sure to hit some Southern California favorites, including The Edit by Freda Salvador and Janessa Leone, for shoes and hats, and Reservoir L.A. for an impeccable edit of local fashion brands. You’ll also find great iced coffee at Blue Bottle, acai bowls at São Acai, and tacos at the unmissable Loqui. Studded with cacti and succulents, as well as hanging chairs, the outdoor areas encourage leisurely shopping breaks. Keep an eye on the Platform’s schedule of events for outdoor concerts, film screenings, and food festivals. Pro tip: Put aside 35 minutes for an Aesop Express Facial at the cult Aussie beauty shop—it’s one of only four of the brand’s shops worldwide that offers them.

Much of a restaurant’s appeal can be atmosphere, and no man-made decor beats a natural canopy of stars—a lovely sight made even better when supplemented with a church spire, or three. Locals welcomed the opening of Quince Rooftop, featuring a reach-out-and-touch-it view of the Parroquia, especially dramatic when seen at night. Add to all that chef Gonzalo’s classic recipes; he returned to his native San Miguel after a stint at New York’s Rainbow Room. To mention just a couple of standouts on the menu, there’s the perfectly cooked rack of lamb or a rib eye steak in a sauce of huitlacoche—a tasty, mushroomlike fungus that grows on corn.

The hours may be inconsistent and the menu—if you can call it that—is limited, but the ribs here are hands-down the best on the island. The chef/owner slow cooks his specialty outdoors and the only options are either with or without sauce. There’s a small collection of tables, usually inhabited by locals though they are happy to make room for visitors.

Beachy espadrilles, cloth bags printed with cheeky Italian phrases, and colorful Cruciani bracelets are just some of the fun inventory found in this small, stylish shop. There’s a little bit of everything here: bikinis and summery dresses, art books, and local crafts like an arty ceramic interpretation of il ciucciariello, the little donkey that is the local symbol for good luck. The shop also stocks useful maps of the many paths and beaches along the Amalfi Coast.

Along with a great view of San Francisco, Treasure Island is home to a popular flea market, formerly Treasure Island Flea, and now called TreasureFest. Each month around 400 curated vendors set up and peddle their wares. Stalls offer antiques, originally designed art and clothing, and vintage curiosities. You will also find about two dozen food trucks, live music, kids’ games and activities, and some local wine sellers to fuel your shopping fire. The two-day flea market takes place the last weekend of every month. Launched in 2011 to support local artists and entrepreneurs, Treasure Island Flea is now a must-do Bay Area event.

Niçois chef Nicolas Rondelli has earned a Michelin star for this fine-dining restaurant by the sea. Reigning over a private beach with a view of the Lérins Islands in the distance, the kitchen honors the riches of waters below by serving line-caught fish from local fishermen, whose names occasionally appear on the menu. It’s not all fish—meat eaters will find entrées of pigeon, lamb, and beef. All vegetables are sourced from small local farms. Sailcloth canopies protect diners from the sun at lunch, and in the evening the stars twinkle above.

Fire Island, in the heart of South Addition, one of Anchorage’s oldest neighborhoods, handcrafts an astonishingly delicious array of baked goods, breads, sandwiches, and savory delights that keep locals lining up for more. The bakery uses as much local produce as it can squeeze into its scones and muffins, offers interesting flavor combos, and serves up a tofu banh mi that is one of the finest tofu sandwiches known to man. If you’re hanging out in Anchorage for more than a day or two, check out the class schedule. You could leave Alaska with some serious sourdough skills. Please note: Fire Island is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, as well as most of January.

In a city built on steep terrain, it is a wonderful thing to have the option to ride up and down the hillsides rather than walk. In 1883, Valparaíso’s first funicular (ascensor), the hydraulic Ascensor Concepción, made it unnecessary for locals to climb hundreds of stairs every day. Today, about 15 of these little vehicles, most using electric power, are in operation; passengers ride for a small fee. The most popular one—and the one with the best views—is the Funicular Cerro Artillería. The Ascensor Concepción Prat is the oldest.

Locally sourced lamb, beef, fish, fruits, and vegetables make Estela a popular farm-to-table choice for visitors to the surfer-and-expat hub of Rincón, a town on Puerto Rico’s northwest coast. But it’s the inspiration from far-flung places that puts the delicious finishing touches on dishes such as wahoo in a ponzu sauce served over basmati rice, and sautéed veggie or tuna sashimi paired with sesame seeds, soy sauce, dragon fruit, ginger, scallions, radishes, and pumpkin seeds.

Estela reopened in January 2018, after having been closed several months for storm repairs.

Around 700 people live in the only permanent settlement in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, San Juan Bautista on Isla Robinson Crusoe. Although no longer as isolated as it was when Alexander Selkirk, the likely inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, was a castaway in the archipelago, the village is still remote. It can take up to two days to make the sea crossing from the Chilean mainland (but less than two hours by plane). While most of San Juan Bautista’s residents rely on catching crab, fish and lobsters for their incomes, tourism during the summer season is an increasingly important part of the local economy.

Located at the far end of picturesque Calzada de los Frailes on a quaint little square next to San Bernardino Convent, the Taberna de los Frailes is a great option for Valladolid dining. Choose to sit inside, out in the garden, or under a thatched-roof palapa. The menu is packed with regional favorites, including local seafood and meat options, plus several interesting vegetarian dishes. The wine list is fairly extensive and some unusual cocktails share menu space with classics. The pavo en relleno negro (turkey stuffed with a hard-boiled egg in a thick black sauce) is especially good, but a heavy hitter—definitely come hungry.

Cuquita Cookita is the latest venture from celebrated local chef Cuquita Arias de Calvo. She serves up “gourmet-homemade” in this colorful eat-in or take-out café. Desserts and other sweets are a specialty too, like her banana cake and lime brownies (among the biggest crowd-pleasers). The establishment also sells a variety of culinary items, including Cuquita’s latest book, Panamá Chombo Style, which recently received first prize at the Gourmet World Book Awards, in Yantai, China, in the best African cookbook outside Africa category. In Panama, a chombo is a man of African descent. With the book’s publication, Arias de Calvo pays special homage to Afro-Panamanian cuisine.

As befits a town with 475 years of history, San Miguel supports a number of city tour guides. One of the most popular is the Patronato Pro Niños Historic Walking Tour—a fund-raiser for children’s health care—which leaves from the city center, the Jardín, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10 a.m., for a two-hour stroll through history. You’ll surely stop at the Chorro (a public patio lined by old, open-air laundry sinks), a popular photo spot. And for real down-to-earth insight (plus a couple of laughs) about San Miguel people, culture, and rituals, book a tour with local storyteller Joseph Toone.

San Miguel is chock-full of unique shops offering everything including art, antiques, collectibles, and trinkets. There’s something for everyone, from furniture to jewelry, at Mixta, a shop housed in a beautiful 18th-century structure on Calle Pila Seca. The idea—as the name suggests—is to mix local design with international ideas. As you find yourself seduced by the shop’s mishmash of old photography, shawls woven by an indigenous women’s cooperative, designer dresses, reproduction Eames chairs, silkscreen-print handbags, and colorful Chiapaneco table linens, the common denominator shines through, bright and clear: a brilliant eye for beauty.