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The Viceroy Riviera Maya is a 41- villa resort set on the sugary-white-sand beach along the Riviera Maya. Surrounded by a lush jungle ambiance dotted with dense with ferns, palms and guava trees, it offers a luxurious retreat for guests 16 and older. Guests are treated to an ancient Maya blessing, performed by the onsite shaman - guaranteed to transform worries into a relaxed mindset to mesh with the tranquil resort. The spa employs Maya healing techniques and traditions, while a lagoon pool, fine-dining restaurant, seaside grill, private pier, fitness center and a library lounge are some of the many guest amenities. A menu of artisanal soaps offers a choice of scents. Once the selection is made, the Soap Concierge slices personalized bars from large blocks of soap for their use. Pet packages are available and include a blessing from the shaman, personalized, hand-made portable pet palapas and personalized menus designed by resort chefs.

No shopping trip in Windhoek is complete without a stop at the Craft Cafe. A small brewery and warehouse space has been converted into a venue for shopping and dining, featuring many local artisan products from around the country. On the top floor, the restaurant Craft Cafe serves an excellent Western-style breakfasts and large mugs of coffee at a reasonable price. Sit on the balcony overlooking the complex for a dose of fresh air while you dine. A small, secure parking lot is available to park if you have your vehicle with you.

Maison Collard’s claim to fame is a cookie so hard they have to print a warning on it. Legend has it, during the great siege of 1466, the people of Dinant were starving and had only two things at their disposal: flour and honey. They made these into dough and baked it. Later, they began to stamp patterns into the hard dough, with brassware found in their kitchens. In reality, there is little historical evidence to support the existence of the couque before the 18th century. Throughout the period, couques were decorated with depictions of important historic events. Although the tough dough is no longer kneaded by hand, the cookies are still pressed into hand-carved pear wood moulds. Popular shapes include animals, fruits, and scenes of Dinant. Nowadays, sugar and spices are also frequently added to the mix. Couques sold these days must be labeled with a warning advising people not to bite into the hard cookie. Instead, you are advised to dunk it in a beverage, to soften it, or break off a small piece and suck it. In fact, couques are traditionally given to babies to suck on while they are teething. More Information: http://cheeseweb.eu/2013/08/flamiche-couques-de-dinant-foodie-favourites-wallonia-belgium/

Some zip line parks are one-and-done—you arrive, sit for orientation, take a single (if exhilarating) ride, and get back in the car. Not so at Sky Safari, located at St. Kitts’ Wingfield Estate. Here, you start with a training run on a short zip line, then head into the jungle for the main attractions: four more lines that run over the lush canopy of slumbering stratovolcano Mount Liamuiga. The first three lines, named The Boss, Mango Tango, and Brimstone Blast, measure up to 1,400 feet long, while the fourth is a dual zip line that crosses over a river and ends near the ruins of a historic sugar plantation. As you soar, you’ll reach heights of 250 feet and thrilling speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.

Entering the reservations-only Williams Selyem winery may feel like a walking into a wine barrel—and that’s by design. The architects incorporated wood from old redwood wine tanks for a more authentic feel. Wine lovers call the facility the “Palace of Pinot” because it’s where the label’s legendary pinot noir is blended. Williams Selyem is home to the first Wine Enthusiast 100-point pinot noir in North America; the winery also makes chardonnay, zinfandel, and a host of late-harvest wines as well. During a standard seated tasting, visitors sample at least five or six different wines from the cellar; there could be even more if hospitality associates have others open and are willing to share. Most tastings are preceded by a tour of the facility’s cellar, winemaking facilities, and tank rooms, showcasing the components of the architecture that make the place special. Technically, you have to join the winery’s list to schedule a visit, and in busy years it can take up to nine months to have the option to get on the calendar. But if you love the subtlety of bordeaux-style wines, the upscale experience is well worth the wait.

If you happen to be French, French Canadian, or simply of French descent, the Musée de l’Amérique Francophone (Museum of Francophone America) in the heart of Old Québec will be of special interest—the interactive displays will help you trace your family heritage. It’s worth a visit even if you don’t have French ancestors, however, as an introduction to Québec’s francophone community, its remarkable history, and the story of how the culture has survived, even after being absorbed into the British Empire and then sharing a country where Francophones are far outnumbered by Anglophones. Exhibits trace the history of the francophone community beyond the province, including migrations to New England and the Canadian Prairies. You’ll also learn about lost episodes in the history of New France, like the settlement of Cap-Rouge, which existed for only two years (1541 to 1543) and was recently rediscovered. And see if you can peek inside the deconsecrated chapel from 1900 that’s within the museum, though was constructed as part of the Québec Seminary, located next door. This lavishly restored space is often used for private events, but you can ask the guards to let you take a quick look.

This old brick building in the area of Majorna houses rehearsal rooms for many bands, and is very much where it all began for a lot of the leading acts from Gothenburg. It is also an occasional concert venue, dance hall, and poetry event host, and has a small café. It’s a nice hangout for laid-back alternative music and culture lovers.

Among the 20 percent of Aruba that’s protected land, Arikok National Park boasts lava fields, limestone terrain, and a small beach, all crisscrossed with picturesque hiking trails. Paths lead to gold mine ruins, former plantations, and paintings by the island’s native Arawak people, making for an exciting place to visit. Explore the park by mountain bike, horseback, or car, or take a free walking tour with a park ranger (reservations must be made at least 24 hours in advance). You’re likely to see snakes, owls, bats, lizards, and myriad birds, as well as goats and the local donkeys.

Hailed as one of the country’s first true boutique hotels, Hotel San José started its life as a 1930s tourist court and became a 1950s roadside motel before falling into disrepair in a bad part of town. In the mid-1990s, Liz Lambert bought it and transformed it into a minimalist, mid-century–inspired hot spot, the first of her distinctive Bunkhouse hotels, and the South Congress neighborhood changed with it. Although it’s now a must-visit for out-of-town hipsters (and its bar a hangout for trendy locals), the hotel stays true to its roots; a majority of the furniture was made by local artisans from reclaimed wood and Texas leather, the three most affordable rooms have a shared bath, and Lambert’s experience renovating the hotel and contributing to the neighborhood’s gentrification prompted her to make the documentary The Last Days of the San Jose.

Nowadays, SoCo is Austin’s hottest neighborhood, and Hotel San José is in the heart of the action, hosting local and touring bands in its courtyard and parking lot, and offering some of the city’s best coffee at Jo’s, its affiliated café. Plan to spend at least one evening making new friends over Shiner Bocks at the long tables in the courtyard lounge.

This might be the most photographed store in Florence—the charming but cluttered scene includes strings of dried garlic and chilies, baskets of fresh fruit, colorful ceramics, wooden serving utensils, wild-boar salami, Tuscan olive oil, and handmade copper pots—with displays inside the shop and spilling out onto the sidewalk. This historic establishment, on the ground floor of the old tower of Borgo Santi Apostoli, is so friendly that the owner will pour you wine and offer a few bites of pecorino cheese while you decide how much room is left in your suitcase.

Petra flourished more than 2,000 years ago, trading with Rome as an equal before being abandoned after a series of earthquakes in the 4th and 6th centuries C.E. It wasn’t until the 19th century, when European explorers “rediscovered” it, that the ancient city returned to the public consciousness. Now, visitors can walk down the narrow canyon of the siq to the city entrance—as dramatic an approach as any to a tourist attraction on the planet. The canyon opens up onto the carved facade of the Treasury, Petra’s most iconic site. From there, you can explore the cliffside tombs with their colorful bands of sandstone, the Street of Facades, and the amphitheater hewn from living rock. The ancient center lies some distance off, along with the splendid old Monastery, which sits at the top of a steep but rewarding climb. Consider buying a three-day ticket and visiting at different times of day to enjoy the changing light—early in the morning is best for the Treasury, while late afternoon is better for the Royal Tombs.

For some travelers, what comes to mind first when they think of Japan is tales of samurai and shoguns, centuries-old temples, and the tea ceremony and kabuki. For others, however, what makes the country most exciting is its contemporary art, fashion, and architecture. The National Art Center should be at the top of the list for anyone with an affinity for the latter. Designed by one of Japan‘s most interesting contemporary architects, Kisho Kurokawa, it is among the country’s largest exhibition spaces. There’s no permanent collection, but temporary exhibitions cover a variety of mediums and topics—photography, manga and anime, architecture, and fashion, among others. The exhibitions aren’t always limited to works by Japanese creators, with international museums lending pieces as well. If you are looking for gifts to take back home, the Souvenir from Tokyo shop in the basement has a delightful selection of Japanese products, both whimsical and elegant.

For bibliophiles, a beautiful bookstore is akin to a church. Voices hush, smiles abound, and books are handled gently, like precious relics. An old home packed with an extensive collection of used and new titles, Bart’s Books opened in 1964, when Richard Bartinsdale’s collection became so huge that he constructed bookcases outside, so passersby could peruse the titles. Instead of a cash register, he left coffee cans on the shelves so customers could leave payment. Today, Bart’s is the largest independently owned and operated outdoor bookstore in the country—and the books outside are still for sale via the honor system. But the offerings extend indoors too. If you’re looking for cookbooks and culinary lore, check in the building’s kitchen. The living room features poetry. Art books are in the gallery. The rest of the place is a maze of bookshelves with corrugated tin roofing and open-air seating areas for reading at your leisure. Don’t worry about rain: The books are fairly well protected, and while a few may be lost in the rare heavy storm, most make it through perfectly fine.

When in Lisbon, most tourists make a beeline to Antiga Confeitaria to try its world-famous pastel de Belém. The legendary custard tart is indeed delicious, especially when dusted with a healthy dose of cinnamon, but what these travelers don’t know is that is that the ones at Manteigaria are just as good—if not better. Plus, Manteigaria features an open kitchen, where you can watch the creamy treats make their way from dough to delivery. Avoid the crowds in Belém and get your pastel de nata here instead, then ride out your sugar rush nearby on the atmospheric Praça Luís de Camões in Chiado.

The Tiergarten might be Berlin’s most famous park, but the sprawling, 7,400-acre Grunewald wins the prize for the city’s most impressive forest. Fringed by the Havel River to the west, it contains a multitude of pleasant hiking and cycling paths, lakes and sand dunes, and a surprising number of cultural, historical, and architectural sights as well. Besides the Teufelsberg man-made hill and adjacent Teufelssee Lake, there are great forest views from the Grunewaldturm, which also has a beer garden. Jagdschloss Grunewald, a 16th-century hunting lodge, has a café and a collection of old masters paintings. Close to the S-Bahn you can see a touching memorial to the deportation of the city’s Jews, who were sent from this station to death camps during World War II.