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This Altstadt institution known for its specialty coffee beans, teas and spices also sells a small, but excellent selection of specialty Swiss chocolate bars, including Akesson’s and Idillio Origins, and delicious chocolate oddities like dark-chocolate covered Criollo beans and ginger sticks.

If rare antiques, exclusive ceramics, unique interior décor, and unusual souvenirs for home shelf display are your thing, and you have hundreds (or thousands) of dollars to spend, Stockholm’s antique scene certainly won’t disappoint. Modernity serves up pricey handmade jewelry, textiles, art, ceramics, lighting, and glassware.

“First stop in Barcelona is Bar Mut. Great vibes, wine, and this house classic of egg yolk, prawns, and crispy potatoes. Hot damn, it’s good to be here."—Matt Duckor

Around 100 miles from Reykjavik, and easily accessible due to its location on the main ring road, the tiny and cute village of Vík í Mýrdal has only under 300 inhabitants but is nonetheless one of the south coast’s key highlights. This is mainly because of its distinctive black-sand beach, Reynisfjara, which offers striking basalt columns and lava formations to admire, cliffs and caves to explore and, slightly out to sea, Dyrhólaey, a small promontory featuring a famous arch. Right behind the village also lies the mighty Mýrdalsjökull glacier, which offers some great hiking and other activities, and its worth walking up to quaint white village church (Reyniskirkja) for the views back down to the sea.

With a history dating back to 1499, U Fleků is a Prague institution and the only brewery and restaurant in Central Europe that has been brewing non-stop for over five centuries. Beer lovers, backpackeres and tourists come from all corners of the world to drink their dark lager which is the only beer on the menu, made with all natural ingredients. The restaurant, serving traditional Czech and Bohemian cuisine – roast pork knuckle, garlic soup, apple strudel – includes eight beer halls (each with its own distinctive décor) and an inner beer garden that seats up to 500 people. Everyday U Fleků serves around 2,000 pints of beer. If you want to know more, they also have a brewey tour and a beer museum (reservations only) in the former malt house.

Both of Waikiki’s Outrigger hotels are a good value, but this one is a little bigger and a little quieter. It’s right on the beach, just north of the main resort cluster, and though a short walk to the middle of the action, far enough to feel out of the fray. The hotel itself is a quintessential Hawaiian family resort—big and friendly, with an unmistakable good-time vibe, old-school Polynesian decor throughout, and any number of activities on offer. The pool is set back from the beach and nothing fancy (no waterslides, no swim-up bar, and up against a giant wall), but it’s large enough for a serious game of Marco Polo, and there are plenty of lounge chairs to go around. Perhaps the best reason to stay here is the beach—a fairly narrow but sparkling white strand with more elbow room than its sister beaches; the rocky bottom may have something to do with that, but it’s a good place to learn to surf and a great place to catnap in the sun. One warning: the hotel lobby may feel overly commercial to some, what with a row of gift shops and a hard-to-miss timeshare desk, but it’s easy enough to ignore, if you wish.

Secluded and service-oriented are the adjectives that best describe Rosewood Mayakoba, a resort in Playa del Carmen that opened in 2008. At 1,600 acres, the resort is expansive, offering plenty of room for guests to feel that they have their own space. Rooms, too, are spacious and have either tile or wooden floors, comfortable beds and chairs, and a layout and design that draws guests to outside spaces such as patios and balconies. The sense of privacy is reinforced by special en suite features, including private plunge pools, garden showers, and sundecks. Service, which includes butler, concierge, and valet support, is first-class. Staff can facilitate or organize a wide range of experiences, both on the hotel property and in the surrounding area. These range from horseback riding on the beach and ocean kayaking to private dining and aerial tours of the Mayan site Chichén Itzá.

Including more than 500 different vendors, the Santa Marta Market (Mercado Público) is a lively and colorful experience. You can wander among the exotic fruits and vegetables in one row of stores, see meat and poultry vendors in another and find gifts and clothing in a third section of the market. Even if you don’t find the perfect souvenir, exploring the market provides a glimpse into daily life in Santa Marta.

Located along a stretch of coastline that’s sometimes called the birthplace of jerk cuisine, the Boston Bay Jerk Center is hard to miss. Various meats are cook on open pits using a technique that may explain why jerk never tastes so good at home: Uncured pimento logs are placed over a bed of hot coals, and the meat is laid directly on the green logs. The whole operation is then covered up by a sheet of corrugated zinc and cooked until it’s black on the outside and tender underneath. You can place your order by the quarter, half, or full pound. Don’t forget to add jerk sauce, which you can also buy by the bottle as a souvenir.

Nestled into the base of Mount Sturgeon, at the southern entrance of Grampians National Park roughly three and a half hours from Melbourne, the Royal Mail Hotel combines a bush experience with world-class food and wine. The property is a slow-paced reprieve at the site where the town of Dunkeld was first settled. Accommodations range from minimalist mountain-view rooms bedecked with furniture and light fixtures by Melbourne designer Jardan to the Mt. Sturgeon sheep station, home to a six-bedroom homestead as well as eight dog-friendly sandstone cottages with bathrooms built inside old water tanks. Gardens play a prominent role in the Royal Mail experience; the hotel has the largest kitchen garden in Australia, which supplies the restaurant with nearly all its organic produce, and a 24-acre private garden is home to many rare indigenous and non-indigenous plants. With the Grampian Mountains and their year-round waterfalls right at the hotel’s back door, the Royal Mail is also a prime base for exploring the wilderness and its native wildlife. After a day in the woods, guests can indulge in an eight-course tasting menu with matched wines from one of the top-ranked cellars in the world.

The city’s most emblematic daily flea market occupies a couple of old hangars on the road to the Palmeraie. Design-loving Marrakchis and their Western counterparts have haunted it for years, looking for bargains with which to decorate their homes. One section is dedicated exclusively to ancient cedarwood doors and wrought-iron windows—all of which can be shipped for a price—but it’s the smaller shops that offer up the real gems. Every time La Mamounia has been renovated, for example, much of its furniture and accessories end up at Souk el Khemis; it’s said locally that nearly everyone has some piece of memorabilia or other from the hotel in their home. These days it’s rather less reliable in terms of finding something fabulous, and prices have increased as traders have gotten wise to the desirability of tulip tables and chairs, butterfly chairs, and cowry-shell lanterns. But those prepared to dig deep and haggle hard are still likely to come away with a gem or three. Indeed, the main problem with spending a morning at Souk el Khemis is the ensuing need to buy a house to put it all in.

Guidebooks often lack the practical pieces of advice that could save travelers some rather unpleasant moments, in the Greek Islands one such nugget of wisdom I missed in my reading was that after a late night fueled by Ouzo it is not ideal to ride in a high speed ferry. Thankfully the ferry ride from Mykonos to Naxos is a short one at under an hour. I was greeted at the terminal by part of the family that runs Hotel Grotto, a small retreat perched on the edge of the Aegean sea that would be my home while in Naxos. After weeks competing for beach chairs and being corralled down tight marble alleys in some of the more frequented islands, Hora (also known as Naxos Town) proved the perfect place to relax and experience Greece at a slower pace. Upon arriving to the hotel, the bags were taken out of my hand and replaced with a glass of wine made by “Pappa” along with local olives as I was led out to the pictured patio. The view from patio of the hotel is of the Portara, believed to be the beginning of the Temple of Apollo dated back to 530 BC and is an ideal spot to pack a picnic from the local grocery, and watch the sunset before heading into town for the night. On the walk back to the hotel rising above the town is The Venetian Castle Kastro. During the day it serves as a museum offering tours, on Sunday nights after sunset it hosts traditional music and dance made easier by the accompaniment of Kitron,a liqueur indigineous to the area.

The Centre Pompidou, France‘s national museum of modern art, led the way for steel-and-glass buildings in the 1970s. Now the museum leads the way in modern art with its extraordinary collection, currently the world’s second largest. Masterpieces include Pablo Picasso’s Parade and—one of my favorites—Tamara de Lempicka’s Young Girl in Green. Go for the museum, but check out the public library and the view of Paris that becomes more and more impressive as the museum’s escalators rise from floor to floor. Spot the Eiffel Tower and Sacré-Coeur (and perhaps a street entertainer or two with a gawking audience of kids) from the sprawling roof terrace.

A whole lot of history converges at the Fairmont San Francisco—as do all of the city’s cable car lines, which offer easy transportation to the Financial District, Union Square, and Fisherman’s Wharf. The hotel was built in 1906 but damaged in the Great Earthquake and subsequent fires before it even opened, so celebrated architect Julia Morgan was brought in to repair the building. Once it debuted, the hotel quickly became a city favorite, hosting more than its share of historic events, including the series of meetings in 1945 that resulted in the formation of the United Nations. The hotel’s storied bar, The Venetian Room, also featured big names, from Ella Fitzgerald and Nat ‘King’ Cole to Tony Bennett, who first performed I Left My Heart in San Francisco here in 1961 (Bennett still frequents the hotel).

Today, the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar is a draw for tourists and locals seeking a kitschy, iconic San Francisco experience, with live music, Polynesian food, and Mai Tais severed against a backdrop of occasional staged thunderstorms. Other dining options include Laurel Court for all-day coastal California fare and the famous Afternoon Tea, a local tradition since 1907. The opulent design of the hotel extends from its lobby—with marble floors and sumptuous fabrics—to the 606 luxurious rooms, each outfitted with comfortable furnishings and modern technologies. Of the 62 suites, 10 also include balconies with city and bay views.

We went to the Viking Ship Museum while visiting Copenhagen. It’s about 1/2 hour train ride from the city and another 10 minutes or so on the bus (#203). I expected to spend about a half day here entertaining the kids but we ended up spending much more because it was so engaging. They have actual kid activities that are interesting and fun -- view old viking weapons, learn how to sword fight with wooden shields and sword (a staff member will show you how it’s done), decorate your own shield and sword to take home, learn how to make rope -- and this is just one small part of the whole experience. Inside you can view the remnants of the 5 viking ships that were discovered in the harbor and learn about how they recreated them. You can also watch a film about how a crew sailed a recreated ship from Roskilde to Dublin (while seated in a replica ship). The kids can try on traditional viking costumes. And finally, but not least, you can pay a small fee to take one of the replicated viking boats out on the water! There’s no motor -- just oars to row out and then use the wind to sail back in. It’s beautiful out on the water and to have a view back to town. The kids can participate or just watch all the activity. There was so much to do and a variety of offerings that engaged the whole family. Definitely a must-do with kids on a visit to Copenhagen.