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Upon first entering the famed blue doors of Per Se, located inside the Time Warner Center overlooking Central Park, the dining room has the air of a wake, filled stiff collars and hushed tones. But no matter the attitude, the fact is that everyone in the dining room waited at least a month for this moment. At Per Se, you can only make a reservation one month in advance (maximum), and, if you procrastinate a day or two (say 28 or days or less before your desired date) you’ve likely missed your chance. (Do take note that you cannot cancel a reservation within seven days without being charged $175 per seat reserved.) This is an experience that will last up to four hours, where you are served from five to nine courses (depending on the menu you select), with many surprises in between, including personalized menus with your name and event (if you’re celebrating anything) on each. Now, if you’re still interested and not frightened away by the potential cost, then you’re in for an amazing afternoon or evening of small plates with the most amazing tastes you’ll ever come across. Do not be deterred by the portion sizes as you will most certainly leave full. It might even be best if you arrive on the borderline of famished, as it is a crime to leave anything behind.

The giant ferris wheel on the south bank of the Thames is made up of 32 futuristic glass capsules - all of which are sealed, air-conditioned and big enough to house 25 guests. Riding the attraction is effectively being stuck in a bubble, albeit one that offers 40km views in all directions (see if you can spot Windsor Castle in the farthest distance on a clear day). This is the wheel that never stops turning, and while views at the top are stunning, you won’t feel the ascent/descent: the Eye does one full rotation every 30 minutes, and turns so slowly passengers walk on and off at ground level. Curiously there is no capsule 13; since the number is thought to be bad luck, its been replaced in the lineup by the infamous no.33.

Did you know that there are actually two equators? The terrestrial equator, like the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn as well as the poles, is based on the relationship between the Earth’s axis of rotation and the planet’s orbit around the sun. But there’s also something known as the celestial equator, which is an imaginary circle created by projecting the terrestrial equator into the night sky. The sun consistently hangs in the equatorial sky for 12 hours each day at the Earth’s widest part, but it passes directly over the actual line only twice each year, during the March and September equinoxes. Although many think that the equator is uniformly hot, in many areas it does experience wet and dry seasons. Biodiversity is extremely rich at the equator, particularly because half of the planet’s rain forests are concentrated in countries along the line: Brazil, Congo and Indonesia.

Colca Canyon, a three-hour drive north of Arequipa, is one of Peru’s most popular and extraordinary tourist attractions. The chasm is over 13,600 feet deep, making it one of the deepest in the world, and more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. From the Cruz del Condor viewpoint, it is possible to get a panoramic view of this special place along with the chance to witness the flight of majestic Andean condors. This is a great place for partaking in adventure sports with a surreal view.

As a rule, Bermuda’s sense of sophistication includes a certain level of old-school formality. With the opening of this namesake eatery from the internationally renowned and somewhat hipster chef Marcus Samuelsson, the island’s approach to haute cuisine has taken a chic turn. Housed in the Hamilton Princess hotel with its landmark pink facade, the restaurant boasts a vibe that’s contemporary and airy with an emphasis on the turquoise sea. All tables have excellent views of Hamilton’s harbor, and the menu is—as might be expected—seafood-heavy, with dishes like Oysters with Black Rum Mignonette and grilled salmon. The local catch of the day and island-grown onions, along with other dishes, are prepared on a wood-fired grill that’s visible from the dining space.

The Thompson Seattle adds a dose of style to the city’s hotel scene. The angular glass structure commands views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, and its interiors riff on Seattle’s aviation heritage with exposed steel and concrete finishes. The Nest lounge, with its two fire pits, draws locals for happy hour, and the locavore-oriented Scout restaurant has already become a coveted reservation. Score a seat at the chef’s counter for a 14-course exploration of the Pacific Northwest.

There is no ice cream in the world like Berthillon’s. The mango ice cream tastes like frozen mangoes and the chocolate like frozen truffles. I particularly admire the fact that—in true French fashion—although it’s an ice cream store, it’s closed in August!

Casa Sol was newest and the best hotel we stayed in during our trip down to Mexico. Everything about it was wonderful. The owners, the staff, and the large beautiful rooms overlooking a private little cove. The simple breakfasts and the Honor Bar kept me happy while I lounged. (I love myself an honor bar). And I even loved the little walk through the woods to the busy end of the beach. The owners, Craig and Jorge also run the Red Tree House in Mexico City, where they have done an incredible job running a top notch guesthouse. Casa Sol is bound to do just as well. Go check it out!

Set directly above rocky low cliffs of Negril and lit at night by torches and candles, Rockhouse Restaurant provides the setting for an elegant and romantic evening. (The setting’s pretty great during the day, too—breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served in this open-sided palapa and patio.) The New Jamaican cuisine means a refined and more health-conscious preparation of classic island recipes, with as many ingredients as possible from the hotel’s small organic garden across the road. Among the notable dinner offerings are the blackened mahimahi with mango chutney, snapper steamed in a banana leaf, and coconut shrimp.

When temperatures soar, the best thing you can do for yourself, and anyone you are with, is to buy a pass to one of the hotel pools. The Riad Alkantara is situated at the heart of the medina and offers a long, deep, aquamarine-colored pool surrounded by a small but lush garden busy with butterflies and warbling songbirds. It’s usually very tranquil, but it’s worth arriving around 11 a.m. to be sure of a sun bed in high summer. Note also that service is painfully slow, so if you want to order a simple lunch (sandwiches, salads) be sure to order at least an hour and a half before you actually want to eat.

In the Ville Nouvelle, the Marriott is another good option and a better bet if you have kids in tow, as it has a shallow pool for children as well as a large pool for adults. Plentiful sun beds, not to mention a decent Italian restaurant that serves cold beers and chilled Moroccan wines as well as child-friendly pizza and pasta, add to the perfection. The Hôtel Les Mérinides is situated high on a ridge above the medina and it has a medium-size pool surrounded by a dining terrace with expansive views. It’s more exposed than the other two, but rounding off the day up here with a gin and tonic as the sun goes down over the ancient city is arguably one of the most magical summertime experiences you can have.

Finally, if time and budget allow, it’s worth booking transport to ferry you out to Dar El Mandar, less than an hour’s drive away from the city center, near the Middle Atlas town of Imouzzer (pass price includes lunch). Perched on a hillside overlooking the Saiss Plains, you can spend a delightful day lolling poolside amid terraced gardens dotted with cushion-strewn Berber tents for those all-important afternoon siestas.

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.

The sky above Jasper National Park comes alive at night. Celebrated as a Dark Sky Preserve, the national park is one of the best places in the world to stargaze. Light pollution is that orange hue often seen above cities, which is caused by the large amount of iridescent light omnipresent in populated areas. Jasper, home to only 5,000 people in a 10,000-square-kilometer area, is essentially light-pollution free. Because of this, the skies are darker—the area around Columbia Icefield is one of the darkest places in North America—so it’s possible to clearly see more stars than nearly anywhere else. Although the dark skies are best viewed in autumn and winter, from September to March, the best time to learn about the stars is during Jasper’s annual Dark Sky Festival that takes place at the end of October. The best part? It’s absolutely free.

Istanbul’s Spice Bazaar may be a global tourist trap, but isn’t nearly as rage-inducing as the squawking group tours inside the Grand Bazaar. Here, a remnant of authenticity lives on in this 17th century building, created by commission for Sultana Turhan Hatice. Visually-arresting piles of spices and Turkish delight, and rows of pushy men, make for a wild afternoon of souvenir shopping and colorful conversation. Inside the Ucuzcular stall the sellers are friendly and happy to let you browse. A bag of “love tea” ensures romance in a pot. In that vein, on my way through the bazaar, a man trotted up to me and said, “Excuse me. I think you dropped something...” I looked puzzled. He smiled and theatrically clutched his chest, "...my heart.” He probably does that for all the Westerners, but I pretended it was as real as the magic in the spices.

Located in Jardines del Pedregal, an elegant suburb on the outskirts of the city, Tetetlán is worth the trip. Originally the horse stables of a home designed by Mexico’s most influential architect, Luis Barragán, the space was recently restored by an art collector who lives next door. It is many things: a café serving shade-grown local coffee, a showcase for local designers, a restaurant serving creative Mesoamerican dishes, a yoga studio, a hotel for visiting artists who are asked to donate a book to Tetetlán’s extensive collection, and a listening library. But it’s the space’s design that’s truly breathtaking: glass floors look down on the area’s local purple-black volcanic rock, and the sun pouring in from skylights is warmed by rafters painted in Barragán’s signature pink.

As if floor-to-ceiling Inner City views from an 18th-floor space weren’t enough, the 21,500-square-foot illuminated ceiling by Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist will wow you at Das Loft restaurant. With strict historic preservation building codes long in place that dictated nothing be built higher than the city’s iconic Stephansdom cathedral tower, Vienna was rather late to the game of splashy starchitect buildings. In 2010, however, Jean Nouvel’s Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom opened across the Danube Canal, an area that had been plagued by banal postwar stucco buildings. Now, guests at the hotel’s Das Loft penthouse and panoramic restaurant can not only enjoy beautiful urban vistas, but a popping cocktail scene and modern takes on Austrian dishes.