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For those wanting an active adventure on the water, Captain Alan’s Boat Charters offers snorkeling as well as clothing-optional boat trips. Their Snorkel and Beach excursion allows you to experience four hours of snorkeling and swimming around St. Maarten, Pinel Island, and the uninhabited Tintamarren while riding in one of their 30- to 38-foot off-shore power boats. Enjoy a swim with tropical fish and sea turtles, and then head back onto the boat for snacks, an open bar, and music. Captain Alan’s Boat Charters also offers a 6-hour adventure, trips to nearby Anguilla and St. Barth’s, and a clothing-optional nude cruise.

If you’re looking for a great snorkel experience accessible to Waikiki, I found Hanauma Bay a great spot. Turtles and fish galore.

If you are in Venice, you will surely get familiar with local spritz (a fizzy, refreshing aperitif) and cicchetti, or small snacks. If you want to have a local experience, be sure to stop by Cantine del Vino Già Schiavi while walking around La Salute area.

It’s more of a wine bar or shop than a true restaurant, with floor-to-ceiling bottles along the walls and most patrons standing as they nibble cicchetti like bruschetta with a cod spread or brie and anchovies. Buon appetito!

Never heard of Esben Holmboe Bang? Experience a night at Maaemo and you’ll never forget his name. The Danish chef is the culinary genius behind Norway‘s prime Michelin-starred foodie destination. The restaurant’s interior is deliberately sparse to keep your focus on the seasonal menu, which blends ingredients sourced from biodynamic farms and foraging trips in the Norwegian mountains to create an unforgettable series of courses. You’ve got to book months in advance to snap up a table, but parties of more than two can lock down a reservation sooner.

Seclusion and tranquility are the new forms of luxury in a world that is so accessible and plugged in. Aqua Wellness Resort successfully marries contemporary luxury accommodations with serene surroundings, providing a memorable and rejuvenating experience for travelers. Accessible by a two-and-a-half-hour drive or 40-minute helicopter ride from Nicaragua’s international airport in Managua, Aqua offers peace and privacy so that you can enjoy the beautifully wild landscape of Nicaragua’s Pacific “Emerald Coast.” 24 Tree Houses accommodating 50 luxurious villas and suites dot Aqua’s forested hillside, which overlooks a private, white sandy beach.

Old San Juan offers historically and culturally significant experiences including a walk through 500-year-old forts, visits to UNESCO sites, historic churches, museums, the second oldest cathedral in the Americas and Ponce de Leon’s mansion. Cobblestone streets and pastel buildings are perfect for exploration during the day and variety of restaurants and shops make for a complementary evening.

Look to the top of Seoul’s 860-foot-tall Namsan Mountain and you’ll see the N Seoul Tower, which rises an additional 777 feet. This aerial perch is the highest point in the city and offers incredible views. Far below, Seoul sprawls out like a toy wonderland, while, on a clear day, North Korea lurks on the horizon. N Seoul Tower also boasts the world’s highest mailbox, so after taking in the views, buy a postcard and send it to someone special.

This outdoor ceramic school in the Coyoacan neighborhood is located close to the Museo de Frida Kahlo. The head instructor is a ceramic artist whose simple, Japanese-inspired designs can be found in some of the city’s best restaurants. They also have a booth at the Bazaar del Sabado, but I recommend stopping by the studio so you can catch a glimpse of the pros at work. Watch your feet, because the owner’s cats and crazy-looking Mexican hairless dogs (the breed is called Xoloitzcuintli) have the run of the place.

You will likely see Bronzino’s famous portrait of Eleonora (or Eleanor) de Toledo, in the Uffizi, during your visit to Florence. The Spanish noblewoman who became the duchess of Florence in 1539 when she married Cosimo I de’ Medici was unusual for her time, playing an active role in politics and as a patron of the arts. Her patronage extended to garden design, in its infancy (at least in Europe) in the 16th century. Eleonora commissioned the Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace as a green escape from the city; they continue to provide a retreat for travelers today.

Among the earliest examples of the formal compositions that would dominate garden design through the 20th century, the grounds are dotted with classical statues and fountains while straight axes run up and down the hillside with an apparent disregard for topography. A moment in design history can be experienced first hand here. There’s a feeling that the man who planned the gardens (Niccolò Tribolo) conceived a formal plan and then simply laid it atop the site. Principles of garden design were later to shape city planning. The allées of the Boboli Gardens were early models for grand boulevards leading the eye to distant monuments. One of the pleasures of gardens, however, is that you don’t need to know their histories to enjoy the flowers in bloom or the sounds of birdsong and splashing fountains.

France is the world’s third-largest producer of lavender, with a 559-mile-long Lavender Route that passes directly through Provence. Driving the route—at least from Manosque to the Plateau de Valensole to see the most vivid patches of purple—is practically a must when visiting this part of the country, with stops along the way to walk through the fields, stock up on lavender products, and snap as many pictures as possible. Peak lavender season runs from the third week of June through July, although the annual lavender parade in Dignes-sur-Bain, known as Corso de la Lavande, takes place the first weekend in August, with the Lavender Fair following later that month. To really experience the season, time your drive to the various tours, workshops, and events offered at farms along the route.

This enchanting corner of Costa Rica, blessed with a superb climate, provides visitors with a chance to experience an ideal rural setting. If you’d like some action with your relaxation, you’re well positioned to hit local sights like Poás Volcano, as well as try camping, horseback riding, and trout fishing. Fraijanes Lagoon, set amid grasslands, forests, and strawberry fields, is particularly idyllic. There’s another attraction you may not associate with a rural setting: Good restaurants abound. Get up early to enjoy the sunrise and a cup of delicious coffee alongside warm bread and natilla, the local sour cream.

Gombe Stream National Park is home to the Gombe Stream Research Center. Founded in 1967, it is a living laboratory, and a testament to the pioneering research and conservation efforts conducted by Jane Goodall on behalf of the park’s chimpanzee population. The smallest of Tanzania’s national parks, Gombe is set on the glistening shores of Lake Tangyanika and is surrounded by ancient forest and cavernous valleys. To embark on an unforgettable, several-day chimp-tracking experience, you get to the park via motorboat from Kigoma or take a local lake-taxi. A stay at Gombe Forest Lodge provides a lush, intimate haven to rest weary feet after a morning’s trek: Enjoy a dip in the crystal-clear lake, and a sundowner around the fire beneath the brilliant backdrop of stars and mystical shadowy trees.

You have to be a little bit loco to want to visit Central de Abasto, much less actually go there, but it is the ultimate market experience. Central de Abasto is the market that supplies all of the other fruit and vegetable markets in the city and many others throughout the country. More than 30,000 tons of fresh produce enter and leave the market daily, or the equivalent of 80% of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the capital. It’s not for the faint of heart, though; this market is all business and hustle is the name of the game. Browsing and taking photos of towers of colorful vegetables are not recommended because aisles are crowded and fleet-on-their-feet workers moving hand trucks of goods don’t tolerate dawdling slowpokes.

This recently restored 18th-century Federal-style home and gardens was owned by General George and Katherine Marshall from 1941 to 1959, a time where he would experience his most illustrious achievements. One of only five men to receive the rank of Five-Star General, he was architect of the Normandy invasion during World War II, served as Army Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense, Special Ambassador to China, and as Secretary of State created the Marshall Plan, the post-World War II economic rehabilitation plan for Europe for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Tours of the home are provided where 90% of the furnishings, personal effects, and memorabilia are original belonging to the Marshalls’ such as Chinese paintings from friends General and Madame Chiang Kai-Shek.

The Cosmopolitan is a great place to wine, dine, sleep, and play, but it also emphasizes the importance of the arts. Throughout the property, there are a variety of pieces—the giant shoe on the casino floor is perhaps best known—many of which are in the meeting rooms. In addition to art in public places, The Cosmopolitan houses the P3 Studio, which has rotating exhibits featuring artists working with a variety of designs, styles, and media. For those guests who want to take home a little something commemorating their artistic experience at The Cosmopolitan, stop by one of the Art-O-Mat vending machines in the resort to buy a piece of art for $5.00!