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I’m not sure exactly how Rainbow Beach got its name, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually had a lot to do with rain. The island’s most popular beach bar, especially on Sundays, is centrally located on St. Croix’s West Coast, some of the island’s tallest peaks and dense rainforest just a few miles behind it. Prevailing weather patterns, particularly during the summer months, make brief afternoon showers a fairly regular occurrence here. That doesn’t stop the party, though. Live bands play on and everyone keeps dancing. When you’re already wet from the sea and feeling the vibes, a little rain doesn’t hurt one bit.

Those who have never visited Dollywood may be surprised that Dolly Parton’s namesake attraction is anything but a dusty tourist trap up in the hills. In fact, it’s a world-class amusement park with top-notch thrill rides for all ages. With everything from the Tennessee Tornado roller coaster to the Drop Line tower to the Daredevil Falls log ride, Dollywood rivals the country’s best-known theme parks for variety and adrenaline-spiking coasters. There’s plenty to entertain little tykes as well, including a carousel, playgrounds, and kiddie-size versions of the adult rides. Dollywood’s adjacent Splash Country water park means you can make several days out of a visit, especially if you stay at the on-site resort and cabins. The park also hosts holiday events, including a Smoky Mountain Christmas light display and nightly concerts and shows. Just don’t get so distracted that you forget to explore the Smoky Mountains.

Ultraviolet is the kind of travel experience you talk about 10 years later. French chef Paul Pairet first dreamed of a multisensory dining adventure in 1996, but it took until May 2012 to open this transcendent restaurant. There’s room for only 10 diners to experience the 20-course meal at one time, and the dining room is a theater with HD screens for walls. With every course, the sounds, sights, and even smells change to complement and amplify the menu. The sublime sea bass Monte Carlo—sea bass with fresh mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes inside a baguette—is served to the sound of Debussy, and as you eat you’ll notice a vibrant aquarium has appeared right in front of you.

Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Degas, where art thou? That’s a question the staff has been asking at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum since 1990, when thieves made off with 13 of the museum’s most valuable pieces, worth an estimated half a billion dollars. Rather than sulk, however, museum officials left empty frames on display both to educate visitors and to serve as hopeful placeholders awaiting the artworks’ eventual return. Meanwhile, you can visit the museum’s lovely courtyard and vast collection of historic and contemporary art at Fenway Court, built to resemble a Venetian palazzo and packed with paintings, sculpture, furniture, and textiles gathered by Gardner, an avid art collector and philanthropist, during her lifetime. Pro tip: Wear a Red Sox hat or shirt to get a $2 discount on admission—as stipulated by Gardner after her beloved Sox won the 1912 World Series (also, you get in free if your name is Isabella).

An undulating steel and glass canopy wows visitors who enter the Kogod Courtyard. Inside you’ll find diners from the museum’s café, tourists soaking their weary feet in the shallow fountain running across the space, and students taking advantage of free Wi-Fi in the light and airy setting. The modern roof seals the center of the old Patent Office Building, currently shared by the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum. Architect Norman Foster designed the roof to have minimal impact on the building by creating a support system that prevents direct contact and weight placement on it. Unlike most of the other Smithsonian Museums located on the Mall, this gem is found in the busy Penn Quarter of downtown D.C. It is my favorite place to bring visitors, not only for the impressive courtyard space, but also for the preserved architecture of the patent offices on the top floor. Check the Smithsonian’s website for special courtyard workshops, concerts, or events. The museum is right near the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro on the green, yellow, and red lines.

It’s a sign of the Palm Springs boom that what started as a modest local museum is now a premier destination for art and design aficionados. Today, the establishment, first opened in 1938, celebrates performing arts, modern art, and architecture in three locations. The main building, a designated historic site designed by architect E. Stewart Williams, is the most trafficked, with works by Henry Moore, Ed Ruscha, Dale Chihuly, and other marquee names. The Palm Springs Art Museum in the Palm Desert location features a rotating selection of exhibits by contemporary artists, as well as a sculpture garden where you can have a contemplative afternoon picnic. The Architecture and Design Center, in a structure originally designed by Williams, hosts exhibitions on architecture and design that change twice a year, rounding out an extensive permanent collection that includes works by Julius Shulman, Alexander Calder, David Hockney, and Marc Chagall. Pro tip: The museum buzzes with energy, particularly on free Thursday evenings, but for a more tailored experience focused on a particular theme, take one of the tours led by passionate and knowledgeable docents.

If money is no object, staying near the Marina in Singapore is a great choice. On one side you have the bizarrely mesmerizing Marina Bay Sands development, which includes a hotel, casino (note that the Chinese take their gambling very seriously), shops, a theater, a rooftop pool, a rooftop restaurant/bar/club (Cé La Vi), myriad celebrity-chef restaurants (try Daniel Boulud’s DB Bistro & Oyster Bar), and much more. Although MBS is fun to visit and certainly worth strolling through, you get more for your hotel money across the Marina at the Fullerton Bay Hotel.

Located 100 miles south of Santiago, the Colchagua Valley has in the past decade become one of Chile‘s wine hotbeds for the production of robust red wines. Stretching from the Andean foothills in the east through the coastal mountains to west, always following the Tinguirrica River, the valley is renowned for its “big” reds like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Chile‘s flagship wine, Carmenere. The majority of the vineyards lie in the center of the valley around the small country town of Santa Cruz with its charming colonial plaza and several hotels. New vineyard plantations are also extending into the hillsides in prestigious sub appellations like Apalta nearby and to the west towards the sea. Besides red wine, Colchagua is also steeped heavily in Chile’s country traditions and cowboy culture as an agricultural valley, making it an ideal weekend getaway. For wine enthusiasts, every March during harvest the valley puts on its annual harvest festival during a whole weekend with tastings from valley wineries, regional food, music, dance, and local color.

Korean for mixed rice, the simple yet satisfying dish bibimbap was conceived as a way to use leftover side dishes before the New Year started. At locations in busy Myeongdong and Insadong, Gogung specializes in the Korean staple, serving it in a bowl of hot rice covered with seasoned vegetables and tangy gochujang (red chili paste). Diners can top the dish with a fried egg, sliced raw beef, or seafood, then mix all the ingredients together, adding their preferred amount of spice and seasoning. If you want to try Gogung’s signature dish, order the Jeonju Dolsot bibimbap, which comes in a sizzling stone bowl that nicely crisps the bottom layer of rice.

This West Hobart café has long been known for sourdough: stone-ground, organic fruit, fig and walnut—you name it. But the owners of Weston Farm took it over in 2013 and added new breakfast and lunch favorites that outshine the bread—from baked eggs over chorizo hash coated in saffron yogurt to pork and fennel meatballs smothered in spicy paprika sauce. Most produce comes from the farm, including the smoked paprika, which won gold in the 2017 Delicious Magazine awards. (The farm also rents out a cottage overlooking its olive groves.) A mini marble-bar bakery, Pigeon Whole Bakers, fronts Franklin restaurant and is run by the original Pigeon Hole baker, Jay Patey. This is now the place to get your sourdough bread and doughnuts.

In 1992, Bill Lark opened the first new Australian distillery in 150 years, pioneering a now thriving Tasmanian industry that boasts more than 10 producers of single-malt whiskey islandwide. Most are concentrated in the south, and Drink Tasmania’s whiskey tours visit the best of them. At the original Lark Distillery in the Coal Valley, whiskey connoisseurs can learn the whole process, from brewing to peat smoking to distillation. Old Kempton Distillery produces apple liqueur, spiced schnapps, and lavender malt in addition to its single-malt, which features barley grown here at the historic Dysart House in Kempton. Belgrove Distillery takes that a few steps further, growing its own rye, spelt, wheat, and barley and using a smoker that head distiller Peter Bignell designed himself.

Limo offers Peruvian fusion par excellence that uses typical ingredients in daring new ways. It’s particularly known for fish, including many types of sushi, as well as a variety of entrées that feature tuna, shrimp, octopus, crab, salmon, or trout, some inspired by Andean recipes, others taken from the Japanese tradition. Not a seafood lover? No problem! Limo also has delicious options featuring chicken, pork, beef, and alpaca. This second-floor restaurant overlooking the Plaza de Armas is also a great place for sampling pisco cocktails. Reservations are a good idea, especially if you’d like to score a balcony table with a town-square view.

After Vltava River floods brought great devastation to this gritty neighborhood and old port, a great change and rebirth began, and new businesses, stores and restaurants began moving in to old factory spaces and art nouveau buildings near the main square and church. Now Karlin is a foodie hotspot and a gentrifying neighborhood. Located across the river from Holešovice, to the east of the historic Old Town, Karlin is home to Veltlin wine bar, which focuses on natural wines from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire; Tea Mountain, a gorgeous tea room; Můj Šálek Coffee; and Eska, a restaurant-bakery serving neo-Nordic-inspired Czech cuisine in a modern industrial setting.

A short drive north of the South Island town of Oamaru, Riverstone Kitchen is often lauded as one of New Zealand’s best regional restaurants. The stylish dining room is anchored by a robust fireplace crafted from local river stones, and much of the seasonal menu is crafted from the restaurant’s own organic orchards and gardens. A more relaxed café ambience for daily breakfast and lunches segues to a more formal mood at dinner from Thursdays to Saturdays, and the savvy drink list includes wines from the nearby Waitaki Valley as well as small-batch beers from around New Zealand. Ask if any of the excellent Belgian-style farmhouse ales from Oamaru’s Craftwork Brewery are available.

Hauz Khas Social can be considered a social space or a social experiment. Either way, this is perhaps one of the best drinking spots in Delhi. Social is a unique concept that unites a cafe, office space, and nightclub. The identity depends on the time of day, though the crowds pounce in the evening hours. Enjoy the lake views while sipping on “Two Lost Souls Swimming in a Fish Bowl” or “Trip on the Drip.”