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A Porfirian-era mansion provides the setting for Blanco Colima: a concept- and genre-defying project that features multiple spaces for eating, each with a different name and type of food. The main area, Blanco Colima, serves breakfast, lunch, and cocktails. It’s designed to be a welcoming home away from home. Other options include Belafonte—an oyster bar run by Chef Hiroshi Kawahito—and Lázaro, a fine dining area that features fresh local ingredients. Beyond the exceptional food, Blanco Colima is also a cultural center of sorts. The space screens films, exhibits the work of emerging artists, and hosts live music performances. Once you’re seated, you might find it hard to leave!

Rustic luxury is the vibe at Amansala, where all accommodations are cabana-style. How rustic? Well, lights go out at 11 each night, after which time candles provide illumination. Ocean breezes do the work that is relegated to air-conditioners at less eco-conscious hotels. Rooms are decorated with locally sourced materials, including driftwood and stones. Candles and incense are in-room amenities. The idea, says owner Melissa Perlman, is for guests to feel that they’re staying at a friend’s home rather than an anonymous hotel where they’re just a room number. The hotel also hosts yoga retreats several times throughout the year, as well as detox cleanse packages and “Bikini Bootcamp” intensives for guests who want to get in shape.

Location, location, location—it’s an adage that holds true at Lido House. Opened in 2018, the boutique hotel took over Newport Beach’s former city hall complex—putting it in the center of town and, most notably, right down the street from the stylish shopping and dining hub Lido Marina Village. The hotel’s rooftop bar (the only one in Newport), spa, and cabana-lined saltwater pool have also become destinations in and of themselves. An upscale Cape Code sensibility prevails in the 130 guest rooms and suites; there are also five three-story cottages, each with a private roof deck and one-of-a-kind furnishings selected by a local interior designer. The Lido Limo provides surfboards, bikes, and shuttle service to the beach a few minutes away. At the hotel’s restaurant the Mayor’s Table Pacific Pub & Kitchen, it’s worth splurging on the eight- to 14-course no-menu meal at the chef’s counter, where executive chef/partner Riley Huddleston makes magic with the freshest ingredients available. Fair warning: Morning mimosas from the champagne cart and Dungeness crab doughnuts at night might become hard-to-break habits.

Every city needs a stand-out confectionery store, and in Copenhagen that role is filled by Summerbird. Locals love the delicious organic chocolates and candied almonds, and flødeboller—chocolate shells that encase super-soft marshmallow—are the specialty of the house. You can buy individual truffles or get them boxed in beautiful packaging for a perfect small gift to take home or give to a Danish friend who’s invited you over. The fairy-tale-pretty products are available at Summerbird shops and other retail outlets around town.

Perched among the conveniences of Mountain Village, the Inn at Lost Creek is a popular choice for those seeking easy access to the slopes or links. Winter visitors can step right from the hotel onto a chairlift, while summer guests will find their carts and clubs ready to go to the Telluride Golf Club. You can even reserve the rooftop hot tubs for an hour of private use, or take advantage of the extensive spa facilities at nearby Peaks Resort, including multiple pools and hot tubs, a waterslide, steam rooms, and dry saunas. When hunger strikes, head to the on-site Siam Talay Grille, which serves Thai fusion dishes like orchid lettuce wraps, steamed buns, and stir-fry noodles with grilled elk for a local twist.

Rooms face the mountain and feature balconies for enjoying the views, as well as kitchenettes, laundry facilities, jetted tubs, and humidifiers. Suites and condos even have gas fireplaces and steam showers.

The Homer Spit is home to, for the most part, summer-only businesses that cater to tourists, fishermen, and weekend adventurers aplenty. So there’s long been an emphasis on fried halibut and other related goodies. The Spit’s food cred took a serious bump up when La Baleine opened. Though the restaurant has a seriously casual beach-town vibe, the food is not your everyday sandy-feet fare. Emphasizing organic and local ingredients, chef Mandy Dixon—who grew up in the kitchens of her parents’ Alaska lodges (Within the Wild)—serves up elegant but generous dishes, including salmon bowls with brown rice and roasted root vegetables and miso-marinated sablefish. The breakfasts are hearty enough to take you through a full day of paddling the bay.

Sacsayhuaman is an impressive Inca fortress on a steep hill that overlooks all of Cusco. The ruins are humongous, but archeologists believe that the original site was as much as four times larger. What remains today are the impressive outer walls constructed in a zigzag formation across three levels. As with many Inca sites, the walls are made from massive, irregularly-shaped boulders that stick together like a jigsaw puzzle without any additional support. The stones are laid together so tightly that a sheet of paper will not fit into many of the cracks. As the night comes down, this is a perfect location to appreciate the stars.

The JP Morgan Library’s grand, old-world elegance immediately transports you to turn-of-the-century New York. And at that time, there was almost no one more powerful than financier JP Morgan. He launched U.S. Steel and even served as the unofficial central bank of the U.S. for a time. Though some considered him a national hero, his tight control of banks, corporations and railroads led others to label him one of the original “robber barons.” Morgan was an avid collector of art and books with holdings so vast they were housed at multiple locations in New York and England. Eventually, he decided to consolidate his holdings in a huge library next to his mansion in NYC. Designed by renowned architect Charles McKim and completed in 1906, the Italian Renaissance palazzo-style library holds a staggering collection of illuminated books, historical manuscripts, and old master drawings. The library is rightfully considered McKim’s masterpiece—a majestic, soaring space which is both intimate and warm. It features 30-foot ceilings, three tiers of bronze and walnut bookcases, stained glass, a huge marble fireplace and grand tapestries. Also visit Mr. Morgan’s study, with its red silk damask walls and antique wooden ceiling brought over from Florence. The library is off the typical tourist’s radar. Imagine yourself as Morgan in your private quarters, reveling in the power and wealth at your command.

The white-bricked Embassy Row Hotel has been catering to visiting dignitaries and diplomats since 1970, and a massive renovation in 2015 brought refreshed retro rooms, a rooftop pool, and a new lobby-level restaurant and coffee shop. Cheerful rooms are done up in deep blue and bright yellow and in-room massages and spa treatments can be arranged. Dogs are welcomed with no fee and optional curated treats from BarkBox. Station Kitchen & Cocktails (named for the nearby Dupont Circle streetcar station, now a subterranean art space) aims to be an all-day hangout spot, from morning coffee by Swing’s Coffee Roasters—a D.C. fixture for a century—to evening bottled cocktails and burgers. In summer, there’s no hotter spot in Dupont Circle than the rooftop pool and lounge with panoramic city views and an innovative aqua-cycling fitness class that puts a new spin on spinning. The hotel is rooted in the community, regularly supporting local charities and arranging behind-the-scenes tours of the consulate neighbors.

Located about an hour northeast from Reykjavík and part of the famed Golden Circle tour (along with Gullfoss), the Geysir hot springs area consists of around a dozen hot water blowholes, including the eponymous Geysir. The Strokkur blowhole is the most popular, principally because it regularly (every few minutes, usually) spouts its boiling water up to 100 feet into the air. It’s still worth looking around at the other pools, even if they haven’t erupted for years or even decades, since they usually offer interesting colors and bubbling geothermal activity. The site also has a hotel, souvenir shop, café, and a related exhibition.

Comuna was born as an alternative cultural space and has now become a landmark in newly hot “BotaSoho,” what they call the hipster scene in Botafogo, an old-style but rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. Open till sunup, this stone mansion has gained renown for its homemade burgers—go for the ones that feature wasabi mayonnaise—and for the casual vibe, common enough in Rio, but which here more resembles that of a São Paulo bar. The pleasant patio is great for stand-up drinking and movie-watching, while the upper level is given over to food events, theater performances, parties, and more.

Officially named Zalogajnica Dioklecijan—but known only as Tri Volta to locals—this blue-collar hangout knocks out home-style lunches, moonshine grappa and the best sliced-to-order local prosciutto. The terrace is prime real estate, featuring views of the Riva and seafront through three Roman vaults.

Across New Zealand you’ll find weekend farmers’ markets packed with vendors of artisanal products and organic fruit and vegetables, as well as innovative food trucks providing tasty options for breakfast or lunch. Held in the leafy surrounds of Christchurch’s historic Riccarton House, this Saturday-morning institution attracts gourmands from across the city. For travelers, it’s a great place to try cheese and salmon from around the South Island, sample craft beer from local breweries, and stock up on baked goods for on-the-road picnics. Must-visit stalls include Sausage Sisters (for hearty pork-and-apple-sausage rolls) and Utopia Hot (for freshly baked waffles with seasonal fruit).

No matter where you are staying in the UAE, you can’t leave without visiting the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. The mosque, the third-largest in the world, is the final resting place of Sheikh Zayed, the nation’s founder. Even on the hottest summer day, the white marble floors—inlaid with mosaic flowers and vines—remain cool underfoot, and the scale of the space will impress even the most casual observer: The main hall can hold about 7,000 people. Take a tour and learn about the iconography of the intricate tiles and mosaics. Marvel at the huge rug that covers the floor in the main worship space; it’s the largest handmade rug in the world. If you happen to be visiting during Ramadan, you could consider joining one of the community iftar dinners, which sometimes serve as many as a thousand people in an evening.

A good start to your visit to Québec City is a stop at the Observatoire de la Capitale, just past the Parliament Building. The observation deck on the 31st floor of the Marie-Guyart Building stands 725 feet high and offers 360-degree views of the city. From here, the highest building in the city, you can get a sense of the lay of the land—Old Québec jutting out into the St. Lawrence River, Cap Diamant to its south, the Louise Basin marina and St. Charles River to its north. New signage added in 2016 provides cultural, economic, and historical background on the sights below. After you have surveyed the city, descend and explore it on foot.