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Admit it; you’re curious. A ski hill in the middle of the desert, on the Persian Gulf, no less, is as wild an idea as humankind has ever concocted—but isn’t dreaming big what Dubai is all about? The slopes at Ski Dubai are no substitute for Jackson Hole or Vail, of course, but then again, they’re not supposed to be. You go simply for the experience of leaving a housewares shop, sauntering down the hall, and hitting the slopes. All the gear required can be rented at Ski Dubai: They even have long overcoats for women in abayas. You can ski or sled, roll down the hill in inflatable plastic balls, frolic with penguins, or even just ride the chairlifts back and forth. When you’re finished skiing, you can head back into the mall for a meal or a movie. You know, just another day in Dubai.

Deli Board, a small SoMa joint, is nirvana for sandwich lovers, with offerings made from the best ingredients found this side of Cleveland, which is where owner Adam Mesnick grew up. Design your own creation from a selection of bread, meats, and extras (pickles and cherry peppers are a must), or order one of his predesigned, prenamed beasts, which are piled-high combinations of meat, veg, sauce, and extras. Zeke is a Californian’s favorite, with turkey, avocado, bacon, cream cheese, pickled onion, sprouts, and mayonnaise on a French roll, while the Leroy Brown satisfies carnivorous cravings with Romanian pastrami, turkey, kosher salami, American cheese, Muenster cheese, pepperoncini, pickles, and homemade sauce. Check the website for daily specials, or just drop in to stock your picnic basket.

A writer walks into a bar. It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but when it happened at the Buena Vista on November 10, 1952, a new drink was born. Stanton Delaplane, a longtime columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, walked in on that chilly November day and told the bar owner, Jack Koeppler, about a warm whiskey-and-coffee concoction he’d tasted in Shannon, Ireland. The oft-told story goes that the two men spent the evening measuring and mixing and testing in an effort to re-create the drink. Eventually, the recipe was mastered, and seven decades later, the Buena Vista’s Irish coffee is as legendary as San Francisco fog. Bartenders in crisp white jackets line up glass goblets on the bar and make up to 2,000 Irish coffees per day.

The Place Royale in the Lower Town is a modest cobblestoned square lined with some souvenir shops and restaurants, in restored buildings that span the 17th to 19th centuries, as well as Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, which dates from 1688 (making it the oldest stone church in North America). While it may be small in scale, it looms large in terms of its symbolism: This is where Quebec City was founded, in 1608, so it’s a symbolic heart not just of the city but of the province. The church, which sits in the middle of the square, has been rebuilt several times over the past three centuries; its interior has been extensively restored in recent decades to bring it closer to its original French colonial character. On the north side of the square, the Musée de la Place-Royale covers the long history of the square and its inhabitants, beginning with Samuel de Champlain.

There’s a quiet fish shack tucked away in Soliman Bay, 15 minutes north of Casa de las Olas, known by locals as Chamico’s. The idyllic setting seems almost too good to be true. The cerulean blue waters sparkle from the light of the sun, and picnic tables are sprinkled throughout the palm trees. Hammocks drape the area, and a large fishing boat sits on shore, making it a photographer’s and foodie’s dream alike. The restaurant’s namesake, Chamico, is busy on the wood fired grill, where he cooks fresh caught fish from the bay. Local favorites include the fresh ceviche with baby lobster tail and whole fish fried to perfection. Directions aren’t readily available, but ask your hosts at Casa de las Olas, and they will gift you a hand drawn map to this secret spot that only locals know.

This French Concession tailor shop specializes in bespoke and made-to-measure menswear. Come here to get fitted for suits, blazers, and overcoats for a fraction of what it would cost in the States. Germain’s tailors were trained in Japan and Europe, and its fabric selection, sourced from England, Italy, China, and Japan, is expansive, with a whopping 1,000 choices of natural fibers like cotton, wool, and linen. Custom suits start from approximately $530. Bespoke shirts, in which you choose the fabric weight, pattern, and cuff and collar style, start from about $75.

Head north of Valpoi to reconnect with nature in the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary. The 80-square-mile preserve, nestled in the Western Ghats, is considered an area of high biodiversity, with wildlife ranging from black panthers and leopards to sloth bears and Bengal tigers. In fact, it was recently proposed that Mhadei become a part of Project Tiger, a government initiative to conserve a viable tiger population. Look high! The sanctuary is also an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (an official designation by BirdLife International and the Audubon Society), with 255 recorded species. Besides wildlife, the preserve is dotted with dozens of waterfalls, most notably the dual Vazra Sakla and Virdi Falls. There are no public tourist facilities; allow yourself three hours for a self-guided exploration of the sanctuary.

San Francisco-based selvedge denim shop Self Edge has hung a shingle south of the border, becoming one of the first retail boutiques to open on the Flora Farms property in San José del Cabo. Aiming to be not just a store, but an experience, Self Edge is best-known for its well-tailored denim jeans. At the Baja shop, guests can also find Japanese-designed cabana shirts and resort wear, not available elsewhere in Mexico. The owners are also collaborating with local artists to make indigo-dyed sandals that will be exclusive to the store. Other unique jewelry and accessories are also on offer.

Although Chile’s central coastline boasts a string of attractive beaches along with towns filled with visitors seeking relief from the heat, the truth is the water is freezing cold year-round due to the Humboldt Current that brings Antarctic water up the coast. You’ve got to go pretty far north to find temperate seas. Bahía Inglesa is a stretch of coastline where the turquoise waters are tranquil, the sand is white, and there are dozens of beaches—some are along waveless bays (perfect for children), and others are great for scuba diving, kayaking, and kitesurfing. The area has restaurants for all tastes, and while there are lots of lodgings, in summer crowds flock in, so reserve as early as possible.

Though it is just outside the French Quarter, St. Joseph’s Cathedral is one of the most famous landmarks of the colonial era in Hanoi. The neo-Gothic church was modeled after Paris’s Notre-Dame Cathedral and sits on the west side of Lake Hoan Kiem. The church dates from 1886, making it the oldest church in the capital city. (Vietnam has a Catholic population of around 4 million people.) After the Viet Minh officially took control of North Vietnam in 1954, following the Geneva Accords, Catholic leaders and institutions were repressed and St. Joseph’s was closed for decades. In 1990, services resumed, and now several masses take place each day, sometimes drawing more worshipers than can fit in the building.

Routinely crowned the city’s top seafood restaurant, Blue Water Cafe is also among the continent’s best. After honing his skills at Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe, executive chef Frank Pabst opened this Yaletown classic to marry fine-dining techniques with local, sustainable ingredients. Eventually, the restaurant became a founding member of the Ocean Wise program, which helps consumers make ocean-friendly seafood choices. When visiting, you can belly up to the bar—which boasts more than 200 whiskeys and 1,000 wine labels—or reserve a table in the elegant brick-and-beamed dining room, housed in a heritage warehouse. Come summertime, however, you’ll want to head straight to the patio for sushi and premium sake. Fancy a splurge? Go for the seafood tower, which showcases the bounty of British Columbia.

With only a couple of exceptions, you can’t soak in Yellowstone’s thermal features (this is for numerous reasons, not the least of which is that most are so scalding hot they’d burn the flesh off you). North of Gardiner, Montana, though, in the no-stoplight community of Pray, Chico Hot Springs has welcomed soakers to its spring-fed hot pools since 1900. Spend the night in one of the quirky rooms in the historic main lodge, originally built as a boardinghouse for miners, or in a refurbished caboose from the Northern Pacific Railroad. If at all possible, plan to be at Chico on a Sunday morning, when it serves the best brunch in Montana.

When the Art family bought the struggling Chico Hot Springs Resort in 1972, some of the earliest improvements they made were to its dining room. The idea was to create one of the best restaurants in the state; if guests came for the food, maybe they’d spend the night. The family succeeded. Today the Chico Dining Room is so beloved it spawned a cookbook, A Montana Table: Recipes from Chico Hot Springs Resort. While ingredients are as fresh as can be—with produce from on-site greenhouses, meat from local ranchers, seafood flown in overnight from the coast—the menu includes some dishes that have been around for more than 40 years. The classic Chico meal is beef Wellington (service for two) and, for dessert, a Flaming Orange, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Following the success of its first hotel in the vibrant Shoreditch neighborhood, The Hoxton group opened this second outpost in 2014 in the less “happening”—but super-central—Holborn area, just a short walk from the British Museum, Covent Garden, and The Strand. Set in a former telephone exchange building (part of which is historic Victorian, the other part mid-century concrete), the hotel encourages socializing and working in its open-plan lobby, which is outfitted with library-style wooden tables, book-lined shelves, retro couches, and a couple of guest-use computers, plus plenty of places to plug in. You can order drinks and coffee all day in the lobby, three meals of large-portioned favorites (from fish and chips and burgers to banana splits) in the industrial-chic Hubbard and Bell restaurant, and rotisserie chicken and sides in the speakeasy-feeling basement Chicken Shop.

These communal spaces come in particularly handy if you’ve checked in to one of the smaller rooms—the 174 accommodations come in sizes from Shoebox and Snug to Cosy and Roomy (which is not all that much bigger). The spaces are cleverly designed to feel larger than they are, though, with large, circular mirrors, bespoke wallpaper printed with Charles Dickens scenes, comfy beds, and artwork by students of the prestigious Central St. Martins university. There are also useful perks like free Wi-Fi and one hour of international calling, a light breakfast delivered to your door daily, complimentary water and milk in the mini-fridge, and beer and wine available at the front desk for regular grocery store (not hotel) prices. If you want to linger, late checkout is available for an additional £5 per hour.

Built in 1525 as the family home of Doge Andrea Gritti, this antique-stocked palazzo has rooms with mosaic floors, hand-painted furniture, and panoramic views of the Grand Canal. Murano glass chandeliers and sconces light up the hotel that Ernest Hemingway called “the best hotel in a city of great hotels.”

Hotel Gritti Palace, Campo Santa Maria del Giglio, Venice, 39/041-794611. From $519. This story appeared in the July/August 2011 issue.

The serenity of the Meiji Jingu Shrine is a notable contrast to the crowds of Harajuku hipsters just beyond the giant torii gates. The Shinto shrine complex, which was dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken in 1920, is inside a forest that shuts out the noise and energy of the city. This temple is a popular site for celebratory events such as weddings and children’s festivals, so chances are good that visitors will happen upon families dressed up in traditional kimonos.