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If you’ve dreamed of climbing an ancient Mayan ruin yet remaining free from the madding crowd, Cancún has a little secret: the El Rey Ruins, an archaeological treasure tucked into the Hotel Zone and just a 10-minute bus ride from most city resorts. As recently as 1200 C.E., the site was a center for maritime trade. While thousands of tourists pack into other ruins hours away, hardly anyone knows about El Rey, which is relatively small in comparison, and you’ll probably see only a handful of other visitors. Perhaps best of all: You can still climb the pyramids.

The Columbia Icefield is one of the largest masses of ice south of the Arctic Circle, an otherworldly expanse straddling the Continental Divide. You can get on the ice in two ways: Take the Brewster tour company’s Ice Explorer snow coach (a massive four-wheel-drive vehicle), or climb the toe of the glacier with Athabasca Glacier Icewalks, a company specializing in half-day and full-day strolls toward the perfect photo op. The trek over the ice is easy enough for most families to do, and the sensation of gliding on top of a glacier borders on the spiritual. Get lucky, and your guide will let you check out a glacier crevasse up close.

An ethnic minority living in the Central Highlands provinces, the Bahnar are as renowned for their musical prowess, achieved with bamboo instruments that include the fiddle and xylophone, as their soaring, thatched-roof rongs (meetinghouses used for community activities), some of which climb as high as 50 feet. The quiet town of Kon Tum, located a couple of hours from the point where the borders of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam connect—and the border-crossing station into Laos at Bo Y—is a good base from which to explore the numerous Bahnar villages nearby. For the less adventurous, there are a few villages within Kon Tum itself. The nearest airport to Kon Tum is in Pleiku, about 25 miles away.

The oldest wooden home still standing in Nassau, Balcony House is named for the long, second-floor balcony that stretched across the front of the home. Historical maps suggest that the house could date as far back as the late 18th century, during an era called the Loyalist period, and in the mid-1800s, this house was the residence of Stephen Dillet, the Bahamas’ first-ever black member of the House of Assembly, as well as a justice of the peace and inspector of the Nassau Police. Today, Balcony House has been restored into a museum where guests can climb the beautiful mahogany staircase and explore the rooms decorated with period furnishings. Admission is free, and donations are accepted.

Island chic meets urban cool at the Caribbean’s first Park Hyatt, a welcome addition to Banana Bay’s powdery shores. With floor-to-ceiling windows, Scandi-mod furnishings, and freestanding tubs (that come with trendy Le Labo toiletries), the 126 luxe rooms and suites are hard to leave. However, you won’t want to miss the adults-only infinity pool or the on-site Miraval spa, which incorporates local flora into treatments like the soothing aloe-and-lavender body wrap. Also on offer are kid-friendly activities like rock climbing and storytelling with a local historian, making the Park Hyatt perfect for couples and families alike.

Have you been here? Tell us about it below!End your day in Old San Juan with a pre-dinner stroll along the water, alongside the Old City Walls. It’s that time of day when everything seems to slow down, even the waters of the Caribbean Sea begin to ease into a glassy stillness - perfectly reflecting the midnight blue sky and the incandescent glow of the street lamps. Start from Paseo de la Princesa, at the Raices Fountain, and wind your way around the walls. Take in the views of the setting sun from the benches that line the walkway. Reminisce about the day and linger. There’s no need to rush into the night and tomorrow will come soon enough.

Walking along the winding streets of central Copenhagen, you will invariable chance upon the 17th-century Round Tower, with an observation deck that affords great views over the city and to Sweden in the distance. To reach the top, you walk up an interior spiral ramp with no stairs, designed to allow horses and carts in earlier times to ascend to the library and observatory, and today kids have great fun racing up and down the cobbles. The tower is also the site of an annual unicycle race. The record round-trip time so far: just under one minute 50 seconds.

Foodies (and those simply interested in local color and a good meal) should head to San Lorenzo and its covered Mercato Centrale. Florence’s main market for edibles is housed in a 19th-century glass-and-iron building. On the ground floor, delis, stands, and butcher counters sell a fantastic array of local fruit and vegetables, cheeses, dried porcini mushrooms, baked goods, balsamic vinegars, and olive oils plus fresh fish, poultry, and meat. Upstairs, a modern food hall has opened: Stalls sell prepared foods and meals for happy and immediate consumption at a central seating area.

The Key West Shipwreck Museum transports visitors back to 1856, when the young city’s port had more than 100 ships passing through daily. Because of the coral reefs, shipwrecks were common at the time and salvage became a thriving business. At the museum, visitors will meet an actor portraying Asa Tift, an actual Key West citizen whose family made a good living salvaging, or saving, crew, passengers, and cargo from ships that were wrecked on the reefs. He’ll tell the stories of the many wrecks and recoveries of Tift’s time. The museum’s immersive experience includes films and historic artifacts, including the wreckage of the Isaac Allerton, which sank off the coast in 1895.

This has GOT to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. Located in the German side of Switzerland, Lauterbrunnen is a place fairy tales are made of. Waterfalls falling everywhere around you, the sound of cowbells in the distance, and little wooden shacks in the hills like you pictured when reading “Heidi”. Pretend you are in a different age and be Swiss for the day by taking a gondola up the mountain and indulging in a hot pot of cheese fondue and sourdough bread.

Often referred to as Belize‘s original eco-lodge, Chaa Creek opened in 1981 as a simple rain forest hotel. In the decades since, it has become one of the country’s most popular options for upscale jungle accommodations, winning awards for its hospitality and its practices emphasizing environmental sustainability. Guests have two main options in terms of room types and price points. Luxurious rooms and suites are in the main lodge, featuring polished wood or tile floors and locally made furniture; the simpler, more budget-friendly casitas sit along the Macal River. The latter are sparsely furnished and offer few distractions. Guests of either room type have access to the property’s amenities and grounds, which include a natural history center and butterfly exhibit, a rain forest medicine trail, binoculars for bird-watching, and canoes for paddling along the river.

This scenic and flat 20-mile round-trip bicycle route follows the waterfront promenade that wraps around Tolo Harbour, which makes a ride an excellent way to combine an easy bit of exercise with sightseeing. Enjoy views of the eight peaks of the Pat Sin Leng mountain range as you pedal and soak up the ultramodern architecture of the Hong Kong Science Park. At the Tai Po Waterfront Park, climb the 105-foot lookout tower to snap photos of panoramic harbor and park views before heading back the same way you came. The full round-trip ride takes two to three hours, depending on how often you stop for photos. Join a guided tour, or go solo and rent bikes by the Shing Mun River at Sha Tin Park near the Sha Tin MTR station.

Hiking the French Valley is part of the W-trek through Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park. It’s about 16 mi round-trip from Refugio Paine Grande to the French Valley Mirador, to see the French Glacier and the Paine Massif as close as you can get. The trail is diverse and only reaches a steep height at the last 5.5 km on the way there. You begin at Lago Pehoe and take grassy paths through the forested valley, on an terrain that the locals call “Patagonia flat,” i.e. an undulating up and down of several feet. On the way you’ll see tiny magenta--and edible--berries that taste just like apples; you’ll cross small glacial streams where you can fill up your water bottle with fresh, wild water. You’ll trek right by the Cuernos, or the “Horns,” another well-known set of peaks in Torres del Paine. Over the French River you go as you get deeper into the valley, over wobbly rope bridges. The final 5.5 km to the French Valley Mirador has you balancing on thousands of loose boulders on your way up. The very top of the trek feels like being in the middle of a Patagonian fishbowl: Paine Massif to your left, French Glacier in front, the Aleta de Tiburon (the Shark’s Fin) and the Cuernos to the right, and turquoise Lago Pehoe behind you.

Tunnel Mountain’s trailhead is located right in downtown Banff, so you’ll probably be able to set out on this hike directly from your hotel! This relatively easy trek allows you to conquer your first peak in the Canadian Rockies by climbing just 300 meters (950 feet) over 2.2 kilometers (1.4 miles). The well-maintained path switchbacks gently through a forested area before reaching a rocky, open alpine slope. Gaining the rounded summit offers spectacular views of the north ridge of Mount Rundle, downtown Banff, and a panoramic stretch of the Bow Valley. The hike should take two to three hours up and back. (Notice any tunnels along the path that may account for the name? Nope. A railroad tunnel was proposed but never built, but the moniker stuck anyway.)

Tsavo gained a reputation as home of the “man eating lions” when, in the late 1800s, several construction workers were killed by hungry lions as they built the railway from Mombasa to Uganda. Today, it’s known for less frightening reasons, like the spectacle that is Mzima Springs: icy clear water flowing rapidly from under a lava rock, as well as the Shetani Lava Flows. Like Tsavo East, this is a fiercely beautiful region - wild and untamed in places, open grassland in others, and the wildlife viewing here rivals any of Kenya’s best parks. Expect to see the ‘Big 5' as well as a huge range of bird and plant species. Aside of enjoying the views and wildlife on offer, the park is also well-renowned for its adventurous rock climbing opportunities.