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There’s more to discover beyond the Mediterranean.

12 Amazing Trips to Take with Your Dad

A visit to Granada, Spain isn’t complete without a stop at the Alhambra. The Moorish architecture, robust gardens, and stunning views of Granada combine to make a truly memorable experience. Start your day with a tour of the Generalife Gardens. Take it slow to fully enjoy the blooming flowers and stunning water features at every turn. Make sure to pre-book your tickets to the Alhambra or you may miss out on a visit to the breathtaking Nasrid Palace portion. Tickets are easily purchased through the official Ticketmaster site, where you are able to schedule a morning or afternoon time slot. If you are unable to secure a ticket to The Nasrid Palace you can still purchase a pass to the Generalife Gardens and Alcazaba Fortress, and it’s well worth the time and money.

No trip to Granada is complete without wandering the narrow streets of the Albaicin neighborhood. The courtyards, baths, parks, churches and views of the Alhambra are a collective and colorful open air museum of patterns. This part of town feels like walking into a different world and you immediately see the Moorish, Arab, Christian and Muslim footprints in all the little details of the buildings and walkways. The Albaicin was declared a World Heritage site in 1984 alongside the famous Alhambra just a mile away (best viewed from the courtyard next to the church of San Nicolas). While you’re exploring, you may want to visit the archeological museum, the church of San Salvador, and the Arab bath complex; but honestly, I’d encourage you to just head up there and wander the streets with no real agenda. Every turn will surprise you and have you even more so, in love with Granada.

If you walk above the Alhambra, through the multitudes of parking lots, you will reach the old Granada Cemetery. I stumbled on this by accident and spent an hour wandering this massive space. This is the largest Cemetery I have seen and I was moved not only by the multitude of tombs but the enormous amount of flowers everywhere. These people seem very much remembered and honored in death. The Cemetery also has beautiful views of the Sierra Nevada and a small tranquil enclosed park with flowering almond trees, a reflective pool, and poetry engraved in the walls.

Built to serve as a summer palace for the Muslim emirs in the 13th and 14th centuries, the gardens here are a retreat from worldly worries. Water trickles at each turn, the architecture is unobtrusive, but artfully designed for sound and natural light tricks, and the gardens are lush, fresh and seemingly unchanged by time. Roses and carnations, willow and cypress shrubs, it’s the perfect idea of outdoor living, the kind we still try to create for our homes today. Its curious name, Generalife, doesn’t have any one interpretation, but could mean the governor’s garden or the architect’s garden. And, it is located very close to the Alhambra, one of Spain‘s most visited historic buildings, making it a perfect opportunity to see two spectacular sites in one day.

Wilhelma was initially built as a royal palace, and now sits on a 30-hectare plot of land split between a zoo and botanical garden, in the northern suburbs of Stuttgart, Germany. It was built from 1842 to 1853, for King Wilhelm I of Wuerttemberg, and contains a large number of Moorish elements, which gave it the nickname “Alhambra am Neckar.” The original historic building was destroyed during World War II but the city has done a wonderful job rebuilding. A beautiful aspect of the zoo is the large magnolia grove. It is spectacular in spring and with the centrally located pond, hosting a large variety of water lilies, this alone makes it worth the visit.

The Albaycin was the old Arab district in Granada’s beautiful and tangled past. It lays below the Alhambra palace (where this photo was taken). The streets of the Albaycin having survived all the history of this city lay like a small meandering labyrinth, one that you know you will come out of on the other side. The streets are full of Moroccan tea houses, stalls brimming with souvenirs, Cafes, churches, a mosque, flamenco finds, tapas bars, and often street performers. It is an area that I have often meandered in without direction only to turn and find some local gem, maybe something as sweet and small as a white house covered in ceramic plates and windows dripping with flowering vines. The farther up the hill the better the views of the Alahambra will be, it is most beautiful when all light up at night..

No visit to Granada would be complete without visiting Trevelez. After the majesty and wonder of the Alhambra, allow yourself to be awed once again: this time by the charming culinary delights Spain has to offer. Trevelez is one of the highest villages in all of Spain, and this makes it the perfect place for air-curing legs of ham. For this reason, the ham takes center stage in Trevelez. You will find ham legs hanging from ceiling and in the open air outside, as well as appearing in a host of their dishes, most famously their habas con jamon broad beans and ham. If you will be visiting in June, try to make it for the Day of San Antonio (June 13 or 14) and you will be treated to their annual re-enactment of the battle of Moors versus Christians, which then ends in the town celebrating together! A one of a kind and non-touristic option for anyone interested in the history of Spain. Photo by Andrew Hurley/Flickr.

You might think of Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) as a Mittteleuropa Walk of Fame. Some of the city’s most important figures are buried in this graveyard that opened in 1874, from Beethoven (his remains were moved here in 1888) to 1980s pop star Falco, with Brahms, Schubert, and Schoenberg in between. The cemetery, which measures almost one and a half square miles, has a section for Austria‘s presidents, and another for Sephardic Jews who came from the Ottoman Empire—the elaborate Alhambra-style Elias family mausoleum is especially impressive. Thanks to shady groves of maple and ash and a beautiful church constructed in the early-20th-century Jugendstil style, it is worth the effort to travel to Simmering, a neighborhood southeast of the city center—even if only for the bucolic setting.

This is my favorite 30-35 mile ride in the East Bay, and spring and fall are the times to see the colors really pop. Make your way up and out of Berkeley on Spruce and head straight on Wildcat Canyon to enter the majestic Tilden park, when you hit the four way intersection with Grizzly Peak Blvd. You’ll spin past Inspiration Point and head down a dreamy descent to the intersection with San Pablo Dam Rd. Turn left there and stay on this road for just over 5 miles. At the light for Castro Ranch Dr, turn right. Keep an eye out for rough roads for a small stretch before you end up turning right on Alhambra Valley Road (the intersection pictured). You’ll start to see painted descriptions on the road that you are officially on the ‘Three Bears Route’. They arrive at your front wheel in the order of Mama Bear, Baby Bear and Papa Bear; with the size of the bear referencing just how big each climb will seem. After making right on Bear Creek Road (you’ll be entering the Briones Regional Reserve), you’re well on your way among the bears. Once back up at the intersection with San Pablo Dam Rd, be sure to head straight back up Wildcat Canyon Road. It’s a steady three and half mile climb to get back up to Inspiration Point, where this time- you deserve a break and a moment to soak up the scenery. Make your way back through Tilden, retracing your steps from where you came and be sure to swing by Cheeseboard on Shattuck for a slice or two to celebrate your triumphant return.

To maximize your ocean adventure, book the Boucher Brothers for a full day of beach activity. To start your day, the bros will hook you up with comfortable lounge chairs and luxurious cabanas with umbrellas. You can enjoy everything warm and sunny Florida has to offer right from the sand. Once you’re ready to get out on the water, the Boucher Brothers can book kayaking adventures through the waterway in Hollywood Beach, or, for those wanting a little more speed, try a Waverunner tour, or a banana boat ride. On a windy day, have a parasailing adventure off one of the bros rentable boats. To explore the local reef, the brothers can provide all gear and expert tips for quality scuba diving, snorkeling, paddleboarding, and fishing.