North America

Go retro in Palm Springs, California where the look and ambience of the 1950s and ‘60s springs to life at Ballantines, www.ballantineshotels.com, a small hotel with 14 themed rooms and suites. Chill and be cool in the French ‘50s suite with its concrete floor, classic red and orange shag rug, Bertoia chairs, and artwork by Ferdinand Leger. Or, stay in the very pink Marilyn (Monroe) suite with a copy of Andy Warhol’s famous screen print, a 1,000-print jigsaw puzzle of the star, rose-colored melamine plates, and a ‘50s radio. Marilyn actually stayed here to get away from it all, but you can hang out with other guests at the pool, where an intimate house party atmosphere and ‘50s music prevail. Be sure to take a spin around homes of the stars of yesteryear: Bob Hope, Liberace, and Frank Sinatra (San Luis Obispo’s Tribune).

For the latest in dining, make your reservation at Pod, philadelphia.citysearch.com/profile?id=11352738, Philadelphia’s new high-tech, Asian restaurant. Sip sake at the martian-red sculpture bar and snap up sushi served by conveyor belt. Dine on dim sum in an all-white private dining pod, where you select a color scheme by switching on bright lights in nine shades. And, watch a non-stop show of Japanese animation from the classic “Speed Racer” (dailypennsylvanian.com).

You’ll almost hear the pounding hooves as three buffalo (albeit stuffed) are poised to tumble over the cliff at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, www.head-smashed-in.com, a $10 million interpretive center, about 10 miles west of Ft. Macleod, Alberta. Named for a young Indian brave, who according to legend, was killed here in a stampede, the multi-level center uses displays, murals, and artifacts to illustrate how native peoples once drove buffalo over this very cliff. In summer you can sleep over in a tepee and find out more about native traditions and the practical and spiritual significance of the buffalo (Canada’s Truro Daily News).

For some spew, spin, and sputter, stop in at the Diamond Head Sprinkler Supply Company in Honolulu and you’ll find what may be the only lawn sprinkler museum in the world. You’ll spot sprinklers from the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s, including a rare Twin Comet circa 1895. Other memorabilia includes pinball machines, gas pumps, and neon signs. A 1946 Wurlitzer jukebox will even play a rendition of “Shake Shine and Shower” (Honolulu Advertiser).

You’ll see stars when you check-in at the Grandview Inn outside of Huntsville, Ontario, between the Trans Canada Highway and Algonquin Provincial Park. The Grandview’s owners, inveterate stargazers, have built a three-story-high domed observatory, the Echo Valley Astronomical Center, right on the property. Non-guests pay just $15 apiece to step up to the powerful 16-inch telescope and view other planets, constellations, and galaxies (Halifax Chronicle-Herald/Mail Star).

South America and the Caribbean

Jaguars, pumas, pink river dolphins, and blue and yellow macaws. You the might see these creatures and many more at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, bio.bu.edu/CECB/tiputini.html, deep in the Ecuadorian rain forest. You’ll feel like Indiana Jones as you travel some 95 miles east of Quito by plane or bus and canoe. The diverse area of lowland forests and swamps is home to over 500 bird species, 250 mammal species, amphibians, and reptiles (not to mention insects). Accommodations are rustic, but rewards include views of rarely seen plants and animals from a 130-foot canopy tower that wraps around a kapok tree and a 328-foot-long canopy walkway suspended between five evergreens (latinworld.com).

Discover scuba heaven at privately-owned Cooper Island, www.caribbeansupersite.com/bvi/cooperisle.htm, five miles south of Tortola, the largest island in the British Virgin Islands. You can stay at the small Cooper Island Beach Resort or dock offshore and dive to some 60 charted scuba sites that include vertical walls, underwater pinnacles, coral reefs, caverns, and wrecks (Canada’s Globe and Mail).

Europe

Rev your wheels for the new network of 80 cycling paths or Vias Verdes (greenway paths) throughout Spain. Nearly 1,000 miles of signposted paths run outside big cities like Madrid, Bilbao, and Seville or through more remote areas, with viaducts and tunnels lit by solar power near Cordova (www.travel.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml).

Stay at Bad Blumau, www.blumau.com/homepage.html, the new spa in southern Austria where you’ll find yourself in what is reportedly “the world’s biggest inhabitable work of art” and experience some unusual spa treatments. The 247-guest room spa, designed by famed (and recently deceased) Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, fits into the contour of the surrounding hills and takes advantage of three mineral-rich springs. Sauna, steam, and get a massage, or try out reincarnation, or sound therapy. A special spot: the aroma grotto, a small chamber, where you’ll see an illuminated hologram of a rain forest, hear recorded birdsong, and breath the scent of citron (London’s Express).

One of the best ways to learn about the culture of a place is to ferret-out those secret, obscure, little one-of-a-kind shops. They might include Lionet Piolanes in Paris, which sells just fresh-baked bread, J.M. Smith & Sons in London, which sells hand-crafted umbrellas, and Knopf Paul Buttons in Berlin for those perfect little round objects. Casa Crespo in Madrid makes the best cotton and rope espadrilles, and Escriba in Barcelona makes cakes and chocolates to die for (Canada’s Globe and Mail).

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is not impossible. Nowadays, you can spend three days in Moscow, learning and re-creating James Bond-like exploits. On the “espionage” trip, you’ll visit the Kremlin, Red Square, and KGB museum. You’ll be tailed by an enemy agent, who will test your mettle with city maps, metro tokens, and a compass. (Don’t worry: A local guide will help you). And, you’ll cap off your adventure with a cocktail befitting Bond: Vodka martini from a flask at the Godunov restaurant (www.unmissable.com).

Africa

Spice up your life with a trip to the exotic island of Zanzibar, zanzibar.net, the famous “Spice Island,” 70 miles from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Here you’ll discover a wonderful blend of Arab, African, and Indian cultures, as well as spectacular beaches, a busy nightlife, and even some wildlife. Stay at the ramshackle Pyramid Hotel in the winding streets of Stone Town, or at a thatched bungalow with a tropical garden at the bustling beach resort of Nungwi. Watch the sunset, kick up your heels at the Fat Fish Bar, snack on sugar-cane shakes, and snorkel and swim on Changuu Island, home to 14 giant tortoises. Soon you’ll be saying “hakuna matata.” That’s local lingo for “no worries.” (London’s Sunday Times).

Middle East and Asia

The Buddhist monastery of Wat Lan Kuad in northwest Thailand takes the word “re-cycle” to a higher level. Here you’ll find buildings and monuments made from an estimated 1.5 million bottles (from a local energy drink, beer, Fanta, Seven-Up, and Coca-Cola). The bottle caps make interesting mosaics, mostly representing Buddha. The benefits of recycling? The bottles don’t fade, provide color and light, and are low-maintenance (Malaysia Airlines’ Going Places).

The new $8-million Red Sea Star Underwater Observatory, Restaurant and Bar beneath the Red Sea at Eilat, Israel offers a fresh perspective on dining. Guests descend in an elevator off a pier into a huge Dali-like “reverse aquarium,” surrounded by 62 portholes that look out at a world of tropical fish, a transplanted garden of living coral, sea stars, sponges, and curious dolphins. The decor includes amoeba-shaped tables, velvet sea urchin bar stools, and wrought-iron seaweed sculptures. Order up a stinger and what else? Seafood specialties (Canada’s National Post).

On the heels of Arthur Golden’s best-seller, Memoirs of a Geisha, you can go geisha in the ancient capital of Kyoto, http://raku.city.kyoto.jp/sight_apr.html, for a day (or a few hours anyway). You’ll get a mini-lesson in geisha decorum, don a kimono, chalk-white makeup, and an elegantly-coiffed hairpiece. Then, you’ll pose for studio photos and walk about with an escort (to make sure you behave). Expect to pay $65-325, depending on costume and makeup. The best times to go geisha: April (cherry blossom season) and November (maple leaf season). For details contact the Kyoto Tourist Information Center (Dallas Morning News).

Australia and Oceania

For a dose of Australiana, book-in at the boomerang-shaped Boomerang Cabins, www.boomerangcabins.com, in Johanna, three hours from Melbourne. High up on a hillside, you’ll find tranquility, silence, and a view of pastures, forests, and the Great Southern Ocean. The spacious wooden cabins have big windows for star gazing. And, you can fish, hike, mountain bike, take a glow-worm tour, walk to waterfalls, through a rain forest, and around the Cape Otway Lighthouse.

Count on finding a bird around every bend on the Midway Islands, best-known for the June, 1942 Battle of Midway. A naval base, the three islands were closed to the public until 1997. Now some 150 people live here (1,150 miles northwest of Honolulu) and welcome military veterans, history buffs, and birders. You can stay at former navy barracks, Bravo and Charlie, and fish, scuba, snorkel, boat, or bike. Expect to see many rare native gooney birds, petrels, shearwaters, and terns, as well as endangered Hawaiian monk seals (Hawaii Westways).

—Edited by Erin Monroney and George Stone

Erin Monroney is a TRAVELER researcher/writer and George Stone is a TRAVELER assistant editor.