French Guiana, tucked between Brazil and Suriname on the northeast coast of South America, offers an unexpected blend of Amazonian wilderness, colonial intrigue, and French flair. As an overseas department of France, it uses the euro, speaks French, and has croissants alongside cassava bread at breakfast. Yet just beyond the cafés of Cayenne, vast rainforest stretches for hundreds of kilometers, home to rare wildlife, remote rivers, and Indigenous communities.

Opatija, located on Croatia’s Kvarner Bay, has been drawing visitors since the 19th century, when Austro-Hungarian aristocrats built grand villas along its Adriatic shoreline. Today, many of those same buildings still stand with some restored as luxury hotels and others preserved as cultural landmarks. The town’s most recognizable structure, Villa Angiolina, opened in 1844 and marked the start of Opatija’s rise as a fashionable seaside resort.

El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, carries a big presence with its blend of history, culture, and dramatic landscapes. Known as the “Land of Volcanoes,” it has more than twenty within its borders, some of which remain active and shape the country’s terrain.

Symi, a charming island in the Dodecanese, Greece, offers a picturesque escape with its striking neoclassical architecture and vibrant Mediterranean colors. The town of Symi, a designated protected cultural heritage site, is renowned for its beautifully preserved pastel-colored mansions that line the harbor.

Varanasi sits along the sacred Ganges River in northern India as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is a place where daily life and rituals flow together on the long stone steps called ghats that reach down to the water. Visitors often rise early for a sunrise boat ride, watching as light spreads across the river and pilgrims make gentle offerings to the water.