Spain’s cultural heart beats today like never before: Heritage and contemporary culture, classical and cutting-edge art, and unrivaled access to the rest of the Iberian Peninsula place Madrid at its modern center. There’s never been a better time to explore the Spanish capital.

Greece takes travelers back through ancient history right up to the present. Experience authentic philoxenia (hospitality), compare Ionian blue to Aegean, fill up on feta, phyllo pastries, and meze: From Mount Athos to Meteora, Crete to Corfu, there are worlds to explore in modern Hellas.

Our ideal Adriatic itinerary: Steep in café culture along Zagreb’s cobblestoned streets; seek truffles around the Istrian countryside; sip wine and soak in sea views from Dubrovnik’s walled Old City. Start exploring the best of Croatia below.

Welcome to the two capes of Baja California Sur: San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. Spend days swimming in the Sea of Cortés and hiking the Sierra de La Laguna, then stroll the plaza (paleta in hand) and sip mezcalitas on a top hotel terrace. This is Cabo done right.

Sheer grandeur isn’t enough: Canada also meets travelers with big-hearted culture and hospitality. Tour the rain forest, vineyard-hop, hit the beach, and meet Indigenous guides – then choose your next adventure among 13 provinces and territories.

Behind Australia’s no-worries attitude, balmy climate, and epic surf breaks, discover one of the world’s most diverse concentrations of people, plants, and wildlife. Find earth’s oldest recorded lifeforms and longest living culture.