Vibe: Rustic comfort rules at Tofino Resort + Marina, which opened in July 2017. The five main buildings are simple but slick, lots of white and natural wood, with a pared-down Canadiana vibe. This is a rubber-boots-and-jeans kind of playground for any age and any size of wallet. The typical guest is the adventurer who just wants to spend the entire day on the ocean fishing, sight-seeing or surfing, crash right after dinner, and then do it all over again the next day.

Rooms: Frill-seekers need not apply—the focus here is on essentials only, the idea being if it’s not useful, it’s gone. (Bye-bye throw pillows.) That said, the 63 rooms are comfortable, with simple bathrooms, everything done in black and white and gray. Many of the kitchenettes from a previous incarnation have been turned into a second bedroom. Rooms on the second and third floors sport balconies with plastic Adirondack chairs.

F&B: At the sunny 1909 Kitchen, ingredients are sourced and foraged from Tofino’s oceans, shoreline and forests. Wood-fired pizza and fresh seafood rules, complemented by an assortment of small dishes, including wild mushrooms and wood-roasted vegetables. The kitchen will also happily prepare any fish you catch. Breakfast is hearty and healthy, the menu including a BELTCH—bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato and cheddar on a house bun. The rustic Hatch Waterfront Pub is the only bar in town where the locals actually hang out with the tourists.

TASTE TO TRY: TAKE A FOOD TOUR

Extras: The Adventure Centre is a big draw, setting you up with fishing charters, whale- and bear-watching tours, cultural tours and sight-seeing to all the nearby islands, forests and inlets. Go for surf lessons, crabbing excursions, scenic flights, free diving, sky diving or yoga. A water taxi can take you to hike the hilltops or swim in a secluded cove. The marina is the only full-service dock in town, accommodating boats of up to 130 feet. Harbour Air also docks here, its float planes bringing in guests directly from Vancouver Harbour. As the resort co-owners are NHL hockey players, a big state-of-the-art gym is equipped the best of everything and a hit with the locals, too.

Off-Site: Tofino is just north of a magnificent string of surf-worthy beaches and the rugged wonder of the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, a three-hour drive from Nanaimo, B.C., and a 45-minute flight from Vancouver Harbour. The resort is a five-minute walk to the centre of Tofino, with all its restaurants, surf shops and artisan boutiques. The Tofino-Long Beach Airport is a 20-minute drive south.

Rate: $$

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Curaçao and its capital city Willemstad form a complete vacation checklist: brilliant-blue waters, 35 white-sand beaches, a heritage comprising more than 55 different cultures (including Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese), beautiful European Colonial architecture with more than 700 listed buildings and a healthy perspective on the LGBTQ, including their own.

The benefits don’t stop there. This island of 160,000 is also outside the hurricane belt and blessed with trade winds that make it not seem quite so hot. Visitors find excellent and eclectic museums, some of the best scuba diving in the world and an actual café society due in part to the thousands of Dutch tourists who flock here year-round, including a large number of students.

• Mix up your accommodations and their locations. Spend a few days in the Pietermaai district at one of the boutique hotels, a day or two at Floris Suite Hotel (particularly for Friday night’s lobby party at 6 p.m.), maybe rent an Airbnb in the Jan Thiel area. There are all-inclusives, but you don’t really want that.

• Don’t be afraid to go out at night. Pietermaai is where the action is. Hit Mundo Bizarro for cocktails, Ginger for Asian Caribbean or Kome for a steak, then Miles Jazz Café for live music. Don’t shy away from the local food stalls and markets.

TRY THE TASTE: IGUANA STEW

• Spend at least one full day or two in Westpunt. Hike up to the top of Mount Christoffel (at dawn, before the heat begins), drop by Shete Boka National Park to see how the crashing waves have sculpted the coastal limestone, and try the iguana stew at Jaanchie’s for lunch (mind the bones).

• Beach-hopping is an actual thing. Each little bay has its own personality. Playa PortoMari has resident red pigs Woody and Willy (not kidding) to romp with, while Playa Piscado is busy with half a dozen wild turtles who clamber for treats from the local fishermen and delight the families swimming along just a few feet away. Lagun Beach is tiny and more peaceful, popular with divers and locals. Really, the whole island is a diver’s paradise with more than 60 sites.

• Rent a car right at the airport. Take note that gas is expensive.

CURACAO.COM
CURACAOPRIDE.COM

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Vibe: Designed by French firm AW2 with the international jet-set circuit in mind, the minimalist 43-suite, nine-villa Silversands is a sea of tranquility, its blond wood, neutral tones and pale marble buoyed by exquisite furniture from Spanish architect Patricia Urquiola.

Rooms: The Silversands rooms are done in neutral-toned glam—oatmeal is the new oatmeal—and lots of vertical wooden slats shooting up walls and camouflaging the cupboards and closets. The seating areas are so inviting you may actually spend time sitting in them. I fell asleep on a giant chaise longue on the balcony (with earplugs to mute all the birds), which is something I never do.

THINGS TO DO: IN GRENADA
TASTE TO TRY: GRENADA GASTRONOMY

F&B: There’s a wine cellar with 1,000 bottles in it. Is this big? I don’t know, but it sounds like I want to drink all of it. Breakfast at Asiatique is stellar—do not skip this. In the evening, it pumps out Modern Thai underneath huge, curlicued wooden ceiling installations. At the beachside Grenadian Grill, we sipped rosé and lunched on salmon tartare and French fries—it was two hours of heaven. Having rum nightcaps under the canopies of the beachfront lounge, we miraculously blended in with the jet-set crowd grooving to the DJ, but really, anyone can fit in here and have a good time and not feel intimidated by the rather posh peeps.

Extras: The Silversands Spa offers locally inspired treatments, sauna, hammam and private pool, plus a tricked-out fitness centre. With a rum and cigar lounge (which seems kinda ’90s to me), the resort is destined for the society pages.

Off-Site: With few high rises and less development, Grenada still manages to possess the kind of charm that appears slightly manufactured elsewhere. Do the hikes up rainforest mountains and find time to book an afternoon on a wooden boat sailing. Make sure you eat the chocolate; it will be the freshest you will ever taste. Prime scuba diving at the Underwater Sculpture Park is well worth it, even if you’re snorkelling.

Word Googled While Writing This: Curlicue

Rate: $$$$

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Exodus Travels is targeting this market specifically with 600+ tours to more than 100 countries, taking Learners right to the source: Cycle the routes of Venetian merchant Marco Polo through the hills of Mongolia; taste the Greek, Spanish, French and Arabic culinary influences on Sicily’s food culture; visit the 515 BC remains of ancient Persia and the dessert citadels of Iran.

ONE TO TRY: EPHESUS, TURKEY

Exodus travels to all seven continents, serving travellers of all stripes to enjoy low-impact tourism and contributing to local communities. Visit ExodusTravels.com.

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1. Iceland
2. Galapagos/Ecuador
3. Costa Rica and Chile/Patagonia (tie)
4. New Zealand
5. Peru
6. Cuba
7. Antarctica
8. Arctic
9. South Africa
10. Australia

How many can you tick off your list? Hiking, biking, kayaking, small-ship cruises, culinary tours, safaris, diving and photography are the top pursuits.

Interestingly, the survey also revealed that of the experience-driven respondents:

• 41% are between 50 and 65
• 24% are between 35 and 50
• 21% are 65+
• 14% is under 35 (!!!)

Respondents cited communing with nature, checking experiences off a bucket list, spending quality time on family trips, and wellness considerations as big reasons for this travel choice. Visit Virtuoso.com.

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Outdoor adventure resort Northern Outdoors in central Maine has full-day whitewater rafting (and a brewery) on the Kennebec and Dead Rivers every day. You can also fish, hike, kayak and canoe, or tear around on ATVs. The resort lodge is cozy and kitted out, with rooms there or cabins to rent, including open-loft “logdominiums.” I just like saying “logdominiums.”

In the state’s Western Mountain region, Maine Huts & Trails is a non-profit that runs a world-class system of backcountry trails and eco-lodges for what they refer to as “people-powered” recreation. There are four interconnected huts (quite near Sugarloaf) that you can hike, mountain bike, and paddle between, staying in the lodges and huts. This is the great outdoors, but with way better food.

And if sailing is your thing, Maine Windjammers has nine sailing ships leaving from Rockland or Camden for three to six nights touring Penobscot Bay. These schooners are like works of art, with home-cooked meals and daily shore excursions. Look at it as camping at sea. Swim, tour around in a dinghy, visit lighthouses, eat a ton of lobster, and hike among puffins. Did we mention lobster?

VISITMAINE.COM
MAINETOURISM.COM

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An 11-day cultural trek in the Himalayas offers up temples and monasteries, sacred mountain passages and access to some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world. Hike along the UNESCO-listed Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route in Japan, then cycle across the world’s largest series of suspension bridges, then kayak around the floating Itsukushima Shrine – all in 13 days. Five days of cycling the back roads in China will also put you on the Great Wall of China, at historic Tiananmen Square, and in the Forbidden City. And a 10-day Patagonia multi-sport adventure takes you through Torres del Paine National Park, cycling out to Laguna Sofia, kayaking alongside the Grey Glacier, and cycling among the peaks of Patagonia. Visit Gadventures.com/active.

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Besides the requisite water sports, including great snorkelling and diving, Cabo San Lucas has plenty of outdoor adventure, plus a marina full of boats waiting to cast off for a secluded beach. This is also where more than a few Hollywood celebrities venture down to when they need a break from the limelight, so celebrity-spotting is also a regular pastime.

Don’t be afraid to step outside the all-inclusive resort. Cabo is not only brimming with excellent restaurants and lounges, it’s also a really safe place to wander around, even at night. Cap it all off with some of the most amazing sunsets you can imagine, and you’ve got a date made in paradise.

Visit the Arch. The tourist brochures weren’t lying when they touted the famous arch, El Arco at Land’s End, as a sight to remember. This is on the very tip of the Baja Peninsula where the Pacific Ocean meets the Gulf of California (a.k.a. the Sea of Cortez). Hop on a glass-bottom boat or your preferred watercraft and breeze on over to the end of the world. A popular spot for sea lions, this sheltered neck of the bay is where can sink your toes into the sand of Lover’s Beach or hit the water for a snorkel. Take a quick walk to the Pacific side of the peninsula to watch the waves crash onto Divorce Beach—just don’t dwell on it for too long.

TASTE TO TRY: SANGRITA

Find calmer waters. While the ocean here is notorious for it’s riptides, there are many bays and secluded strips with calmer waters perfect for snorkelling. The thing to do is find a touring outfit that specializes in zodiac-type inflatable watercraft that can zip along the water at 50 mph, stopping at various spots for a snorkel. Some of these beach-hopping adventures wind up on a floating restaurant near the marina for lunch.

Go for the whales. If you can work in your visit around March, that’s the best time to marvel at the humpback whales that wander by Los Cabos in droves, often with calves in tow. You’ll also see sea lions and pods of dolphins that seem to like all the attention they get. Pontoon craft can put you as close to the action as possible, with some tour boats offering hydrophone listening technology that lets you listen in on the whale song.

ME Cabo is gorgeous. Relax in comfort with a cool beach club vibe and really the only swimmable beach in town.

MEBYMELIA.COM
VISITLOSCABOS.TRAVEL

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