Vibe: The Four Seasons Toronto is timeless, modern and sophisticated, warm and welcoming. Expect vaulted ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and acres of mahogany, accented with black and gold. The hotel celebrates homegrown design talent and artwork, showcasing 1,700 pieces of Canadian art throughout. The lighting in the entire hotel is so flattering, visitors Instagram about it constantly. Typical, loyal Four Seasons fans include business travellers during the week, with tourists taking over at the weekend. Visiting celebrities and athletes inject a dash of glamour any day of the week.

Rooms: The expansive 259 rooms and suites over 21 floors are beyond comfortable. The design is contemporary, with cozy textures and muted colours, grey rugs and European oak flooring, ample bleached Koto wood veneer cabinetry and windows that actually open. Bedside iPads provide info on restaurants, recreation and special events and a wee Bose speaker pumps out ample sound. Big bathrooms are clad in Canadian marble and feature a soaker tub, a spacious shower, a makeup/shaving mirror and a TV embedded in the main mirror. Rooms are equipped with Nespresso machines, but no sign of George Clooney.

F&B: Globally renown Michelin-star chef Daniel Boulud created the 120-seat French brasserie Café Boulud on the second floor. The classic bistro dishes, including whole rôtisserie duck and chicken, were inspired by the type of family-style meals Boulud remembers from growing up near Lyon. Breakfast is also an event here, with delectable Parisian-, American-, Italian- and Canadian-inspired items. Boulud is also the orchestrator of the bustling dBar on the main floor, its lively social scene and excellent menu a hit with the whole city.

Extras: The 30,000-square-foot, full-service spa is one of the best in town, with 17 treatment rooms and an indoor pool. Change rooms are massive and luxurious, incorporating a full lounge, steam room and sauna. A 3,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art gym with an adjoining yoga studio is open 24 hours.

Off-Site: Right in the heart of the fashionable Yorkville district, the Four Seasons is a two-minute walk from Toronto’s “Mink Mile” of luxury-goods retailers, fine restaurants, galleries and cafés. The Royal Ontario Museum is a 10-minute walk west. Many guests rarely leave the neighbourhood. Those who do, find themselves conveniently equidistant from uptown and downtown.

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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It’s location is key: The 352-room East Miami is anchored to Brickell City Centre, downtown Miami’s the new $1-billion mixed-use development project. Here, you’re close to South Beach, Wynwood and the Design District, and the airport is only 15 minutes away. Rooms are fresh and minimal, with a complete control system you manage with the hotel’s app. Be sure to ask for a room with one of the cute balconies.

But where are we heading first? To Sugar, the 40th-floor rooftop bar and Asian-inspired garden, of course. This is Miami’s new spot to grab a cocktail at the Balinese bar, plus a bite or two of Asian tapas, and soak in the jaw-dropping panoramic view. An upper level sports a wrap-around teak deck.

Quinto La Huella restaurant on the fifth floor is an offshoot of Uruguay’s swank Parador La Huella in Punta del Este. It’s focus is barbecue, of course, with oak-fired ovens churning out classic grilled fare. It’s also quite massive, with seating for 350+ over almost 10,000 square feet.

First-time visitors get special offers and rates during the hotel’s opening phase, so take advantage. From $340. Visit east-miami.com.

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Indonesia’s Nihiwatu resort was recently named the number one hotel in the world by readers of Travel + Leisure magazine. Visitors to the remote island of Sumba in the country’s southeast get a chance to mix luxury and wilderness in a very enticing way. “Activity-driven experiences” to local villages and rice fields gets people out of the cushy mode, and gives them something to talk about when they get home. Mountain excursions featuring a bush-cooked meal truly takes you outside your norm.

A new beach club adds to the glamour. Sumba is a noted surfing spot with its own private wave, Occy’s Left, named after Australian surfer Mark “Occy” Occhilupo and reputedly one of the best left-hand breaks in the world. Visit Nihiwatu.com.

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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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The Eden Roc
Well, this one is actually in Miami Beach proper. The terrazzo floors of the sunken lobby bar at the Eden Roc have welcomed the footsteps of Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn and Nat King Cole, who sang “Unforgettable” for the first time in what is now the Mona Lisa Ballroom. Elizabeth Taylor used to circle the bar, carrying on out the door if she didn’t see anybody worth hanging out with. EdenRocMiami.com

Soho Beach House
While the Soho is a member’s-only club/hotel, the main-floor courtyard houses Cecconi’s Miami Beach restaurant, which is open to all. The bar is long, lean and comfortable: Green and white tile floors, tufted sofas, fairy lights in the trees. The incredible Sunday brunch spread takes over the whole lobby: salmon tartare made to order, whole grilled mahi mahi, flatbread pizza with Parma ham, bottomless drinks if you’re up for that. CecconisMiamiBeach.com

The Standard
The Lido Restaurant and Bayside Grill is a true local hangout, the name a homage to the hotel’s original name: Lido Spa Hotel. Thirsty regulars congregate beside the pool at the low four-tops or along little banquettes built around flat-leaved sea grape trees. Gorgeous servers keep Ketel One martinis coming as fast as you can throw them back. This is one of the city’s most beautiful spots for a nightcap at the water’s edge. StandardHotels.com/Spa-Miami-Beach

The Metropolitan
The Met’s Traymore Bar, propping up a restaurant of the same name, manages to be both modern and nostalgic for the old Miami spirit. The bar’s claim to fame is its dedication to gin: They stock more than 30 artisanal varieties. Original pink and pistachio flooring is offset with white scalloped drop-ceilings, white walls and white rattan chairs. The whole place smells heavenly of the hotel’s eucalyptus and geranium signature scent. ComoHotels.com/MetropolitanMiamiBeach

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