Cuba's first town, cut off until 1965: cacao, coconut cooking and the flat-topped El Yunque.
The gateway to Lake Atitlan, three volcanoes and the Maya villages reached by boat.
The only cable car in the Caribbean, up to a Christ statue, and the amber museum.
Climb Dunn's River Falls and swim the Blue Hole, with Bob Marley's birthplace in the hills.
A cobbled old town on Banderas Bay, humpback whales in winter and the Malecon at sunset.
Bamboo rafting on the Rio Grande, the Blue Lagoon and the jerk pits of Boston Bay.
One of the best aurora spots on Earth, on Great Slave Lake, with an ice road in winter.
The Pearl of the South: the striped Parque de Bombas firehouse and the best art museum in the Caribbean.
The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, the Rocky steps at the art museum, and a cheesesteak.
The Venice of the East on the Shatt al-Arab, date palms and the gateway to the Mesopotamian marshes.
The dhow-building yards, a lighthouse on the lagoon and the turtle beach at Ras al Jinz.
Guanacaste's surf town, with leatherback turtles nesting at Playa Grande next door.
The Alamo, four more Spanish missions and the River Walk below street level.
The cloud forest reserve, resplendent quetzals and the first canopy ziplines.
The southern trading city, a Silk Road bazaar and the base for Aksu-Zhabagly nature reserve.
The port of Ometepe, an island of two volcanoes in Lake Nicaragua.
The model city of parks and bus lanes, the glass Botanical Garden and the train to the coast.
Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center and the most diverse food scene in the country.
Rainbow Row, Fort Sumter where the Civil War began and Lowcountry cooking.
Walt Disney World, Universal and the theme-park capital of the world.
The base for the ATM cave with its Maya skeletons, Xunantunich and jungle lodges.
A pastel walled city built against pirates, the quietest colonial capital in the Yucatan.
Afro-Caribbean reggae, coconut rice and the Salsa Brava wave on the Caribbean coast.
The Pearl of the South: a French-founded city of neoclassical squares on a bay, and the Tomas Terry theatre.
Barbecue burnt ends, the jazz district at 18th and Vine and 200 fountains.
The Yukon capital: northern lights, the SS Klondike sternwheeler and the road to Dawson City.
Alexander the Great's easternmost city, the Panjshanbe bazaar and the Syr Darya river.
A whitewashed colonial port between the rainforest and the sea, with schooner trips to the islands.
Balboa Park, the zoo, La Jolla sea lions and the best year-round weather in the country.
Rosewater distilleries, the Fin garden and merchant houses with wind towers on the desert edge.
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