Lake Como is widely known in popular culture as a vacation destination for the rich and famous, but this stunning glacial lake can actually be visited easily and cheaply as a day trip from Milan.

São Paulo is one of the world’s great football cities, but it’s also a great place to stock up on vintage football shirts. With a wide selection at great prices, make sure you leave extra room in your suitcase, as you’ll surely be leaving with several extra shirts. These stores all deal with authentic shirts—no fakes—and have a wide range of teams from around Brazil, Europe, South America, national teams, and the rest of the world.

Thanks to Chile’s unique thin shape, Santiago has easy access to the mountains, the coast, and everything in between. Whether you’re looking for a day at the beach, a hike in the mountains, or a wine tasting at a vineyard, a fantastic day trip is within easy reach of the capital city.

Known as the ‘Pearl of the Danube,’ the Hungarian capital offers visitors a rich mix of architectural beauty, diverse history, and an active food and nightlife scene. Formed by the 19th-century unification of the independent cities of Buda and Pest, located on the west and east sides of the river, respectively, the city has seen many of Europe’s great powers come and go, from the Romans and the Ottomans to the Austro-Hungarians and the Iron Curtain.

Of all the cities in Spain, Granada is the one where you can most feel the legacy of the Muslims who ruled Iberia for nearly eight centuries. After all, this was the last city on the Iberian peninsula to be reconquered by the Catholic Monarchs Fernando and Isabel, with their 1492 siege of the capital of the Emirate of Granada representing the final nail in the coffin for Al-Andalus.

With a number of centuries-old establishments serving up prized regional dishes, Seville’s food scene is among the best in Spain.

Often cited as one of Italy’s premier food cities, Bologna is rich with culinary tradition in past and present. The city is nicknamed la grassa (“the fat”) for its emphasis on meat and dairy products, which come from the fertile Po River Valley nearby. Bologna has produced a number of Italy’s most famous dishes—not just the bolognese.

Madrid has no shortage of things to do, but the area around the Spanish capital is full of places to explore, too.

Montevideo’s Ciudad Vieja is, as its name indicates, the oldest part of the city. The area was originally a fortified citadel built by the Spanish to solidify their claim to the eastern side of the Río de la Plata against the Portuguese, who sought to extend the borders of their colony Brazil to the south. Today, the neighborhood is the heart of the city, full of historic buildings dedicated to commerce as well as culture.

The area around Plaza Ñuñoa has long been one of Santiago’s premier destinations for nightlife, culture, and entertainment. The plaza is synonymous with outdoor terraces where groups of friends enjoy relaxed evenings over beers, as well as a number of live music venues and restaurants.

Barrio Italia is arguably Santiago’s most charming neighborhood, full of independent businesses, artisan shops, and gourmet restaurants and cafes. Centered around Avenida Italia, the neighborhood is made up of one-story houses called cités, with long, central hallways that formerly served as homes and workshops but now hold all manner of shops and cafes. With its colorful facades and wide array of businesses to explore, this is a fantastic area for a sunny afternoon of shoppi

Lisbon has become one of Europe’s hottest tourist destinations, and the city has undergone something of a transformation in recent years, with a litany of new restaurants and cafes popping up catering to the growing population of tourists and digital nomads. But the Portuguese capital remains rooted in tradition—if you know where to look.

Leblon is Rio’s swankiest neighborhood, home to some of the priciest real estate in the city. But this isn’t a stuffy neighborhood reserved for the rich—far from it. Leblon is home to some of the city’s best nightlife, as well as a beautiful stretch of beach and a number of classic botecos where you can sit back and take in carioca life.

Athens, one of the world’s oldest cities, is famous as the birthplace of Western civilization, with a recorded history spanning some three and a half millennia. But the Greek capital is also home to a vibrant culture, spoiled for choice with food, nightlife, and cultural activities. Most tourists come here for the ancient, but it would be a shame not to explore the modern as well.

Florianópolis, on the island of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil, is home to more than one hundred beaches. The island is a popular summer destination for South American tourists, particularly from neighbors Argentina and Uruguay, who come to enjoy the sandy beaches and the adventures to be had here.

Vila Madalena is one of the hippiest neighborhoods in São Paulo, with a bohemian past and present reflected in its ubiquitous street art and buzzing nightlife. The area is filled with charming cafes, lively bars and restaurants, and lots of independent businesses, with something to explore in every block.

The misty Chiloé archipelago, located just past the northern reaches of Chilean Patagonia, is one of the most unique places in all of Chile. Although only kilometers away from the mainland, the islands remained isolated for centuries, developing their own distinct culture, cuisine, architecture, and folklore.

The charming city of A Coruña, in Spain’s far northwest, is one of the major cities of Galicia, which existed as an independent kingdom with its own language and culture for nearly a thousand years. Although it has long since been incorporated into the Spanish nation, Galicia still maintains a distinct identity, which can be felt strongly here.

The city of Vigo is the gateway to exploring the Illas Cíes, the jewel of the national park comprising an archipelago of Atlantic islands off Galicia’s western coast. These pristine islands, reachable from the city by ferry, boast untouched nature as well as some of the best beaches in all of Spain.

As the endpoint of Europe’s most famous pilgrimage, Santiago de Compostela occupies a central role in the history of Christianity. Since the early 9th century, when a shepherd noticed a bright light shining over an abandoned Roman tomb in the forest and subsequently discovered the remains of the apostle Saint James the Great buried within, pilgrims have flocked to the city along the network of trails known as the Camino de Santiago (‘The Way of Saint James’) that stretch acro