See For Yourself

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The giant bronze-and-granite eyeballs peer out from the lawn on the Williams College Museum of Art campus like a newly awakened monster in a children's storybook—or a group of undergrads pulling an all-nighter (15 Lawrence Hall Dr., wcma.williams.edu, free). However you look at it, there's clearly a message behind Eyes, by the celebrated contemporary artist Louise Bourgeois. The liberal-arts school in rural Williamstown, Mass., 150 miles west of Boston near the intersection of Vermont and New York State, commissioned this surreal sculpture 10 years ago and placed it right in front of the school's art museum, as if to announce: This place isn't some staid cloister of old masterworks. In the past few years, colleges across the country have been shaking up their museums with new acquisitions. But only in the Northeast will you find so many contemporary outposts in a relatively small area. With that in mind, I chose a golden autumn weekend for an art—forward, backcountry college tour. Day 1: Williamstown, Mass. to Burlington, Vt. (139 miles) The museum at Williams doesn't just cater to undergraduates; it designs year-round programs for primary and secondary students, too. On the day I arrive, a visiting class of elementary-school kids is climbing all over the Bourgeois eyes and running wild with loaner cameras. I'm also hypnotized by Pepón Osorio's Drowned in a Glass of Water, a pile of kitsch (toy cars, a deer head, a mannequin wearing a red macramé gown) that takes up a whole room and rotates on an 18-foot carousel. It's like someone walked into a Norman Rockwell painting and ransacked the place. That said, it's hard for the art to outshine the one-woman show Mother Nature is mounting outside. From Williamstown, rural Route 7 leads north through the Green Mountains, where the leaves lining either side of the road meet in the middle to create a tunnel of brilliant red and orange. (I'd been keeping an eye on the color forecast at foliage-vermont.com to catch the peak.) The thing about Vermont—empty, beautiful, single-area-code Vermont—is that even its highways offer Ralph Lauren-worthy views of horses in wool saddle blankets and cabins with thin plumes of smoke swirling up from their chimneys. I wouldn't want to rush, and I don't have to, because a private, docent-led tour at my next destination—the Middlebury College Museum of Art, two and a half hours north—starts whenever you get there (Porter Field Rd., museum.middlebury.edu, free). The museum made art-history professor John Hunisak's popular walking tour of the 20 (mostly outdoor) public works into a series of two- to three-minute, bite-size YouTube clips you can access-ta-da!-right from your phone. Middlebury devotes 1 percent of its annual construction budget—the amount varies each year—to art. The college created the fund and its supervisory committee in 1994, after a group of alumni torched a controversial installation. "Some works are experienced in unintended ways," says Douglas Perkins, the museum's administrative operations manager, citing Frisbee Dog, a bronze sculpture of a dog mid-catch that has become an unofficial target on the campus Frisbee course. I've lived in college towns for 15 years, sucked in by the combination of high-and-low culture (and the cheap eats). Middlebury falls on the tame side of the spectrum, but even here there's the potential for serendipity, such as Neat Repeats, a vintage store crammed with silk kimonos, things that sparkle, and a mother-of-pearl box that I wish didn't cost $80 (3 Bakery Lane, 802/388-4488, vintage scarves from $6). I stop for a bite at the artisanal American Flatbread, where pizzas are baked in a beehive-shaped earthenware oven, and then hop back on the road (137 Maple St., americanflatbread.com, pizzas from $7.50). After the sleepy postcard quality of my first two stops, I'm struck by the energy of Burlington—a buzzing city with traffic, glassy condos, and kids on skateboards downtown. It's dark when I arrive, but the University of Vermont's Fleming Museum is lit up, Gatsby-style, for an opening, complete with a buffet table of crudités, a jaunty string quartet, and ladies milling about the marble staircase in Vermont couture: sequins and snow boots (61 Colchester Ave., uvm.edu/~fleming, admission $5). After paying the $5 admission, I stroll through a temporary Christo and Jeanne-Claude gallery featuring sketches of unfinished projects. But the star for me is Barn Ball by UVM grad Lars-Erik Fisk, who once worked as the artistic director for the band Phish. The piece takes the elements of a barn—a red wooden clapboard exterior, white window frames, hay piled high and lit by the yellow glow of a utility light—and shapes them into an 18-foot sphere parked in the lobby like a child's playhouse. It's pure state pride molded into a surprising package. I break for a late-night snack of international tapas at ¡Duino! (Duende), whose name is a mashup of Rilke and Lorca book titles (10 N. Winooski Ave., duinoduende.com, small plates from $6). All the dishes "are from places we've been to or want to visit," says my waitress, Kat Wright (the owner's wife). When the folks at the next table hear where I'm staying—cross chat is encouraged here—they give my choice a thumbs-up. In a land of $200-a-night B&Bs, I consider the $59-a-night G.G.T. Tibet Inn a triumph in more ways than one (1860 Shelburne Rd., ggttibetinn.com, doubles from $59). Opened 18 years ago by Kalsang G.G.T.-a Tibetan Buddhist refugee who hiked across the Himalayas to escape his occupied homeland-the inn has an uplifting quality that belies its standard-issue motel decor, starting with a photo in the lobby of a beaming Kalsang kneeling before the Dalai Lama. When he checks me in, Kalsang is wearing a "Peace on Earth" T-shirt. Day 2: Burlington, Vt. to Claremont, N.H. (113 Miles) With less museum ground to cover today, there's time for impulsive detours, so I exit Vermont's I-89 to pop into the Simon Pearce glassblowing studio, which is situated next to a waterfall in Quechee, Vt (1760 Quechee Main St., simonpearce.com, glass vases from $65). Unfortunately, the studio and pottery workshop from this well-known provider of bowls, glasses and art objects is temporary closed, due to flooding from Hurricane Irene. The retail store and restaurant remain open.  From there, it's an easy jaunt across the state line to Dartmouth's Hood Museum in Hanover, N.H., where I park alongside a quad filled with preppy students in sweaters tossing around a football (hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu, free). Inside Hood, a narrow vestibule has been turned into a pop-up gallery curated by students, drawing from the museum's 65,000-piece permanent collection. The exhibit—Representations of the Glove as Fetish Object—has a weirdness that might have been squelched by a professional curator, but I love the idea of students pushing the envelope just around the corner from a Perugino Virgin and Child. The joyful surprise of that stop casts a glow on the last half hour of my drive, past wholesome New England colonials with Halloween ghosts dotting their lawns. Then I reach my home away from home, the two-year-old Common Man Inn in Claremont, a riverside mill that's been converted into a hotel and restaurant (21 Water St., thecmaninn.com, doubles from $99). The exposed stone walls and roaring fires manage to be both cozy and chic, and the library-like lobby is unimprovably charming, from the scattered mystery novels and chess sets to the resident black Labrador retriever swinging his tail back and forth like a happy metronome. I flop into a leather sofa at the bar, order a martini, and lift up a red gingham cloth to help myself to the complimentary hors d'oeuvres: crackers and an enormous block of Vermont cheddar—itself a perfectly unstudied New England still life.   SEE MORE POPULAR CONTENT: 50 Stunning Fall Foliage Photos 12 Best Places You've Never Heard Of 5 Credit Cards Every Traveler Should Consider World's Most Amazing Hotel Pools 4 Most Common Reasons Airlines Lose Luggage

We scoured the globe to find the best new hotels out there. Making our list is harder than you think! Each of these independent properties has to meet a strict criteria to even be considered: they must have a unique story; their design sense must speak to the local culture instead of being generic and corporate; and they must (no exceptions!) be available for under $150 per night. You'll hear the owners' stories. You'll find urban retreats in some of the planet's most expensive cities. You'll take in unobstructed ocean views from your private balcony. You'll commune with nature. Bottom line—you'll never want to leave. See the hotels. NORTH AMERICA Joshua Tree, California Hicksville Trailer Palace owner Morgan Higby Night isn’t the first creative type to find inspiration in the rugged, lunar landscape of Joshua Tree National Park (see also: Gram Parsons, U2). But the Los Angeles–based writer and producer (Shortbus, Talking About Sex) has certainly taken his artists’ retreat there to an audaciously kitschy level. “I was already going out to Joshua Tree two to three days a week to write my latest screenplay,” Higby Night says. “It made me think that maybe other artists in L.A. also needed a place to get away to work.” Higby Night installed 10 vintage trailers, a solar-heated saltwater pool, and an archery and BB gun range on his two-acre desert plot last April. Each unit has a distinct design scheme and amenities: a jukebox filled with punk tunes, a TV stocked with horror (and only horror) movies, and bunk beds that, for an extra $50 a day, can be tucked away to make room for a film editing suite. And guests don’t have to worry about curious day-trippers traipsing the grounds: Directions are only given out to folks with confirmed reservations. hicksville.com, from $75. Jensen Beach, Florida Let the scenesters have South Beach. The eight-room Inn at Tilton Place, two hours to the north in Jensen Beach, swaps crowded pool decks and velvet-rope nightclubs for quiet coves and evening wine tastings on the front porch. The whole place is steeped in Florida history. A local fisherman built the white clapboard house in the early 1900s and gave it to his daughter as a wedding present; today, her great-granddaughter, Katie Wacha, runs the place. There’s a wall of black-and-white photos in the foyer documenting the generations of Tiltons who’ve inhabited the house. Still, the best new tradition at the inn is Wacha’s own: seasonal, three-course breakfasts, featuring beyond-the-basics dishes like red pears with rosemary sugar and basil hollandaise Benedict.innattiltonplace.com, from $109. Stanley, Idaho When Kelli Kerns, Tim Cron, and Becky Cron (Kerns’s sister) purchased the Sawtooth Hotel in Stanley (population: 100) in 2004, they had modernizing on the brain. Over the course of the family’s three-year restoration project, they added rooftop solar panels, installed a commercial kitchen for their popular ground-floor restaurant, and upgraded the nine guest rooms with new baths and fresh furnishings. The best part? You’re not hit over the head with any of the upgrades. The 70-year-old log-cabin landmark still has all the rustic, small-town charm you’d expect: 100-year-old skiing gear mounted on the walls, a carved wooden moose grinning in the lobby, and the dining room’s views of the jagged, snowcapped Sawtooth Mountains—just as impressive as they were in 1931 when the original Sawtooth opened. sawtoothhotel.com, from $70. New Orleans, Louisiana Like many French Quarter spots, the Hotel Le Marais, steps away from Bourbon Street, greets guests with plenty of flash: The lobby is all bright colors, mirrored tiles, and party music. But enter one of its 64 renovated guest rooms, and the tone shifts. The mostly neutral decor subtly references the city—eggplant throw pillows, photos of Louisiana landscapes—without playing to clichés. Some rooms even have wrought-iron balconies overlooking the internal brick courtyard (and its heated saltwater plunge pool) lit with both old-fashioned gas lamps and neon purple lights. hotellemarais.com, from $110. St. Paul, Minnesota Hotel 340, housed in the former headquarters of the St. Paul Athletic Club, is no ordinary YMCA. The 12-story English-renaissance building has served as a downtown clubhouse for St. Paul’s upper crust since 1917; today, the carefully restored structure is home to the hotel (on the top three floors), plus the University Club of St. Paul, a chichi lobby bar, and, of course, an all-new 60,000-square-foot fitness center (free for guests). The building’s entrance is downright grand, with its 20-foot-high coffered ceiling, marble columns, and huge fireplace. The hotel’s 17 rooms all have cherry hardwood floors; mahogany headboards; marble showers; and skyline, courtyard, or river views. The 40 suites (from $129) add fully stocked kitchenettes and steam showers or whirlpools.hotel340.com, from $99. Brooklyn, New York Imagine having a looped-in, laid-back New York friend who simply hands over the keys to his apartment. That’s the appeal of 3B, a four-room B&B in downtown Brooklyn opened this year by a creative collective of entrepreneurs who happen to live downstairs. The three private rooms and one 4-bed dormitory share an approachable, subtly retro aesthetic—an Eames-style rocker here, a wicker headboard there—and 3B’s position on the top floor of a corner building means the whole place gets great light. And while the communal spirit also extends to the bathrooms—there are two, shared among the rooms—3B’s private two-bedroom suite, at $160 a night, could still be the juiciest family value in the Big Apple.3bbrooklyn.com, doubles from $125. San Antonio, Texas San Antonio may be a mere stone’s throw from the Mexican border, but at the city’s Hotel Havana, it’s always been about Cuba. When a grocer opened the riverside hotel in 1914, the Mediterranean-revival architecture proved a dead ringer for the colonial Caribbean capital, and the name Hotel Havana stuck. Now, famed West Texas lawyer-turned-hotelier Liz Lambert—who reinvigorated the Texas lodging scene with Marfa’s El Cosmico and Austin’s Hotel Saint Cecilia—has brought her hip-meets-retro trademark to the space. Her 27-room reincarnation harks back to the island’s prerevolutionary 1950s glory days. Original pine floors and wrought-iron beds are paired with accents such as pastel SMEG fridges, vintage radios, and framed graphic prints. Mexico gets its due at Ocho, the on-site restaurant where chefs Larry McGuire and Lou Lambert (Liz’s brother) bring classic Mexican flavors to their pan-Latin menu of small plates and artisan cocktails.havanasanantonio.com, from $115. Montreal, Canada Don’t be fooled by the facade of the Hôtel Chez Swann. The outside may be classic Tudor, but inside you’ll find whimsical design touches that have become a signature of Montreal’s boutique-hotel scene. The vibe of Chez Swann is high-minded (the moniker is an allusion to Proust; the art is decidedly contemporary), and the 23 rooms have a dramatic boudoir look: Venetian chairs covered in jewel-tone velvet, heavy burgundy draperies, upholstered headboards. The downtown location puts you close to the nightlife and shopping along rue Ste.-Catherine. Plus, it’s just a short metro ride to Old Montreal. hotelchezswann.com, from $140. Isla Mujeres, Mexico Even if you’re not a morning person, you’ll want to set your alarm at the Hotel Rocamar. The 32-room property sits mere feet from the Caribbean on a four-mile-long island off the Yucatan Peninsula, and every day dawns with a gorgeous sunrise over the sea. A breakfast of coffee, toast, and tropical fruit arrives soon after on a wooden tray. The rooms themselves are stark yet cheery—mostly white with bright yellow curtains—but you’ll probably spend most of your time parked on your private balcony. Each one has its own hammock, from which you can search for the pelicans and frigate birds soaring on the wind. There is one catch: You’ll have to walk a whole five minutes if you want to stretch out on the nearby Playa Norte white-sand beach.rocamar-hotel.com, from $65. Mexico City, Mexico Vibrant, hectic, overcrowded Mexico City has been called many things, but “eco-friendly” has never been one of them—until now. Alan Vargas Favero and Diego Le Provost have opened what they believe is the capital’s first fully green B&B: the eight-room El Patio 77. Almost as impressive is how the owners have integrated green amenities into an arty, colonial space. Tucked somewhere beyond the wrought-iron gate and stone courtyard are a sizeable collection of rooftop solar panels and rainwater filtration systems. Chances are you’ll never notice them amid El Patio's colorful tenango embroidery from Hidalgo and pottery from Chihuahua. elpatio77.com, from $70. EUROPE Pilsley, England The 300-year-old Devonshire Arms at Pilsley, a traditional pub with a few guest rooms upstairs, has stayed true to its roots even as the world around it has changed. Located three hours north of London near the Chatsworth Estate and farm, the hotel was recently redecorated by none other than the Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Heywood-Lonsdale, with furnishings more blue blood than barnyard. Think silver Italian desk lamps, floral curtains made from Osborne & Little fabrics, and framed antique paintings taken from the estate’s collection. Even breakfast staples get the royal treatment: Chef Alan Hill serves free-range eggs from a local farm and extra-thick-cut bacon, cured on-site. devonshire pilsley.co.uk, from $144. Berlin, Germany Design hotels are a dime a dozen in Berlin, but most still charge a premium for that polish. Newcomer Sir F.K. Savigny, in the west Berlin Charlottenburg neighborhood, has all the same trappings as the swankiest spots (an aristocratic name, oversize black-and-white photos, a stylish wine bar), but at a bargain price. Service is key here—there’s a 24-hour concierge, and pets are welcome. Even families will find something to love: The 44-room hotel is just a 10-minute walk from the Berlin Zoological Garden, opened in 1844, and a mile from the 509-acre Tiergarten, one of the city’s largest parks, laced with 25 miles of walking trails. hotel-sirsavigny.de, from $127. Amsterdam, Netherlands A city like Amsterdam gets saddled with its share of clichés, so why not just embrace them? Cocomama’s first-time hoteliers Anika Jacobs and Lotje Horvers have decked out their hotel-hostel hybrid (four rooms with en suite baths, four dorm-like rooms) with ample bits of Dutch kitsch. Each of the eight rooms includes decor that speaks directly to a stereotypical image of the Netherlands: a Warhol print of Queen Beatrix, blue-and-white Delftware comforters, windmill-shaped birdhouses on the walls. There’s even a Red Light District Room, complete with gold-framed escort ads (written in Dutch), leopard-print pillows, and plush red drapes. Amsterdam’s very own district of ill repute may be 20 minutes away by foot, but Cocomama has a seedy past of her very own: This building once housed the city’s most notorious brothel.cocomama.nl, from $108. Madeira island, Portugal Set on a beach overlooking the Atlantic in the fishing village of Ponta do Sol, the Hotel da Vila always seems bathed in sunlight. There’s a good reason for that: The town is thought to sit on the single sunniest point on the island of Madeira, 527 miles off the Portuguese coast. Inside the hotel’s 16 bright white rooms, Lisbon designer Duarte Caldeira has outfitted the space with a mix of rustic and modern materials: traditional blue azulejo tiles, wood and stone reclaimed from the surrounding forests, and transparent plastic headboard cushions stuffed with wheat straw. The year-old building is a sister property to the luxe Estalagem da Ponta do Sol, a four-minute walk away. The two hotels share a clean, white aesthetic, and as a da Vila guest, you still get full use of the Estalagem’s infinity pool, gym, sauna, and spa—without having to pay the same hefty price tag. pontadosol.com, from $71. ASIA Singapore The 29-room Wanderlust Hotel in Singapore’s Little India served as a schoolhouse in the 1920s, and it can still teach you a thing or two—this time, about the cutting edge of interior design. Each of the four floors has been handed over to a different local design firm, yielding a slew of wildly themed spaces. The second-floor rooms each focus on a color related to a pop song: The all-yellow room, for example, has a customized yellow submarine neon sign. Other rooms take inspiration from science fiction (a cubist rocket sculpture with stuffed aliens) and tree houses (a ceiling covered with fake foliage). You might not know whether to crash in your room or treat it like a crash course in contemporary art.wanderlusthotel.com, from $150. Kampot, Cambodia After sustaining heavy damage in the 1978 fighting between the Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge, the historic French colonial port of Kampot became a ghost town. Today, locals like Sophal and Keo Prom, who run La Java Bleue, are helping to bring it back to life. With an eye to retaining the historic detail, Sophal restored the spacious, three-story Chinese building by hand. The three guest rooms are decorated with artifacts evocative of Kampot’s multicultural past: 19th-century postcards of Cambodia in the Khmer Room, a vintage Air France poster in the French Room, and red silk lanterns in the Chinese Room, which also has a private terrace. In the street-level, open-air lounge, guests can linger with gin and tonics and order a classic Khmer or French dish (fish amok or grilled fish with ratatouille, which Keo prepares) while an antique phonograph plays old records. lajavableue-kampot.fr, from $35. Phnom Penh, Cambodia The 252 may look like just another pretty space, with its silk linens and infinity pool surrounded by shaded loungers and potted palms. But the 19-room hotel, which opened in the capital city last year, is as much about doing good as looking good. The Swiss-expat owner Stephane Combre, who moved to Phnom Penh in 2009, was inspired to start his community-minded hotel after working as a photographer for Toutes à l'école, a nonprofit devoted to educating Cambodian girls. Now, he hires reading and writing tutors for his employees (in both English and Khmer), provides job-training courses for the front-desk and kitchen staff, and connects guests with volunteer opportunities in area orphanages. Even those contemporary Cambodian design elements do their part to support the community: The silk cushions, woven rattan lamps, and hand-stitched throws are all from the Tendance Khmere line, made exclusively by local craftspeople in designer Flavien Lambert’s Phnom Penh workshop. the-252.com, from $45. Goa, India Known for its international party scene, Goa has its share of generic beach resorts to cater to the pleasure-seeking hordes. Travelers more interested in privacy than partying would do well to detour inland to Siolim House, a seven-room retreat 15 minutes from the beach that recalls a more refined time. Built in 1673 as a manor house for the governor of Macao, Siolim’s mixture of Goan and Portuguese architecture shows in the building’s colonnaded interior courtyard and shutters made from paneled wood and mother-of-pearl. The guest rooms also exude an old-fashioned elegance, with teak furnishings and period details like patterned-tile floors, lime-plastered walls, hand-painted silk wallpaper, and heavy beamed ceilings with fans. Owner Varun Sood first restored Siolim to use as his private vacation home, and he still stays here when he visits. siolimhouse.com, from $80. Goa, India When India’s maharajas went on turn-of-the-century hunting expeditions, they did it in style, erecting opulent safari tents at every stop. That’s the inspiration behind Amarya Shamiyana, a four-room encampment set in a grove of coconut palms on north Goa’s tranquil Ashvem Beach. Open and airy, the 700-square-foot tents have 20-foot ceilings and sit atop cool concrete footings. But this hardly qualifies as roughing it: French owners Alexandre Lieury and Mathieu Chanard have supplied each tent with air-conditioning, Wi-Fi, and en suite rain showers surrounded by wood decking. There’s an outdoor lounge with low sofas and metallic beanbag chairs, and each tent is splashed with a different color: The damask murals behind the beds are pink in one, blue in another. For the most secluded option, go for the gold. amaryagroup.com/amaryashamiyana.php, from $122. Note: The hotel is closed during the monsoon season, May 1–Nov. 15. Vientiane, Laos With its striking Buddhist temples and fading French-colonial mansions, Laos’s riverside capital prides itself on being a tranquil alternative to other Southeast Asian hubs. Inside the year-old Salana Boutique Hotel, this calmer sensibility prevails. You’ll find a fresh take on traditional Asian design—intricate Laotian weavings, bamboo lamps, polished hardwood floors. Just one block from the mighty Mekong, the 41-room hotel butts directly up against Wat Inpeng, a lavish 16th-century temple with a red roof, carved frescoes, and a topiary garden. Talk about peaceful: All the rooms along the back of the hotel look out on the temple.salanaboutique.com, from $90. Penang, Malaysia With its Indian, Chinese, and ethnic Malay influences, Malaysia sits at the cultural crossroads of Southeast Asia. So it’s no wonder that the Hotel Penaga draws so heavily on this rich confluence. Architect Hijjas Kasturi and his environmentalist wife, Angela, spent three years renovating the three art deco buildings that constitute the hotel, using found materials from across the region in the 45 rooms. Granite slabs in the garden came to the country as ballast on early 20th-century Chinese trading ships. Flooring incorporates Indonesian pressed tiles. Rugs are either Chinese cowhide, Indian sisal, Turkish patchwork kilims, or bamboo mats from eastern Malaysia. And much of the timber used was salvaged from demolished colonial buildings on the peninsula. The Kasturis also run an artist retreat near Kuala Lumpur, so you can expect to see original pieces created by both well-known and emerging artists hanging all over the Penaga’s walls. hotelpenaga.com, from $134. Bangkok, Thailand Located in the heart of Bangkok’s bustling central business district, Wow Bangkok’s most surprising feature may be its serenity. Despite the exclamatory name, the property exudes a calm and mellow vibe, thanks in part to its location, hidden away in a five-story town house on a quiet side street. Each of the seven rooms is decorated by a local artist to reflect a unique part of Thai mythology: The Sawan (“heaven”) Room is done up in pale blues and curlicue cloud motifs, while the Yak Room includes a fiery orange, red, and gold mural that climbs up the wall and onto the ceiling. Guests also have access to lounge chairs on the rooftop deck. With all this tranquility, you may actually forget that the city’s eclectic restaurants and high-end shopping center are just around the corner. ➼ wowbangkokhotel.com, from $58. Khao Yai, Thailand At Ndol Villas, a water view doesn’t cost extra: Each of the 15 rooms at this year-old jungle retreat faces a running stream. Ndol lies only 94 miles outside of Bangkok, but with its Zen-like features—the sound of rushing water, orchids sprouting from tropical gardens, a lagoon-like swimming pool framed by towering trees—it might as well be in another universe. The relaxing vibe extends to Ndol’s century-old teakwood villas, which have been restored and filled with antiques from across Asia, including giant Buddhas from Thailand and carved dragon heads from China.  ndolvillas.com, from $117. CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua You don’t have to be a surfer to dig Casa de Olas, but it helps. Set atop a cliff overlooking the fishing village of San Juan del Sur, the hotel, whose name aptly translates to “house of waves,” affords Pacific Ocean views, free shuttle service to local beaches, and proximity to some of Nicaragua’s best breaks. Opened this year by Australian expats Fred and Carla Batty, the seven-room spot (which also has a dorm that sleeps eight) throws in a free breakfast—pancakes, eggs, bacon, and tropical fruit grown on-site—to fuel your surfing adventures. Need a rest from the waves? Grab a cocktail made from local, award-winning Flor de Caña rum at the thatch-roof Freddy’s Bar and sip it by the 40-foot-long infinity pool. Or you could always just hang out with Buzz, the casa’s resident monkey. casa-de-olas.com, dorms $20, doubles $69. Colonia Valdense, Uruguay La Vigna began life in 1880 when a family of Italian immigrants opened the Renaissance revival–style estate and winery in Uruguay’s fertile southwest corner. More than a century later, Argentine owners Agustin Battellini (a former architect) and his wife, Lucila Provvidente (a former psychologist), have maintained the five-room B&B’s rustic charms: milk pails on the walls, llama-wool bedding, furniture made from repurposed sheep pens. They also grow their own organic peaches, watermelon, and figs, which show up in their homemade jams and liqueurs. Ducks, goats, and sheep roam freely—until, well, let’s just say that the hotel makes its own lamb pizza, as well as pecorino cheese, served in La Vigna’s on-site bistro. Sound tempting? Thankfully, both breakfast and dinner are complimentary at La Vigna. In between meals, there are exercise options, too: In the afternoon,  you can borrow a mountain bike (free) and cruise the surrounding countryside. lavigna.com.uy, from $150. AFRICA Johannesburg, South Africa Johannesburg was founded in 1886, and that’s where the hotel 12 Decades begins, too. Each of its 12 guest rooms is dedicated to a successive 10-year span in the city’s evolution, with themed designs by 12 South African creative teams. Furniture stars Dokter and Misses, for example, filled the 1916–1926 room with their angular, Bauhaus-inspired pieces, while T-shirt designers Love Jozi went graphic in their 1946–1956 room: The toilet bowl is stamped with the names of racist apartheid laws. The year-old hotel is an ideal jumping-off point for exploring the Maboneng Precinct, a regeneration project that also includes the Arts on Main gallery complex and a handful of low-key restaurants and cafes.12decadeshotel.co.za, from $113.   SEE MORE POPULAR CONTENT: 10 Coolest Small Towns in America 12 Best Places You've Never Heard Of 10 Islands to See Before You Die 4 Most Common Reasons Airlines Lose Luggage The Dirty Truth About Hotel Ratings  

Mention the word mummy, and you probably think of the shiny case of King Tut or the linen-bandaged walking dead in a George A. Romero film. But if you haven't seen a real mummy (a.k.a. a body whose skeleton and skin have been preserved) since you were on a school trip, this is a good time to get reacquainted. In recent decades, excavators have dug up remarkably well-preserved mortal remains at locations across the globe—in Italy, Peru, and the Philippines—that have changed a good deal of what we know about the history of preserving the dead. So come with us on a crash course of the world's most "magnificent" corpses. Catacombs of the Capuchins Palermo, Italy Around 1599, Capuchin monks discovered that the catacombs under the church of Santa Maria della Pace (Our Lady of Peace) on the outskirts of Palermo were ideal for preserving the dead. For the following three centuries or so, monks drained and dried more than 6,000 corpses in the subterranean corridors beneath the monastery, dressing them up in their Sunday best and propping them up along clammy corridors. Later generations of monks apparently doctored the mummies because while some of them are now vile, decomposed, and contorted, their clothes are usually stuffed with hay and their skeletons are often held together by wire. Other mummies are lifelike, though, including one girl who's been nicknamed Sleeping Beauty. But make no mistake: This is as far from a Disney fairy tale as you could get. Admission about $4.20, Piazza Cappuccini 1, Palermo, 011-39/091-212-117, catacombepalermo.it. El Brujo Archaeological Complex Near Trujillo, Peru In the mid-2000s, excavators at El Brujo, an archaeological site about 435 miles north of Lima, were startled to dig up a mummy that was covered with well-preserved tattoos. They named her the Lady of Cao, after the Huaca Cao Viejo, the nearby temple-like structure built by the Moche, a pre-Inca culture. Then in 2009, they opened the Museum of Cao, displaying the 1,700-year-old corpse along with the grave goods (such as war clubs and gold jewelry) found near her tomb. The museum presents theories suggesting that Senora Cao was a dignitary or a member of royalty and illustrates how her people, the Moche, excelled at making ceramics and other crafts in the pre-Colombian era. Best to visit with a guide from Trujillo (the nearest town, about 37 miles south) with a vehicle to take you on the unmarked dirt roads. Admission $4.20, private tours start at about $70 for two people, 011-51/44-291-894. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology Bolzano, Italy Watch where you hike. In 1991, a pair of Germans walking through the Tyrol Mountains near the Italian border chanced upon a human figure poking out of a thawing glacier. Authorities later used CSI-style forensic analysis on the body, nicknamed Ötzi, to determine that it had been shot in the shoulder by an arrow and then mummified by natural processes. The 5,300-year-old body is on permanent display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, along with the clothing remnants, shoes, bearskin hat, quiver, flint dagger, and copper ax discovered around him. Come face-to-face with Ötzi, and you'll experience the closest you may ever come to time travel, given how he is unusually well preserved. Admission about $13, Via Museo at Via Cassa di Risparmio, Bolzano, 011-39/04-7132-0100, iceman.it. Museum of Egyptian Antiquities Cairo, Egypt For an audience with 11 ancient emperors, step into the dimly lit Royal Mummy Room and the adjacent exhibition The Journey to Immortality on the upper floor of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. "Silence, please!" barks the museum guards, insisting on respect for the earthly remains of famous conquerors Seti 1, his son Ramses II, and Queen Hatshepsut, who was identified in 2007. The desiccated bodies generally look peaceful—sleepy almost—and many still have hair. If you look up Ramses V's nostrils, you can see a hole in his skull, a vivid example of how the mummification technique involved scraping out brain matter. Afterward, be sure to pop into easily missed Room 54 to see cat, monkey, and crocodile mummies. In ancient Egypt, animals could be venerated as if they were people. Admission $10, separate ticket price to see mummies $16.80, Al-Mathaf al-Masri, Maydan Tahrir, Downtown, Cairo, 011-20/2-579-6974. Museo Arqueológico Azapa Valley, Chile Despite widespread belief to the contrary, Egyptians may not have been the first ancient civilization to preserve their dead. Mummies from 5,000 to 2,000 B.C.—at least 2,000 years older than the Egyptian mummies—have been found in what is now northern-most Chile. The Chinchorro people embalmed their dead, swapping out internal organs and muscles with clay, reeds, and other materials. Skin was, um, reupholstered and given a black or red finish. Four of these mummies, roughly 4,000 to 7,000 years old and mostly discovered in 1983, are on displayin the Azapa Valley's superb Museo Arqueológico San Miguel de Azapa (Museum of Archaeology in San Miguel de Azapa), which covers Peruvian history from 8,000 B.C. up to colonial times. Lean into the glass cases to see how some skin and hair remain on the bodies. Admission about $2, Camino Azapa, eight miles from Arica, 011-56/58-205-551, uta.cl. Ivolginsky Monastery Buryatia, Russia Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov was the spiritual leader of Ivolginsky Datsan (Ivolginsky Monastery), the most important Buddhist monastery in Russia at the time of his unexplained death in 1927. When Itigilov's body was exhumed in 2002, it was almost lifelike, sitting upright in the lotus position and looking meditative. Ever since, during the annual summer Maitreya Festival and other select times, purple-robed monks display the remarkably composed body of the 12th Khambo Lama under glass on the upper floor of the main temple. The religious complex is about 14 miles southwest from the nearest town, Ulan-Ude, in the Russian republic of Buryatia. While the bus ride is only 35 rubles ($1.15), it's best to hire a guide with a vehicle to navigate and translate, for 1,500 rubles, or about $50. Admission free, Ivolginsky Datsan, Buryatia, datsan.buryatia.ru. Timbac Caves Kabayan, Philippines You'll need a guide to see the 500-year-old Timbac Caves mummies near Mount Pulag National Park—the locals don't like their Ibaloi ancestors visited without a proper chaperone. As it happens, the guides are tremendously helpful. They'll lead you on the two-hour drive (or five-hour hike) to the site, unlock the iron gates that now protect the cave entrances, and pop open the coffin lids so you can see the flaking skin and protruding bones up close. Unlike mummifiers elsewhere in the world, the Ibaloi left the internal organs inside the bodies and merely dried the corpses out with heat and smoke and then bathed them in herbal preservatives. Get additional background and additional mummy sightings back in the village of Kabayan at a branch of the National Museum of the Philippines. Admission to Kabayan Branch of the National Museum of the Philippines about 50¢, admission to caves about $2.30, guide from the visitor's center of Kabayan about $30, Kabayan, 011-63/2-527-4192, nationalmuseum.gov.ph. Vietnam History Museum Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Step into Room 4 at the Vietnam History Museum, a pagoda-like structure by the Botanical Gardens in Ho Chi Minh City, and glimpse the mummy of Mrs. Tran Thi Hieu, who died in 1869 at around age 60. Found 17 years ago during a scientific excavation, the body remains in remarkably good shape. Researchers identified her based on a silk monogrammed item of clothing with a woman's name on it, which was found next to the corpse. Mrs. Tran is now housed underneath glass and wearing traditional Vietnamese burial garments; her rings, bracelets, and other jewelry are displayed in an alcove. Expect to overhear local visitors muttering "Troi oi" (or, "Oh, my!"). Enough said. Admission about 72¢, 2 Nguyen Binh Khiem, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, 011/84-8382-98146, asiaforvisitors.com. Lenin's Mausoleum Red Square, Moscow, Russia Every 18 months, the body of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (known worldwide as Lenin) is re-coated in paraffin, then re-dressed in a dark, Swiss-made suit, his eyes and lips left carefully sewn shut. His mausoleum on Red Square— once one of the most visited mausoleums in the world—is a stark pyramid of red, gray, and black stone, designed by the Soviet Union's Immortalization Commission. Ironically, Lenin had never wanted his body to be on display, having instead asked to be buried in a private plot next to his mother's grave in St. Petersburg. But his political successor, Joseph Stalin, wanted to showcase the body like a holy relic, presumably to inspire patriotic feelings in the Russian people. Another irony: This temple to Communism is no longer state run, and it's said that Lenin's skillful embalmers offer their services on the private market, commanding sky-high prices for their handiwork on others. Admission free, Red Square, lenin.ru. Jeremy Bentham's Vault, University College London, United Kingdom He may have died in 1832, but students in a campus building at University College, London, can still see English philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham. Bentham willed his body to a scientist in the hope of being useful to the emerging study of anatomy, and he was so keen on this idea that, for years before his death, he reportedly carried around the glass eyes needed to adorn the head. Upon his death, scientists preserved the body, but they swapped Bentham's head with a wax effigy by a French artist. Since World War II, the school has shown the body in a wooden case topped with plate glass; Bentham is wearing his own clothes and holding his favorite wooden stick. Find him at the main campus hall on Gower Street by entering the South Junction and looking for a hall called the Cloisters; the exhibit is in an alcove opposite from the large windows. Admission free, Gower St., 011-44/20-7679-2000, ucl.ac.uk.