Mexican Meditation

Yoga has never been more seductive. Or celebratory. The Tides Zihuatanejo (formerly Hotel Villa del Sol), known for its sensual gardens, cascading waterfalls, and expansive beachfront, recently gave its spa a major renovation and is now offering five-day yoga retreats. Daily morning sun salutations and evening classes take place beachside, led by Tom Morley, a Los Angeles–based instructor to the stars whose clients have included Helen Hunt and Reese Witherspoon. Known for his creative adaptation of yoga practice and style, Morley blends vinyasa flow and yin, restorative, and partner yoga with fun breathing exercises, meditation, and dance. Private yoga sessions are available for the duration of the retreat. A daily hour-long massage is included, and meals feature healthful gourmet foods. A celebration on the final night, Sense of the Night: Yoga Meets Dance, takes place in a sexy beach lounge — think white couches, tiki torches, bonfire, and bongo drummers — where yogis eat, drink, and dance the night away. The next yoga retreat at the Tides is in May. thetidesresorts.com — Shari Mycek

Off the Beaten Grid

Perched on a hilltop, high above the emerald forests of San Sebastian (30 minutes from Aguadilla), stands one of Puerto Rico’s best-kept agricultural tourism secrets — Hacienda el Jibarito, or House of the Hillbilly. The Hacienda farms its own eggs and cow’s milk and grows papayas, avocados, tangerines, oranges, lettuce, cilantro, and tomatoes on the fertile ground on which it’s situated. The owners of the rustic, wood-bedecked hotel have designed their hideaway to be almost entirely self-sufficient. If picking produce doesn’t sound particularly relaxing, opt instead for a swim at one of the many on-site waterfalls. Or, for an extra $40 during harvest season, you can tour two nearby coffee plantations, pick your own beans, and then bring them back to the Hacienda for an on-site roasting session. Two bags of the fresh roast are yours after grinding. haciendaeljibarito.com — Marisa Mazria-Katz

Take Two

At Wan Chai Market in Hong Kong, a noisy, bustling warren of street stalls crowded with neighborhood residents snapping up fresh produce, the energy level is both infectious and distinctly Asian. That may explain why Joanne Ooi and Lisa Botos chose to open their venue for contemporary art, Ooi Botos Gallery, in a colonial-era shophouse nearby. Behind the eye-catching red, rippled fiberglass entrance, Ooi, creative director for the Shanghai Tang clothing chain, and Botos, Time Asia’s former photo editor, have assembled an enthralling collection of predominantly modern Asian photography, video, and installation art by up-and-coming young turks like Yi Zhou, Xing Danwen, Tie Ying, and Liu Ren. ooibotos.com — Daven Wu

Something Old, Something New

Something Old, Something New: Rarely has the clash between old and new been reconciled so enjoyably as in the case of Old Spitalfields Market in London. Following a three-year renovation that concluded last year, the “new” Old Spitalfields juxtaposes modern architectural elements — like a neon-lit, restaurant-lined deck — with the cast-iron columns and triangulated trusses of a classic English market hall. Opportunities abound for dining and drinking in style. But at Time Out magazine’s Best Fashion Market, shopping is still the main draw. Wares range from vintage hats to fashion-forward dresses and handbags from undiscovered designers, so traditionalists and trendsetters can come together under the same (restored) Victorian roof. oldspitalfieldsmarket.com — Amy Syracuse

Powered by Windows

Tell the Hotel Sax your favorite band or singer and the staff will have them waiting in your room for you. Or at least, they’ll be on a customized Zune portable media player. The Chicago hotel has partnered with Microsoft to bring you the latest in high-tech entertainment. Team up with other guests in the “studio” for a Guitar Hero jam session on any of five XBox 360s, or surf the Web on two laptops or a Windows Vista Media Center PC. Select guestrooms also come equip-ped with high-tech gear, but the big upgrade is the Chairman’s Suite. This room has windows too — floor-to-ceiling ones with great views, in fact — as well as a fully wired bathroom and a private media lounge with four HDTVs. hotelsaxchicago.com — John Patrick Pullen

What’s New Is Old

The Algodon Mansion in Buenos Aires strives to blend the atmosphere of Harlem’s Cotton Club in its 1920s heyday with the Belle époque glamour of Argentina’s golden years. Is it historically accurate? Who cares when you’re tinkling on a grand piano in one of the two 1,700-square-foot suites, or sunbathing in a lounge chair by the rooftop pool. The 10-room hotel, housed in a French classical mansion built in 1912, opens in April in ritzy Recoleta, where it rubs shoulders with top-end rivals. Guests, attended by a personal butler, will be soothed by a free massage on arrival and receive a free bottle of the hotel’s private-label wine. Another highlight is the four-story waterfall visible from every room. algodonmansion.com — Colin Barraclough

Meet the Green Fairy

Absinthe, the infamous green drink once believed to be hallucinogenic, was banned in the United States until 2007. Now the spirit, so popular a century ago among the artists and bohemians of Paris, is all the rage again, and the lounge at the Pier W restaurant in Cleveland is holding tastings. Pier W stocks four premium European brands and serves them in traditional style, dripping ice water through a sugar cube into the licorice-flavored liqueur. The process, called louching, is performed with the requisite ritual, romance, and accessories — including a carved and perforated spoon, a seesawing balancier set atop a glass, and an elegant four-spigot fountain. It’s like a bit of the Left Bank on Lake Erie. selectrestaurants.com — Laura Taxel

Green Acres

Always on the cutting edge, San Francisco has a new architectural icon — the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. The facility, designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Renzo Piano, received LEED Platinum certification, making it arguably the world’s greenest museum. High-performance glass walls and a 2.5-acre living roof help to reduce energy usage, and the green top can absorb nearly 3.6 million gallons of rainfall annually, keeping 90 percent of the runoff’s pollutants from reaching the local ecosystem. Underneath that roof, a planetarium, four-story rain forest, aquarium, and lots of hands-on exhibits teach visitors about the sky, earth, and oceans. calacademy.org — Gail Harrington

Cook By the Book

If all your life you’ve dreamt of traveling the world and compiling recipes for decadently scrumptious international dishes into a fully illustrated, thoroughly masterful cookbook, please know that someone has beaten you to it. The InterContinental Kitchen gathers more than 300 recipes from executive chefs at 143 InterContinental hotels and resorts in 60 countries. Grouped by region, each gourmet dish exemplifies the local cuisine. Whether it’s shrimp and beef in a tequila sauce from Guadalajara, chilled mango pudding from Hong Kong, or a funky raspberry cocktail from Cleveland called the Carnegie Rock’n Razz, everything involves simple ingredients and classic preparation techniques that make the recipes easy, fun, and — best of all — delicious. intercontinental.com — Andrew Eitelbach

Getting There: All the destinations covered in “Go Explore” can be reached by flying Continental Airlines. To book your trip, visit covacations.com.