From Shanghai's House of Barbie to the Catskills' Zen Mountain Monastery, here are 48 ways to relax and reboot your weary soul.
May 21 2009 11:00 PM EST
May 26 2023 4:18 PM EST
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19.MEET KANGA AND ROO Watch wildlife cavort on Kangaroo Island, a relatively undiscovered spot just off the coast of Adelaide, Australia. Exceptional Kangaroo Island gives personal, full-day guided tours of the sparsely populated isle, home to thousands of koalas, tammar wallabies, kangaroos, and sea lions. It's like CuteOverload.com come to life. MORE INFO | ||
20.MORE THAN JUST BEADS AND WHORES Forego Bourbon Street and head for the swamp. Honey Island Swamp Tours takes you through Louisiana's beautiful cypress-studded wetlands. You'll get up close to the wildlife, so beware of pickpockets, alligators, snowy egrets, red wolves, and loose women. MORE INFO | ||
21.FEEL THE FORCES OF NATURE Beach vacations aren't all palms and palapas; some beaches are scary -- and not in the hypodermic needle -- and-used-condom kind of way. The remote, log-strewn beaches of British Columbia's Vancouver Island, Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, and Oregon's dune-dotted coast are powerful testaments to the untamed beauty of sea meeting land. Due to a low-pressure center in the atmosphere known as the Aleutian Low, which churns its way down the coast from the Gulf of Alaska, howling gales, 20-foot waves, and turbid skies endlessly beat these rocky shores. In the B.C. fishing village of Tofino, the Wickaninnish Inn offers a slew of storm-watching packages from November through February as well as the appealing option of peering out at the surf below from its famed Pointe Restaurant. For a more rustic experience, head south to Olympic National Park's Kalaloch Lodge and hole up in a wooden cabin by the breakers. MORE INFO | ||
22.NO RESERVATION NEEDED Canter through Navajo Nation at Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The park, one of Arizona's most magnificent and overlooked, is a partnership between the American government and the Navajo tribe. The Totsonii Ranch conducts two- to nine-hour guided horseback rides through the park's canyon-ridden 131 square miles. After your ride, ease your aching bones on a private balcony at the new View Hotel, the only accommodation inside Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. MORE INFO | ||
23.SOAK, BABY, SOAK Heal thyself in one of the natural thermal springs beneath the still-active Arenal Volcano at Costa Rica's Tabacon Grand Spa Thermal Resort. MORE INFO | ||
24.SEE YOU IN TWO YEARS! Walk the Great Wall of China. All of it. MORE INFO | ||
All photos: Getty Images and Photos.com |