Manaus, capital of Brazil’s Amazonas state, is a city that rises unexpectedly from the rainforest. Once the center of the global rubber boom in the late 1800s, Manaus still holds onto that legacy with surprising elegance. The Teatro Amazonas, an opulent opera house imported piece by piece from Europe, sits at the heart of the city, its pink façade and domed roof tiled in the colors of the Brazilian flag. Today, it hosts concerts, festivals, and curious visitors eager to step back in time.

Nogales is a border city in Santa Cruz County in southern Arizona, directly adjoining Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. Its setting in the Santa Cruz River Valley gives the city a distinctive landscape of rolling hills, desert vegetation, and mountain ranges. As one of the principal border crossings between Arizona and Mexico, Nogales has long served as a center for trade, transportation, and cross-border commerce.

Montauk is a coastal hamlet at the eastern end of Long Island, where the Atlantic Ocean meets Block Island Sound. Its identity is closely tied to fishing, surfing, beaches, and a working waterfront, while its location at the end of the South Fork gives it a more open landscape than many other communities on Long Island. Ditch Plains is known for surfing, while the village center contains restaurants, shops, accommodations, and services along Montauk Highway.

Padstow is a small harbour town on the north coast of Cornwall, set beside the Camel Estuary where the river meets the Atlantic. Its working harbour remains the centre of the town, surrounded by narrow streets, stone buildings, independent shops, cafés, and restaurants. The waterfront also provides views across the estuary toward Rock and the surrounding coast.

A favorite for many cruise-goers and tourists, Ketchikan, Alaska, is a charming city located near the state’s southeastern edge.