Malta’s ornate and vibrant capital, Valletta, dazzles travelers with its abundance of historical landmarks and striking architecture. This island jewel off the coast of Italy remains a popular destination for Mediterranean cruises. From central St. George’s Square, to sixteenth-century Casa Rocca Piccola, to the Siege Bell War Memorial, Valletta has no shortage of monuments detailing the city’s long history.

Puerto Limon is a busy port city and capital of the Limon province. This Caribbean locale is blanketed with rainforest habitats and full of tropical beauty.

The third largest city in Turkey, a cosmopolitan and lively city all year round, during the International Arts Festival (June/July) and the international Fair (August/September), Izmir bursts with an added vibrancy.

Punakha sits in one of Bhutan’s most fertile valleys, cradled where the Mo Chhu and Pho Chhu rivers meet. For centuries it served as the kingdom’s capital and remains a place rich with stories woven through its fields, temples, and riverbanks. The city’s low elevation brings warmer weather than much of Bhutan’s highland regions, and rice paddies fill the landscape with vivid green during planting and golden hues at harvest.

Buffalo, the second-largest city in New York State, sits at the eastern end of Lake Erie where the Niagara River begins its journey toward Niagara Falls. Once a powerhouse of American industry and trade, Buffalo thrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries as a major shipping and manufacturing hub, thanks to its strategic location along the Erie Canal and Great Lakes.