Beaches
Placencia, Belize
It's close to Cancun on the map, but Belize's coast is nature before you machete it away for high rises. Lucy Clark, Central America specialist at bespoke operator Exsus, says "Belize will be big this year - you get Costa Rica's wildlife and beaches and Guatemala's Mayan heritage, and the pristine environment."
The cayos off the coast north of Belize City attract the fat wallets and logo-ed set, but smarter travellers stay on the mainland. Placencia has warm water and white sand, and is good for access to the offshore reef, ranked by divers alongside the Red Sea and the Great Barrier. Summer is seafood season, with the Placencia Lobsterfest June 24-26 and the Caye Caulker Lobsterfest, July 1-3; lobster is served Creole style, barbecued, frittered and sometimes as pizza topping; Belikin beer is the only drink you need.
Where to stay: Doubles at the Hacienda-style Inn at Robert's Grove from £110 (0050 1523 3565).
Getting there: Continental (0129 3776464) flies London-Belize City via Houston from £720 return.
Santa Cruz, California
The board is back - Orlando Bloom uses a "potato chip" short-board on big waves, and Tom Cruise goes surfing during his downtime on shoots. LA's Huntington Beach's may claim the title of "Surf City USA", but Santa Cruz remains the definitive place to go to test the breaks. It's chilled, scooter-friendly and imports alternative lifestyles from nearby San Francisco. Huntington has the key fobs and trademark for now, but Santa Cruz locals say Hawaiian princes brought their boards here at the end of the 19th century and that surfing is in their souls.
Where to stay: Pleasure Point Inn, a smart beachside B&B that offers boards for hire and surf lessons. Rooms from $225. The hemp-themed Compassion Flower Inn, five minutes from the beach, costs from $115 incl organic breakfast.
Getting there: Virgin Atlantic (08705 747747) flies London-San Francisco from £520 return.
Sopot, Poland
Sopot's beaches are at roughly the same latitude as Morecambe's but they are white, clean and bordered by manicured gardens and classy cafes. Around this elegant 19th-century town are edifying mountains and health spas, Prussian villas and summer houses. In town is Poland's best clubbing scene, a busy, boozy bar culture and great French, Polish and oriental restaurants.
Sopot is already a hub for German and Austrian parties, but hasn't descended into a stag/hen drinking den - and, at least until the euro comes to town, the hedonism comes cheap. Buzzing Gdansk, the capital of the Polish Baltic, is a £5 taxi ride south - look out for the Sense of Humour festival (June 23-26).
Where to stay: Doubles at Villa Sedan (0048 58 555 0980) from £45.
Getting there: Wizz Air flies Luton-Gdansk one way from £28.98 plus taxes.
Olbia, Sardinia
Sardinia's "happy town" is big on bars and restaurants and has long been a magnet for well-heeled Italian weekenders. Take in the granite 12th-century basilica on San Símplicio Piazza, Punic necropolis, and Roman baths, then walk along the rocky coast and visit Carthaginian, Roman, and Genoan ruins. Sail out to the archipelago of La Maddalena (one hour away), or along the Emerald Coast. Look out for massive drum 'n' bass and jazz fests this summer.
Where to stay: Meliá Olbia has great gardens (0800 962720) and doubles from £60. A little out of town, La Murichessa (0039 347 1496 421) offers simple white-washed rooms in a rural setting, doubles from €70.
Getting there: EasyJet (0905 8210905) has a new Gatwick-Olbia Costa Smeralda airport service from May 24, from £40.98 return (plus taxes); also flies Luton-Cagliari. Ryanair flies Stansted-Alghero from £5.99 (plus taxes) one way.
Ciutadella, Menorca
It's time has come. Underrated, unsung and untainted, Menorca is greener than its more famous Balearic neighbours and it doesn't need drugs to chill. The island's second town is perfect for accessing sunset-soaked beaches, prehistoric ruins, shellfish eateries, bar-hopping (especially around Portal del Mar), and as a base for scuba diving off the west coast. Nor is downtown always sleepy.
According to Maurice Geller, editor of luxury quarterly Quintessentially, "Everybody should go to Ciutadella for Sant Joan - the outrageous, still quite secret, mystical horse cult. There's a raving Midsummer celebration in the week around June 24 - probably the best festival in the Mediterranean."
Where to stay: Lots of hotels in Ciutadella and along the coast but truly lovely rooms in the ultra-designer Hotel Rural Sant Ignasi (0034 9713 85575), a mile out of town. Doubles from £70. Its in-house restaurant, Es Lloc, is excellent.
Getting there: Excel (0870 1690169) flies Gatwick-Mahon return from £69 plus taxes one way.
Cities
Bergamo, Italy
The hordes target the hubs - Milan, Venice and Bologna - but Bergamo Alta, the high town, is where wealthy, weary Milaneses shack up at the weekend, bringing their families and their fashions with them. Bergamo has all the requisite piazze, palazzi and churches, and there are great shops on and around the Via Colleoni.
Antonio Carluccio is an admirer: "It's always left aside by tourists, but it's interesting for its setting in the pine forests and the mountains, and is special for Italians as the source of Pellegrino water and Taleggio cheese. Those who dare should try the local speciality - sparrows with polenta."
In town he recommends Trattoria del Teatro (Piazza Mascheroni, 3) and Trattoria a Ornello (Via Gombiti, 15) and, just outside, a "genuine, traditional" restaurant, the Trattoria all' Alpino (Via Colle dei Roccoli, 13).
Where to stay: The Hotel Mercure Palazzo Dolci hides sleek bedrooms behind the faded pink facade, and does doubles from £90 per night (0039 035 227411).
Getting there: Ryanair (0871 2460000) flights "to Milan" touch down a few miles east of Bergamo, minutes away by bus. Luton-Orio al Serio one-way from £1.99 (plus taxes). Also flights from Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle and Stansted.
Hanoi, Vietnam
Already big news for its chic spas and beach resorts, Vietnam also delivers urban pleasures. After shopping in Ho Chi Minh, the "fashion and advertising capital" on a recent assigment, US Condé Nast Traveler's Susan Hack had to admit that Hanoi is the real draw: artsy districts (the Street of Silk, the Street of Combs, and the Temple of Literature), old markets, hints of Soviet architecture, iced coffee at the Café Lam.
Where to stay: Saigon, like Shanghai, is updating with bulldozers, but Hanoi preserves its grand old mansarded hotel-mansions with hardwood floors and ceiling fans. Sleep at the refurbished but still elegant Metropole Hotel (0084 4826 6919), Graham Greene's home while he wrote his 1955 novel, The Quiet American. Doubles from £80.
Getting there: Thai Airways (0870 6060911) flies London-Hanoi via Bangkok, from £500 return.
Salonika, Greece
Athens got a revamp for the Games but the second city of ancient Byzantium and modern Greece is where hip Hellenes hang out - bars are stylish and as stridently modern as Manhattan's with a clubbing scene to match. The museums and architecture are reminders that this was one of the world's first melting pots - Greek, Turkish, Armenian, Bulgarian, Serb and Sephardic Jewish cultures were fused here - and the cuisine has influences from all of them: Spiti tou Pasa (35 Apostolou Pavlou) does good Anatolian dishes.
Where to stay: Doubles at the modern City Hotel (0030 2310 269421) from £120. East of the city are the beach resorts of the Halkidiki peninsula.
Getting there: British Airways (0870 8509850) has a new frequent service between Gatwick and Salonika from £115 return.
San Sebastian, Spain
It's got more Michelin-starred eateries per capita than any other city on earth, and Catalonian superchef Ferran Adriá regards the Basque port as the best place in the world for reliably great grub, whether in a dusty old tapas taverna or a temple of Nueva Cocina Vasca. The city also has atmospheric bars in the Parte Vieja (old town), decent swimming spots and a beautiful bay flanked by green hills.
Drink at Bideluze (Plaza de Guipuzcoa, 14) or Bar La Cepa, (Calle 31 de Agosto, 9) and eat at either Arzak (Avenida Alcalde Jose Elosegui, 273) or Fagollago (Calle Ereñozu, 68, Hernani).
Where to stay: Sleep at the small, sophisticated Villa Soro: doubles from £100 (0034 94329 7970).
Getting there: Ryanair flies Stansted-Biarritz from £6.99 one-way (plus taxes).
Tucson, Arizona
American cities come and go on the hipometer - Seattle, Denver, Nashville and Tulsa all had their moments - but Hispanic, historic Tucson is where Mexican energy is overflowing into the stylish southwest. Loads of arts, antiques and jewellery stores around the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association and Old Town Artisans. And it's the sunniest city in the States.
Ruth Jarvis, senior editor of Time Out city guides, gives it music capital status: "Austin's hot and funky, but it's old hat. In Tucson, there's a major alternative music scene as Mexican crossover meets alt.country."
Where to stay: One of the world's nicest small hotels, the Congress, rents doubles for £40 a night. It also has a great bar/club/restaurant (001 520 622 8848).
Getting there: Continental (0845 6076760) flies Gatwick-Tucson via Houston from £537 return.
