Snowmobile and sleigh rides, heli-skiing and dog-sledding adventures can be booked through this adventure company, which also offers hot-air ballooning, hiking and fishing expeditions in the summer.

Halfway up Vail Mountain is the fun park Adventure Ridge, where kids can ride ski bikes, tube and ride on kids’ ski-mobiles on a track. There is even a bungee trampoline, where you can bounce on a giant trampoline strapped into a bungee harness. The park is accessible by gondola or ski trail. Tip: It is best to wear ski clothes and snow boots.

If you’ve never been to Alcatraz, the notorious prison in operation from 1934 to 1963 that housed infamous criminals like Al Capone and “Machine-Gun” Kelley, now is a good time to go. A multi-million renovation includes a new entrance that allows visitors to enter the same way convicts once did and to visit the gardens that inmates and guards once tended, their cell houses and showers, and a new museum store. The audio tour narrated by former inmates and prison guards will give you an eerie perspective on life in this grim high-security prison. To steer clear of crowds, take the first tour of the day or opt for an early-evening tour (great views of the city skyline and sunset are a bonus). If you think the place is spooky by day, wait till you see it after dark. Reserve one week in advance during peak season, from April through October.

Allan Houser was a very important Native artist, and there is a gallery featuring his work in downtown Santa Fe. If you have time, it’s worth making an appointment at the Compound (sculpture gardens, studio house archives and gallery), about a half-hour drive south of town.” Spend a few hours exploring the ten acres of trails that snake across the property, which is still owned by Houser’s family, and view eighty-five of Houser’s large-scale outdoor sculptures. Visitors must take a guided tour and appointments must be made at least two days in advance.

Enchanting is most accurate way to describe this “must-see” botanical garden on the south shore, located just across from Spouting Horn Park. A two-and-a-half-hour walking tour meanders through the gardens—ancient Moreton Bay fig trees, frangipani, heliconia and blue and red jade vines—fronting the house where the Allertons lived after purchasing the property in 1937 and then left in trust with an endowment for its upkeep. The most magical of sights is the bird’s-eye view of the 80-acre garden and the 1870s house, which once served as a retreat for Queen Emma, who started it all. The tram that transports visitors to the garden stops on a cliff above it, offering breathtaking views of the valley below. This is where Jurassic Park was filmed, and anyone who saw the movie will easily recollect the land where dinosaurs once roamed. Amazing, too, is the beach in front of Emma’s house, where sea turtles come to lay eggs each year (you can get to it only by boat).

A great toboggan ride is offered in the afternoons at the base of Park City Mountain. Alpine Coaster offers a fun, twisty downhill ride on a metal track. There’s a height restriction for those who want to drive but little ones can be passengers. Open from noon until 4 p.m.

The 45,000-square-foot Anara Spa in the Grand Hyatt is the second largest spa in Hawaii. Mostly open-air, with hale hut treatment rooms and private lava rock showers, the Anara is a wonderful diversion from the busyness of the grand resort. It has its own wing, with rooms for those who want to log a lot of spa hours. All on one level, the spa is surrounded by tropical gardens, with an open-air lap pool and a small café in the center as well as a 24-hour StayFit gym.

• Park Size: 76,679 acres
• Elevation: 5,600 feet

Top Hikes

Who Should Go

Following a $10 million investment, Codorníu Napa, the California cousin to the longstanding Spanish winery, reopened as Artesa. The roster, which previously comprised only sparkling wines, now boasts a number of premium still wines, all sourced from various Napa appellations. Many are tasting-room only, which provides even more excuse to visit this Carneros property known for its stunning hilltop views and contemporary design scheme.

Artha is a yoga and meditation sanctuary that also has cryotherapy, flotation tanks and an infrared sauna. Travelers can get a day pass for any class or experience, all for very reasonable prices. There is a newer outpost in Studio City as well.

Recommended by an Indagare community insider

The Asian Art Museum boasts one of the largest collections of Asian art outside of Asia. Housed in a 1917 Beaux Arts building (the city’s former Main Library), the Asian Art Museum was designed by Gae Aulenti, an Italian architect specializing in the adaptive reuse of historic structures. (In the mid-1980s, she converted a defunct 1900 Paris railway station into the acclaimed Musée d’Orsay). The collection spans 6,000 years and contains more than 16,000 artifacts, roughly half of them originally donated to the city by Chicago industrialist Avery Brundage, including a gilt-bronze Buddha dated A.D. 338, the oldest known dated Chinese Buddha. The galleries, organized by geographic region (China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Himalayas and the Tibetan Buddhist World, the Persian World and West Asia), elegantly showcase ceramics, ritual bronzes, jades, calligraphy, painted screens, bamboo baskets, woodblock prints, textiles and jewelry. Closed Monday.

During low tide, the Asilomar State Beach is home to one of the richest tide pool habitats in the world. Kids will love ambling over the rocks and exploring the diverse range of sea life.

Located in a historic building surrounded by aspen trees, by the Roaring Fork River, the museum hosts rotating installations by top artists from around the world. Be sure to save some time to walk around the grounds and see the outdoor sculptures. The free gallery tours, Art After Hours, with refreshments, conducted every Thursday from 5 to 7 P.M., draw the Who’s Who of the Aspen art world.

All sizes of bikes, scooters and gear for sale and for rent. They also arrange bike tours for those who would rather ride accompanied.

This education center in the Hallam Lake Nature Preserve is only blocks from downtown Aspen. It has summer-long environmental classes and outreach programs for children and adults, featuring slide shows, demonstrations with the local eagles, hawks and owls and guided nature walks on top of Aspen Mountain and at the Maroon Bells.

Soothing tired muscles is no problem in this spa-heavy resort town. Besides Remède, at the St. Regis, there’s the Aspen Club & Spa, an elaborate 77,000-square-foot fitness and spa facility with everything from yoga to salon and body treatments.

Besides a full summer of public speakers, the Aspen Institute hosts this annual Ideas Festival. Former U.S. presidents, leading physicists, university presidents, poets, top journalists, even royalty are part of the mix that makes the festival so popular tickets are sold out almost immediately after going on sale.

Each summer since 1949, accomplished musicians and students from around the world have traveled to Aspen to perform, teach and learn. There are as many as ten concerts daily during the festival, held in the Benedict Music Tent, Harris Concert Hall, and the Wheeler Opera House and on the AMFS campus. Sunday afternoons at 4:00, it seems the entire town shows up at the music tent. During the concert, many sit outside on the lawn with a picnic lunch.

For those who want to know what it feels like to jump off a cliff or soar like a bird, the guys at Aspen Paragliding can help you out.

This rec center has an indoor swimming pool with a slide and a vortex, a thirty-two-foot climbing tower, batting cages and an NHL-sized ice arena.

This company of classically trained dancers performs in both Aspen and Santa Fe. Check the website for upcoming Aspen performances.

Sometimes you can find amazing wine treasures at smaller fund raisers and auctions. Find out about these events in the local papers—even big-time collectors and spenders send their scouts to get deals on unusual bottles. Check the events listings in the Napa Valley Register, which publishes a weekly calendar every Friday or contact Indagare's bookings team for assistance.

B Cellars uses blends from multiple vineyards to produce exceptional wine with distinct flavors. The result is balanced and complex artisanal wines. Reservations are required for all tastings, which include pairings with dishes prepared in the on-site kitchen.

This 1,200-acre park, which hosted the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, is home to many of San Diego’s museums and cultural attractions such as the Old Globe theatre, which hosts a summertime Shakespeare festival. Other highlights include the park’s iconic conservatory building with its serene lily pond, the Natural History Museum, San Diego Museum of Art, a darling carousel and miniature railroad train. Several gardens dot the grounds, a legacy of local resident Kate Sessions, who donated hundreds of trees to the park in exchange for using a portion of a land as a nursery. A free daily tram provides access to many of these attractions.