Less than two hours outside of Cape Town is a charming seaside city resting on South Africa’s Western Cape. Hermanus is renowned for being a whale-watcher’s dream destination. While there are many places in the world to take boat tours that bring you close to whales, Hermanus is one of the few places on Earth where you can easily enjoy whale watching from the shore. In large part, this is due to Hermanus’ sheltered coves, including Walker Bay.

Every year, between June and December, southern right whales flock to the sheltered waters of Walker Bay to mate and give birth to their young. This annual event brings hundreds of these gentle giants close enough to the rocky shore so that they can be seen breaching, tail-slapping, and waving their fins. A stroll along the picturesque Hermanus Cliff Path will give you all the whale-watching opportunities you could desire, not to mention picturesque views.

Beyond whale watching, the town of Hermanus is adorably quaint, brimming with boutique stores, stellar restaurants, cozy coffee stops, and independent bookstores like Hemingways Bookshop. Stop by the Old Harbor Museum, which boasts an open-air exhibit showcasing hallmarks of Hermanus’ past, including old boats and a fisherman’s village. You won’t want to miss a visit to Voelklip Beach, considered one of the most beautiful beaches on the Western Cape due to its sugary sand and clear waters.

The five-star Birkenhead House offers cliffside luxury with gorgeous rooms, private balconies, and private access to the 11-mile coastal trail known as Hermanus Cliff Path. The beachfront villa sits perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with the promise of seeing whales from the comfort of your room or breakfast table. Further down the coast, the Abalone Guest Lodge offers a more affordable stay in a guest lodge exclusively featuring designs and artwork by South African artists.

Landlocked, lush, and lively, Kigali is Rwanda’s capital city, where a state-of-the-art cityscape is speckled with significant historical sites and gorgeous green spaces. Rwanda is known as Africa’s cleanest and safest country, and the community in Kigali is committed to its cleanliness, with no litter on the streets and a no plastics rule in place throughout the country.

Kigali is best known as the kickoff point for wildlife viewing; the gateway to gorilla trekking ever since the release of the movie (based on the book) Gorillas in the Mist about Dian Fossey and her extensive studies of the endangered species found in the region. You can also spot the Big Five here with smaller crowds. But the mushrooming metropolis of Kigali has since become a meeting place for big business and a hub for Africa’s flourishing fashion scene–and the quickly-growing city is just getting started. 

For culture, significant memorials, museums, and monuments can be found within the city limits. Check out the Kigali Genocide Memorial for a powerful peek into the country’s past, visit the Nyamirambo Women’s Centre for a local-led walking tour to experience present-day Kigali, and then check out the expanding Kinyinya Hill area of Gasabo, a neighborhood development that’s set to be the first Green City in Africa, for a glimpse at its future. To truly enjoy the “Land of a Thousand Hills,” as Rwanda is called, the rolling hills, gorillas, and Big Five are reachable by car.

For those who prefer the comforts of a larger five-star luxury resort, opt for a stay at the Serena Kigali Hotel within walking distance of the bustling Central Business District. If a smaller, more intimate setting suits your style, the locally-owned Governor’s Residence is a stunning eight-suite sanctuary that feels like a high-end home, with galleries, restaurants, and chic boutiques found nearby.

An astonishing feat of humanity is an understatement–Jordan’s famed ancient city of Petra is one of the 7 Wonders of the World. UNESCO named Petra “one of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage” due to its triumph of ancient architectural and civil engineering. “The Rose City,” founded by the Nabateans in the 3rd century B.C.E., was named so for its rock-carved architecture in the red sandstone mountains, made habitable by an ingenious water management system of aqueducts, dams, and cisterns.

Petra was a major trading hub on the incense trail before being conquered by the Greeks and subsequent Romans through the 1st century C.E. Petra’s most famous facades and structures include the Monastery, the Royal Tombs, the Great Temple, and the iconic Treasury, the symbol of Jordan.

The war between Israel and Hamas shouldn’t stop you—Jordan’s famously safe, religiously tolerant, and politically stable society acts as a force of peace in the region and welcomes tourists with a culture of hospitality.

Petra Guest House Hotel’s location is unbeatable–mere steps to the visitor’s entrance to the Siq. What really makes the stay at this cozy, clean, and tasteful hotel unique is the opportunity to eat meals or drink Petra beer in the Nabateen Cave Bar built into the rock face or order up a hookah shisha on the piazza. At Mövenpick Resort Petra, you’ll have more luxury options for amenities like rooftop dining, minibars, a pool, and a gym. Don’t miss the spa after all that hiking.

Occupying a landscape of wind-shaped inselbergs rising beyond a carpet of olive groves and date plantations, the Siwa Oasis appears mirage-like out of the heat haze of the Western Desert. It’s primarily inhabited by Amazigh (Berber), whose rich tradition of cultural independence has only ever been partially tempered by the ministries of far-away Cairo–500 miles to the east. Instead echoing to the sound of 200 trickling natural springs, the braying of donkeys, and the chattering of flocks of sparrows, chiffchaffs, and even the occasional flamingo, the Siwa Oasis has a timelessness that can make the past several millennia seem nothing more than a fever-dream.

Shifting in hue from a rich rose to the palest magnolia and back again with the passage of the day, the 13th-century Shali fortress citadel and mosque rises five stories over the surrounding mud-brick town. Brimming with alleyways worth traversing, it’s also the obvious point from which to seek out the Temple of the Oracle–now an entrancing ruin–just as Alexander the Great did in 332 B.C.E. to become a living god. Then, head out on a 4×4 tour of the desert dunes, from where Siwa’s three surrounding salt lakes remain as evocative as any sight in Egypt.

The three-star Siwa Shali Resort has a hard-to-beat location on the cusp of both Siwa town and the desert, a 15-minute drive from the Shali fortress. Located on the west bank of Siwa Lake, Adrere Amellal is the original of many impersonators, consisting of 39 hand-built rooms lit with nothing more than candles for the perfect digital detox.