Things to Do in Riviera Maya & The Yucatan

Is Horseshoe Bay Bermuda’s loveliest beach? Lots of people think so, locals and visitors alike, and it’s one of the island’s beach hot spots for water sports, bathing and relaxing.

Throw your towel down on the softly arcing curve of soft pink sand and you’ll agree there aren’t too many better spots to be.

The beach is guarded by lifesavers, lunch is served at the beach cafe, there are showers and changing facilities on-site, and shuttle buses ferry visitors to and from the closest bus stop, for the handy bus route 7 to Hamilton.

Come here for New Year celebrations, sand-sculpture competitions, kite festivals, organized beach sports like volleyball, rock snorkeling, and shallow paddling and wading pools for youngsters.

Cave paintings, stalactites and stalagmites are a feature of Curacao’s limestone Hano Caves. The indigenous Arawaks used the caves for shelter, and runaway slaves hid here in the colonial days.

These days Curacao’s long-nose fruit bats call the cave home, and dramatic lighting illuminates the cave’s waterfalls, pools and Madonna statue.

Guided tours departing on the hour point out the 1,500-year-old cave paintings and share some of the legends and history of this mysterious underground world.

Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, in the north of KwaZulu-Natal state, is the oldest in South Africa, drawing visitors for over a hundred years. Careful conservation ensures an amazing array of wildlife such as rhinoceroses (including the rare white rhinoceros), elephants and Cape Buffalos, as well as big cats including lions, leopards and cheetahs.

The landscape ranges from flat savannah to steep hills, criss-crossed by rivers and dotted with water holes, where you may well spot the Nyala, or South African antelope. There is also a huge range of birdlife, with many species unique to this area.

With its spectacular Neo-Renaissance frontage presiding over the Place de Grève in the city center, the Hotel de Ville is among Paris' most impressive architectural works. Reconstructed in 1873, the prestigious building kept much of its original style and its exteriors remain a celebrated example of 16th-century French Renaissance architecture, inspired by the Châteaux of the Loire Valley. Designed by architects Théodore Ballu and Édouard Deperthes, the arresting façade features a central clock tower and 136 statues representing historical figures from Paris and other French cities. The interior boasts the grandest makeover, though, with the ceremonial rooms -- including a long Salle des Fêtes (ballroom) - lavishly decorated and featuring wall paintings by a number of key 19th-century artists.

Today the stately building is the city hall, housing the offices of the Mayor and the Parisian city council and maintaining the building's rich political history. While marveling at the magnificent façade (particularly atmospheric at night when its floodlit with multi-colored lights) is a popular pastime among tourists, guided tours of the interiors are also available, and the impressive exhibition hall hosts regular exhibitions of French art and history. During the winter months, a huge outdoor ice rink is erected in front of the Hotel de Ville, offering free ice-skating and a number of ice hockey and figure skating spectaculars over the holiday season.

The Musée de l'Hospice Comtesse is the town museum of Lille. It's housed in an old hospital founded by Jeanne, Countess of Flanders, for the poor of the city in 1237. Most of the building dates from the 15th-17th centuries, and retains a warren-like feel. 

The collection features 17th and 18th century art; woodwork; ceramics; tapestries and musical instruments. But being the town museum, it also focuses on the history of Lille, particularly its revolutionary history, and the story of the hospital and the monks that ran it. 

The ground floor is devoted to a recreation of a Flemish house and the hospital as it would have been centuries ago. 

Once you arrive in the paradise of the Cayman Islands, you can take a side trip to Hell, literally. There’s a swath of land in the West Bay area about the size of a football field that is stark, and sharp, limestone formations eroded from ironshore.