GRAND VOYAGES & WORLD CRUISES CRUISES

Cape Town's spectacular setting on Table Bay seldom fails to take one's breath away, whether you are a local or a visitor. If Johannesburg is South Africa's New York, this port city of four million, settled by traders from the Dutch East India Company in 1652, is its San Francisco. With a rich array of restaurants, galleries, vineyards and countless beaches, as well as a Mediterranean climate, life on the Cape Peninsula, which stretches for some 70 kilometers (43 miles) from downtown to the most southerly point, Cape Point, is genteel and all about good, healthy living and staying outdoors as much as possible.

The curved shoreline of the Bay of Plenty—known in Maori as Te Moana-a-Toi—is home to incredible surfing, white-sand beaches and New Zealand's only active marine volcano. Tauranga, with 130,000 residents, is the largest city on the Bay of Plenty and fifth largest in New Zealand. The city offers visitors a number of water-focused activities, like sailing and kayaking, as well as drier alternatives such as shopping and people-watching at a café in the Historic Village. Tauranga is also a great jumping-off point for exploring nearby beaches and Te Puke, the kiwifruit capital of the world, as well as a wealth of Maori cultural sites.

If you want a snapshot of Australia's appeal, look no further than Sydney: The idyllic lifestyle, friendly locals and drop-dead natural beauty of this approachable metropolis and its attractions explain why the country tops so many travelers' wish lists. The famed harbor is among the top sights—home to twin icons the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, it is the stepping-off point for some of the city's best cultural attractions and sightseeing. But Sydney is more than just the embodiment of classic antipodean cool—the city is in a constant state of evolution.

Thailand's largest island sits just off the country’s west coast, in the glittering Andaman Sea. Phuket offers both cultural attractions and natural beauty. The influence of European and Chinese traders is best seen in the architecture of Old Phuket Town, where former mansions have become hotels, restaurants, cafés and shops. Outside the island’s main city, travelers will find a tropical paradise, with gorgeous white-sand beaches and warm, crystal-clear waters where visitors come to swim, snorkel and scuba dive. One of the prettiest places to take a dip is Phang Nga Bay while the Big Buddha and Chalong Highlands are popular sights.

Scarred by decades of civil war, Sri Lanka and its commercial capital, Colombo, are relatively new to modern-day tourism.  But Colombo has been a crucial trading post for more than 2,000 years. The city rose to prominence as Sri Lanka's most important port town in the 16th century with the arrival of Portuguese fleets. After a period under Dutch rule, Ceylon—as Sri Lanka was then called—became part of the British Empire in 1802. Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948, but the country experienced intense unrest from 1983 until 2009, when Sri Lanka's civil war finally came to an end.

Indonesia is made up of more than 13,000 islands, but even with all that competition, Bali manages to stand out. Beautiful temples and shrines of all sizes are spread across the island, tucked down narrow alleyways, hidden within the jungle or serenely presiding over scenic locations, like the dramatic Pura Tanah Lot atop a rock formation just off Bali’s western coast. The island is well known for its arts—traditional music and dance, painting, wood and stone carvings, silver jewelry and ikat and batik textiles. The island’s artistic center is the village of Ubud, and its art markets and boutiques carry beautiful Balinese pieces to take home.