Welcome to Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, where giant pandas delight tourists at the Chengdu Breeding Research Base. Though a modern city, Chengdu is where life happens in the back streets, with crowds waiting outside hot-pot restaurants, and tea houses abuzz with mahjong players and their noisy tile-shuffling game.

Cartagena is the undisputed queen of Colombia's Caribbean coast and easily the most attractive city in the region – this given its apparent shortage of attractions in the classical sense of the word. Instead, what draws travelers in is the city itself: a microcosm of the Caribbean, walled-in by defensive ramparts built to ward off unwelcome visitors, the likes of Sir Francis Drake, who held Cartagena de Indias captive for months during his 16th century raids on the Spanish New World. Cumbia music fills the air in Cartagena's absurdly beautiful Old Town, while locals enjoy leisurely chats in inviting town squares, street vendors peddle their wares (look out for the incredibly photogenic palenqueras!), and vacationers explore streets lined with well-preserved colonial buildings, their balconies deluged with striking fuchsia-colored veranera. The first free town in the Americas founded by slave trade escapees – San Basilio de Palenque – is just an hour's drive from here.

Overlooking a river among green hills, Limoges has long been synonymous with the finest porcelain, while its tradition of enamelware goes back even further. Many sights and attractions are centered around this proud history. Those industries brought immense wealth to the town, which reflects in many of the town's impressive medieval buildings built of local rose-tinted granite. The air of prosperity and style with good shops and restaurants, plenty to do and always more to discover.

Steeped in Medieval charm, yet always at the cutting edge of modernity, Tallinn offers today’s travelers plenty to see. The city is big enough and interesting enough to explore for days, but also small and compact enough to give you the full Tallinn experience in just a few hours.