Bentonville, set against the scenic Ozarks, blends culture, community, and creativity. Over the past decade, the city has transformed into a cultural hub, thanks in large part to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art—a groundbreaking institution hailed by the Washington Post as “the most talked-about new museum in the United States in a generation.”

Nestled in the corner of rural south-west France stands Pau, the capital of the Béarn province, a bastion of history and culture. The town occupies a unique geographical position in the foothills of the Pyrenées. With its awe-inspiring views of the mountain range, Pau is only a few hundred kilometres from the major towns of Bordeaux and Toulouse and even closer to Spain and the Atlantic Ocean. A springboard to sunny beaches or snow-capped mountains, Pau’s pretty streets, and excellent gastronomy are enough to ensure leaving will be difficult.

With its rich natural landscape, stunning scenery, and distinctive seasons, Sapporo captivates the explorer in all of us. The capital of Hokkaidō, the most northern and second-largest island of Japan, was established in 1868; its vast open wilderness backed by magnificent mountains was highly appealing to the early settlers back then, just as much as to any visitor today.

Home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world (and the second-oldest in continuous operation on the planet), Oxford is more than a celebrated microcosm of academic scholarship: there's the splendid architecture, hefty literary heritage, and plenty more to fill an eventful few days.