Do you dare to swim with these ocean giants? From around May to September, sharks appear close enough to the coast of Cancún, and several tour operators let you observe them and even swim and snorkel with them (all safety precautions, naturally, in place).

Italian cuisine needs no introduction — you've tasted it and loved it countless times. Milan is the perfect place to take one of the many cooking classes with a trained chef or an average (if there is such a thing) nonna. Most classes can teach you how to make your own pasta, pizza and dessert, but you can ask for something that speaks to you personally. Of course, you get to taste your own masterpiece afterwards.

A 20-minute boat ride from Cancún lies the small island of Isla Mujeres with its laid-back Caribbean ambiance, tiny streets lined with stalls, and street cafés in pastel-colored houses. Golf carts and mopeds dominate the streets, and although the island is only 5 miles long and half a mile wide, it still offers plenty of things to do and see. Everything from a beautiful palm-fringed white beach on the north coast to a dramatic rocky shoreline on the eastern side to a sea turtle sanctuary and the remains of a Mayan temple at the southern tip. If you're into adventure, then you should visit the Garrafon Reef Park & Beach Club, where you can go zip-lining, snorkeling, and kayaking. Lastly, a must-visit for nature and wildlife lovers is a tour to Isla Contoy, a nature reserve only inhabited by a few biologists and restricted to 200 visitors per day.

Culloden Moor Visitor Centre is situated on the very site of the last battle to be fought on British soil. The Visitor Centre displays the clothing and weapons of the Highland clansmen and the Hanoverian redcoats who defeated Prince Charles Edward Stuart’s rebels here in April 1746.