Marina Village is a palm-lined waterfront esplanade where luxury yachts are moored. Dine al fresco in one of the fine restaurants with views to the southern Whitsunday Islands or enjoy water-based activities such as snorkelling, fishing, jet skiing and parasailing. Next door is Harbour Beach and the Pine Islet Lighthouse — the only working kerosene-lit lighthouse in the world.

This interactive museum is an exceptional place to gain a deeper understanding of Warsaw’s history. It was founded in commemoration of an event that profoundly changed the city: the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Listen to the oral accounts given by insurgents, go down into the sewers — similar to the ones that insurgents used to move around the city — and see The City of Ruins, a bird’s-eye view of Warsaw burnt to the ground. Don’t forget to see the murals painted by Polish artists on the Wall of Art. The museum building is interesting in its own right since it was previously an old electric power plant for trams.

Those who live and work here say that you don’t really need to explain where the Jeker quarter is: Once you’re there, you’ll know. This is where the locals stroll the streets at their leisure, students read in the park, and you can spend a whole Sunday on a café terrace, a wisp of jazz music in the air in the background, and never get bored. The Jeker quarter is nestled between the old city walls and centuries-old houses, bordered by the green of the city park. Although people have lived here for centuries, no one has ever explored it all. Enterprise is deeply rooted in the genes of this community: A history full of crafts and trades has left its marks, and forged the unique, authentic, innovative and creative atmosphere you feel here today. And right through the middle of it, that impudent little river, the Jeker, flows brazenly on. The quaint streets, stately homes, and idyllic parks have everything to make history come alive, while the rich student life, mix of young and old, culinary highlights, and abundant art and culture pull you back to the present.

You’ll feel like you’ve crossed the border, but you’re not quite there yet. Of course, you’re aware that Maastricht’s central location in the Euregio means you can be in Belgium very quickly. But you don’t really feel it until you see how the city, and the countryside around it, is layered with a unique mix of foreign influences. With the Sint Pietersberg hill, the historic caves, the vineyards, Fort Sint Pieter, and Château Neercanne as backdrop, this part of the city has everything you need to capture that holiday feeling. Sint Pieter was its own municipality until 1920. This part of the city was always outside the city walls (and so had it the toughest in times of war). Then, it was mainly farmers who lived here; now, it’s mostly families, epicureans, and a few descendants of the inhabitants of that old Sint Pieter. Today, Sint Pieter is Maastricht’s most popular residential district, not just for its beautiful houses but because of its ideal location between city and green. And it still feels like its own town, with its own social life, and charm, even though it’s just a stone’s throw away from the city park. In fact, it has the best of both worlds: village and city. Nature and culture.