Places Alex Mayyasi Wants to Go

Paranormal experiences in this hotel's room 217 led Stephen King to write "The Shining."

A cozy bookstore is tucked within an old gold mine shaft beneath the cafe and ice cream shop.

Hidden in an Italian forest is a completely homemade amusement park that has taken a lifetime to create.

Learn the fine art of making a centuries-old treat at this hands-on food museum.

A microbiologist-chef is slinging noodles with hyperlocal Nordic ingredients.

An architect in Aspen used psychedelics as his muse while building this mushroom masterpiece.

Taste freshly foraged yarrow and black locust blossoms at this ambitious cocktail bar.

No one really knows how these old hobby horses got here, but the herd keeps growing.

The frozen treats at this Cape Town parlor are inspired by Africa's food cultures.

This secluded aqua waterfall in the Grand Canyon is the perfect swimming hole, and the Havasupai tribe's fiercely protected natural wonder.

Cool down and fill up after visiting Teotihuacán at this bar and restaurant in a deep, underground cave.

One man's love for East Coast diner culture brought an entire eatery all the way from New Jersey to Colorado.

This curious fresh and salt water lake holds a secret that draws in deep divers from around the world.

From 135 feet high riders plunge down the world's tallest freestanding body slide at 65 mph.

This massive subterranean fissure is known as the "underground Grand Canyon."

In Rome’s Jewish ghetto, a 200-year-old bakery still makes the neighborhood’s historic sweets.

The sign that drew attention to a young boy's cucumber stand is now the name of his fruit superstore.

Read a book with a glass of wine at this classically restored bar.

Established over a thousand years ago, this family-run teahouse continues to serve skewers of sweet rice cake to this day.

A vineyard devoted entirely to an unexplored flavor frontier.

For a buck, students can snag freshly picked apples grown in the university orchards.

Cloistered comestibles are served with style at this French Orthodox monastery.

Huts like this were once a hub for the female divers who collected pearls and seafood off Japan's coasts.

A 19th-century artistocrat's mansion, turned into a library, hidden in a modern library.