Escape the crowds in America’s iconic desert landscape. Start with a lesson in canyoneering—exploring the slot canyons of Utah’s Zion National Park by foot and rope—followed by a stay at the new Amangiri, near Lake Powell, in Utah. A three-day raft trip through the Grand Canyon includes hikes and gourmet food. Next, ascend for a rim-side dinner and visit remote Havasu Canyon

On this action-packed wilderness trip, you’ll spot whales and porpoises from a kayak, watch icebergs calve with a glacier expert, hike to North America’s largest ice field, and pedal past wildflower-strewn meadows and valleys. Plus, a marine biologist will bring you behind the scenes at a sea-life rehab center.

Assist in the earthquake recovery by rebuilding a boys’ home in Port-au-Prince or a school computer lab in Jacmel. Besides volunteering, you’ll visit waterfalls and white-sand beaches, hear musical performances, and meet metalworkers transforming oil drums into sculptures.

A four-country tour of pre-Columbian history and culture includes stops at Mayan sites Copán and Lamanai, plus a spine-tingling sunrise hike to Tikal outside of visiting hours. You’ll interact with locals at area markets that most tourists don’t see, zipline over Lake Atitlán, and fly a giant Guatemalan kite, a multihued construction handmade from tissue paper and flown to honor the dead.

A five-day exploration of Cartagena’s Old City, Spanish-colonial architecture, and buzzing neighborhoods—with a private villa decorated by Colombian fashion designer Hernán Zajar as your base—is only a prelude for the real showstopper: an expedition to the Lost City of the Sierra Nevada, founded in A.D. 800. Whereas most people hack through thick jungle to get there, you’ll chopper in and hike 90 minutes to the mountainside site, a series of 250 stone terraces still inhabited by indigenous tribes.

Stay in an eco-lodge situated at the headwaters of the Amazon and run by the Huaorani, one of the most isolated ethnic groups on earth: first contacted by the outside world only 55 years ago, they speak a language that is unrelated to any other. You’ll learn to use a blowgun, hear their leader relate the tribe’s fight against oil exploration, and take a two-day meander down the Shiripuno River in kayaks, watching for tropical birds and monkeys.

Expert guides and special access help tame Patagonia’s rugged landscape. On Península Valdés, watch sea lions and whales from your cliffside villa, which is stocked with limited-production Malbecs. Meet with a glaciologist before an ice-trekking excursion on Perito Moreno. In Ushuaia, you’ll stay in a lodge overlooking the Beagle Channel, which you’ll explore by paddle with a former canoeist from the Argentinean Olympic team.

Pedal through the gardens and sunflower fields of the Loire Valley, touring grands châteaux, tasting little-known wines such as Domaine de Noiré Chinon, and dining at the home of the renowned chef Jean-Claude Rigollet. Only B&R stays at the 15th-century Château du Rivau, where Joan of Arc was once a guest.

See Russia like a Romanov, with access to buildings closed to most. In Moscow, view the Kremlin’s Faceted Chamber, where the czars held receptions, and go backstage at the circus. In St. Petersburg, explore the Hermitage and meet with a curator specializing in a genre of your choosing. In between are a caviar tasting and a seven-day luxury cruise up the Volga River.

Spend three days in Istanbul, then head to Termessos, one of Turkey’s most complete—and least visited—classical ruins, a mountainside fortress that resisted the armies of Alexander the Great. Afterward, board a gulet, a traditional wooden vessel, and sail the Turquoise Coast, with stops at sites where Greek and Roman myths originated.