Miami and South Beach blend iconic movie backdrops with Latin American culture: Art Deco streets, Wynwood's murals, and Little Havana's café cortadito, sugarcane juice, beer, ice cream, dominoes, cigars, and politics. Add salsa, designer shopping, speedboats, and the Everglades for rare wildlife.

Framed by misty Blue Mountains and the jewel-toned Caribbean, Port Antonio is the real Jamaica. History lingers in crumbling downtown mansions and labyrinthine backstreets perfumed by aromatic spices, while Hollywood glamour pours from powder-puff sands in Frenchman's Cove and Errol Flynn Marina. Ride bamboo rafts down the Rio Grande and cool off in Reach Falls before the Blue Lagoon beckons.

Travel through time to the Panama Canal, one of the world's great man-made wonders. In Colón, explore Colonial and Neoclassical architecture, meet the Embera in Chagres National Park, and sail Gatun Lake. Continue to forested San Lorenzo National Park for sloths, toucans, and the fort that once deterred pirates. Learn about the canal's new locks and the millions of vessels that may one day pass through.

Starfish-spotted shores and palm-thatched beaches fringe Bocas del Toro, paradisiacal archipelago on Panama's untamed Caribbean coast. Lyrical creole and rainbow birds drift between the stilted shacks of Bocas Town, shabby-chic gateway to potent marine parks and elemental mangroves where slow sloths and energetic capuchins clamber overhead. Snorkel crystalline reefs where dolphins dance or hike wild rainforest isles in search of sea turtles on castaway beaches.

Welcome to your reprieve from the 21st century. Leave the city and enter a pristine paradise devoted to wildlife preservation. Ride a narrow-gauge railway, monster truck, tree-top tram, or quiet kayak through a surreal biosphere: howler monkeys call in Cahuita National Park; jaguars and pumas prowl Tortuguero; sea cows and turtles rise in palm-fringed rivers. Pura vida continues with beach yoga, cacao-farm hikes, and convivial cooking. Live well, vivir bien.

A slice of Colombia in the Caribbean, San Andrés blends indigenous culture, echoes of English Puritan settlement, and pirate history. Emerald hills rise above coconut plantations and mangrove swamps; rocky cays once sheltered Sir Henry Morgan. Today they draw sunseekers and lizards, while divers explore coral barrier reefs in UNESCO's Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, linking San Andrés to the beaches of Providencia.

Miami and South Beach blend iconic movie backdrops with Latin American culture: Art Deco streets, Wynwood's murals, and Little Havana's café cortadito, sugarcane juice, beer, ice cream, dominoes, cigars, and politics. Add salsa, designer shopping, speedboats, and the Everglades for rare wildlife.