With its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, Spain today is the culmination of thousands of years of trade, exploration and exposure to cultures from around the globe. Beyond its seemingly endless coastline, Spain boasts epic mountain ranges, world class cities, incredibly friendly people and intoxicating traditional music, food and drink. A trip here is sure to leave you spellbound, so we've highlighted seven of our favorite hotels across a wide array of Backroads adventures in Spain.

Floating atop the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic Sea, a 110-year-old wooden masterpiece named Bozidar, meaning “God’s gift,” awaits our arrival. As we finish our hike through charming coastal villages, centuries-old olive groves and secluded bays, the rocky trail conveniently ends at a small dock where Bozidar’s dingy picks us up to whisk us out to our group’s private boat for the week.

The landscape of Ha Long Bay, located just a few hours east of Hanoi, is among the most unique in the world. According to legend, several thousand years ago the burgeoning nation of Vietnam summoned the Mother Dragon to help them fight off an influx of invaders, which they did using divine fire and giant emeralds. The remnants of this fictitious battle can now be seen in the form of immense limestone pillars and tiny islets surrounded by emerald blue waters. This stunning series of earth and water formations combined with a multitude of classic junk boats, give the place a mystic, timeless feel. This UNESCO World Heritage site should be high on your adventure list--here are a few tips to make the most of your visit!

Here are our top picks for some of the best family adventures this summer!

The high desert is one of those places always worth visiting, particularly in the spring. Seemingly barren at first glance, it's the small springtime pops of paintbrush red, prickly pear pink, penstemon magenta and cliffrose white that draw our attention. These blossoms help us understand that the desert is not just a giant sandbox, but rather a colorful landscape teeming with life.

Working as a Backroads Trip Leader in Tuscany certainly has its perks. Besides the great food and wine, there is a fabulous cycling culture supported by an excellent infrastructure of well-paved and well-marked roads. Over the years I've created a list of my favorite rides in the region, some featured on our Backroads trips and others a combination of local favorites. Here are my top five bike rides that showcase the best of the heart of Tuscany, the idyllic region between Florence, Arezzo and Siena.

My Backroads guests and I have just piled into the Sunnbüel cable car and we're ready to ascend over 3,800 feet to begin our hike across the Gimme Pass. It's day two of our Switzerland Walking & Hiking Trip and I'm about to tell my guests something that I know nobody will believe.

Martin surprised me with a six-day cycling trip to Hawaii's Big Island for my 60th birthday. What a great way to start a new decade —riding a bicycle in paradise!

Upon setting foot in Scotland you can’t help but feel its storied past around every corner. In a land where each vista has the power to still the heart, the remnants of a forgotten time persist. At any given moment you may discover the crumbling remains of a castle that speaks to the power of those long gone, or the decaying shell of a remote homestead that illustrates the harsh life its previous inhabitants experienced. It’s a land of shifting light across verdant glens and ancient mountains. Geographically as far north as parts of Scandinavia, this windswept and weather-beaten landscape has tested the resiliency of the Scottish people for eons.

Imagine icebergs illuminated by pale sunlight at midnight, the sunrise at 2 a.m. over a thundering waterfall, or a day of hiking that ends with an 11 p.m. soak in a natural hot spring. These things are a reality in Iceland where, for about two months every year, the sun never sets. This is the “midnight sun,” a legendary peculiarity of Iceland’s far north, where the sun might set a little—dipping below the horizon at, say, one in the morning, and rising again at two—but the sky remains light and night never falls.