Bask on four miles of golden beaches, hit the Mediterranean Sea on water skis or stroll along Benidorm's promenade and revel in its seaside charms; it's a true Spanish beauty of the Costa Blanca.

The "joie de vivre" is palpable and contagious in this vibrant, culturally diverse and cosmopolitan city of two million inhabitants.

Phuket offers a rainbow spectrum of spectacular vacation sights from blue lagoons and pink sunsets to orange-robed monks.

If watching the sunrise from atop a 10,000-foot volcano, swimming under waterfalls, hiking through craters and luxuriating on white-, red- and even black-sand beaches sounds like paradise, then Maui awaits.