Majorca's famous resort town has, since the '90s, put in a serious effort to shake off its reputation as a haven for youthful vacation chaos.

Magaluf is known for its sheer number of nightlife venues — more than 800 nightclubs, pubs, bars, and discos. British youth vacationing in Magaluf earned a rough reputation among locals for mass public-order violations while heavily intoxicated. Magaluf has even seen fatalities from "balconing" — a once-trendy stunt among young tourists of jumping into a hotel pool directly from their room's balcony.

But instead of an endless string of drunken parties, the priority has shifted toward spending time somewhere atmospheric, with access to sports, healthy food, and plenty of Instagram-worthy views. And hotels built around exactly that idea are starting to appear there. ME Melia is one example.

Rooms come equipped with what now feel like essential details: ports for iPad, iPod, and laptop, built-in speakers, an expanded minibar, organic toiletries. The hotel even has so-called "aura managers" — staff who learn each guest's interests and quietly shape the surrounding atmosphere, like conductors leading an orchestra. Even the hotel's lighting shifts depending on the time of day. It's a little startling: in the morning, the lobby plays a song you recently Shazam'd; by dinner, your favorite wine shows up on the table; and the cafés and clubs the managers recommend turn out to be ones you genuinely like.

Søndervig has been one of Denmark's most popular and well-developed seaside resorts since the 19th century, prized especially for its wide, white sandy beach. Søndervig recently built a dedicated "nature trail" offering excellent access for strollers and wheelchairs. Lifeguards are on duty on the beach from June 29 to August 22, 2018. The town has a thriving cultural calendar — the link below lists its regular events: the Sand Sculpture Festival, a flea market, the Saint John's Eve (Sankthans) Festival, a winter swimming festival, and more.

Arambol is the largest and most tourist-developed coastal village on Goa's northern coast. This resort is popular mainly with "wild tourists" — junkies, trance-heads, freaks, and hippies. By day, people fly kites and go kitesurfing here; by evening, they meditate, practice yoga, and rehearse fire-show tricks.

Arambol Market. This is a one-of-a-kind attraction here, located on Main Street. It carries pretty much everything sold anywhere in India: local and Nepali clothing, tea and spices, incense and figurines, blankets, hammocks, hookahs, hundreds of types of pipes and related accessories, plus a wide selection of fruit and vegetables.

Located in what's jokingly called the "Thai Himalayas" — there are sulfur hot springs here. No sea, but it's a resort with a genuinely creative infrastructure.

Pai is a small, deeply charming town in Mae Hong Son province, in northern Thailand. Route 1095 runs there from Chiang Mai — about a 130 km drive.

One of Koh Phangan's most scenic, long, and popular beaches. This is where the world-famous Full Moon Party takes place, drawing young travelers from all over the globe.

A long stretch of clubs, bars, and restaurants runs along the entire southern side of the beach (the northern side, by contrast, is given over to large hotel complexes). Every night the resort fills with the latest techno and trance tracks, and going to bed before sunrise is considered downright bad form.

Ubud is located in central Bali. This town is a world away from the typical tipsy tourists and bikini-clad crowds you'd find in Kuta, and is considered Bali's cultural center. It's known as a hub of art and craftsmanship — at first glance, both the town and its surrounding villages seem to consist of nothing but artists' workshops and galleries. There's a range of notable architectural landmarks and other attractions here, and altogether, thanks to the atmosphere, the surrounding nature, and the local climate, the whole place creates an overall sense of wellbeing that's genuinely worth savoring.

There are museums and art galleries.
Ubud isn't on the beach, but its aesthetic appeal matters just as much — especially since the beach itself is only about half an hour away.

Canggu is a neighborhood, or district, in North Kuta that's earned a reputation over the past few years as Bali's trendiest spot.
Unlike Kuta itself, which everyone associates with noise and chaos, Canggu is a fairly ordinary resort area, with a stretch of beach running some 10 kilometers (or really, several beaches strung together) and plenty of villas. Tourists and the pushy vendors chasing after them are somewhat thinner on the ground here.

What makes Canggu interesting is how design-driven it is. There's a lot of unconventional interior and exterior work here, plenty of graffiti, and the whole place breathes creativity.

Canggu blends surfing, yoga, and Balinese authenticity about as well as it's possible to, and layers on top of that the energy of its bars and the stylishness of its cafés and restaurants. On top of all that, it sits conveniently close to Seminyak, Bali's best-known party destination.

I'd recommend staying at least one night at the Ravesis hotel, right on the beach, spending a day sprawled out on the pristine white sand, and grabbing a bite at Bondi Icebergs or Bondi Social. We came here for two days for the famous Festival of the Winds in September.

It only runs one day a year, and it's an absolutely incredible sight — hundreds of kites in every imaginable design filling the sky above the beach! For swimming, the northern end of the beach is the better choice if you're not into surfing. The beach is protected by long underwater shark nets.

All the usual amenities are here — changing rooms, showers, even a Sunday morning market. A great spot for a beach day. Best visited on a weekday, since weekends bring out a lot of local surfers and families.

Daytona Beach isn't just a racing town — it's also one of the best beaches around for surfers. Another famous local attraction is "Pirate's Island," a golf club the city takes real pride in.
Daytona Beach seems practically made by nature for a botanical garden. All kinds of rare plants, orchids included, grow right out in the open air. The garden's designers "brought the landscape to life" by installing "living" dinosaurs — moving mechanical figures of ancient reptiles — throughout the grounds.

Plenty of students and youth-oriented infrastructure here too:
The University of Dayton is one of the ten largest universities in the US, founded in 1850. According to U.S. News & World Report's 2010 rankings of best US colleges, the University of Dayton placed 99th, and the Dayton Research Institute is considered one of the best in America. Students from 40 different countries attend the university.