Bermuda
Bermuda is a hop, skip, and jump from New York City — two hours there, two hours back. When here, check out the island's pink-sand beaches (Horseshoe Bay is a great place to start), mosey around the shops and restaurants making up the pastel-hued city of Hamilton (hearty breakfasts at Devil's Isle and sushi dinners at Pearl are musts), and undergo a tantalizing massage at the Natura Cave Spa at Grotto Bay Beach Resort (the spa and its treatment rooms are situated deep inside a cave — yes, you read that right).
When here, I like to stay at Cambridge Beaches — it's this recently-revamped upscale stay that boasts 86 pretty-in-pink cottages with expansive patios that face the sea (the cocktail bar here, Sunken Harbor Club, is the latest outpost by award-winning mixologist and restaurateur, St. John Frizell of Sunken Harbor Club in Brooklyn). If you're feeling free-spirited, rent a scooter at the hotel and ride around the island, where you'll admire verdant landscapes, sumptuous homes clad in different colors, tourist-free towns, plus idyllic beaches.
[Photo via Cambridge Beaches]