Beijing is a city with more than 3,000 years of recorded history and a glorious cultural heritage; yet it is also a bustling metropolis that has given birth to an artistic youth movement in recent years. The slick new veneer and upbeat energy from the 2008 Olympics remains, along with the new urban development and boom in upscale shopping and dining. Today’s Beijing is a place where ancient historical sights stand side-by-side with a thriving avant-garde culture.

In Beijing, you will find an eclectic music scene that is a mix of centuries-old tradition, thoroughly modern experimentation and cheesy pop culture. We’ve rounded up where you can check out these three styles of music in the city:

This is by no means a definitive list; we are constantly on the hunt for the newest, coolest hotel lounges. But these 10 definitely make our list of hip, interesting spots to sip a libation and soak up a great atmosphere.

There are some places we travel to where we are surrounded by locales from famous movie scenes that are instantly recognizable. The Park Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo from Lost in Translation, the streets of downtown Chicago from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; the castles of Salzburg, Austria from The Sound of Music, or the rolling green hills of New Zealand from The Lord of the Rings.

Set on the southern coast of Spain, yet clinging to a language and culture all its own, Barcelona is a city with one foot firmly rooted in the past and the other planted jubilantly in the modern world. It’s a study in contrasts; it’s definitely Spanish yet is the capital of Catalonia, a region with its own character and a language spoken by only nine million people. Many Catalonians consider it a separate country from Spain

Barcelona has pioneered the introduction of sports to Spain since the end of the 19th century. This tradition has given the city a legacy of sporting clubs, some of which are a century old and enjoy great international prestige. The city leapt onto the collective international consciousness with the 1992 Olympic Games, but for the people who live here, sports are just a way of life.

The columns stretching above my head were slender and graceful, the ceiling undulating and spiraling away in plaster waves. Walls and corners were rounded, decorated with bits of circular colored glass and mosaic tiles. There wasn’t a corner, square or hard edge in sight.

For those who love nothing better than taking in a virtuoso musical performance or rocking out at a concert, what could be better than an impressive line-up of some of the best musicians in the world? Summer brings a wide variety of world-class music festivals from which to choose.

For those who love to travel and appreciate the endless variety of art found worldwide—and throughout history—the globe is one giant museum. Feast your eyes on our top destination picks for art aficionados.