Lively nightclubs pulsing with Caribbean beats drive the nightlife scene of Cabarate, a breathtaking beach town. Not even the stubbornly two-left-footed can keep their toes from tapping when the sun goes down on Cabarete, which brims with culture and energy. Beachfront bars cum discotheques are the perfect spot to shake what your Mami gave you.

Well-priced, all-inclusive beach resorts are the norm around Puerto Plata. Take a cable car to the peak of Mount Isabel de Torres, enjoy a concert at an amphitheater facing the Atlantic Ocean, visit the 16th-century San Felipe Fortress. Explore the nearby falls of Damajagua, snorkel off the beautiful island of Cayo Arena or play a round of golf in spectacular surroundings. Then discover the neighbouring towns of Cabarete, a kite-boarding hub, and Sosúa, a picturesque beach spot.

The Dominican Republic lies in the same waters as Cuba and Puerto Rico, taking up the eastern two-thirds of the island it shares with Haiti. Offering a lush interior with a mix of caves, Victorian gingerbread houses and the lore of pirates, plus 900 miles of coastline along its brim, island highlights include riding a cable car up Mount Isabel de Torres and basking on stunning Saona Island. Oh, and did we mention the D.R. is family-friendly, has just about perfect weather and is affordable?

Located on the northeastern coast of the Samana Peninsula, Las Terrenas offers miles of protected inshore waters and beautiful, undeveloped white-sand-beaches, lined with tall palm trees and pastel-colored fishing boats. Trade winds and the warm temperature of the sub-tropical Atlantic Ocean bring this part of the island year-round balmy weather. With a year-round average of 77 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperatures vary only 18 degrees between summer and winter.

Brimming with historical attractions, boutique shops, antebellum mansions, restaurants, art galleries and antique shops, historic Georgetown offers a delightful escape from daily modern life. The oak-lined avenues of Georgetown, dubbed “little Charleston”, are alive with history and small town commerce. If you’ve ever wanted to see antebellum mansions, Georgetown is the place for you. There are an amazing 50-plus antebellum mansions in the area. One of the best ways to see Georgetown is by boat. Take a tour in and around Winyah Bay and the surrounding rivers and you’ll pass plantation mansions and long-abandoned rice fields. Two of the most visited plantations are Hopsewee Plantation and the Hampton Plantation State Historic Site. High on your list of local don’t miss attractions should be the Kaminski House Museum, the stately former home of a Confederate sea captain, and The Rice Museum, which details the history of this important crop through dioramas, maps, artifacts and other exhibits. Other popular activities in the Georgetown area include golf, sailing charters, eco-tours, shell collecting, deep-sea fishing and beach activities at nearby beaches. If you want to tee up, try Wedgefield Plantation Golf Club and Heritage Club, which are less than 10 minutes from Georgetown. Once you’ve geared down and de-stressed in slower paced Georgetown, you’ll have easy access to two dynamic destinations, Myrtle Beach, 36 miles away, and Charleston, 60 miles away. Myrtle Beach, known as America’s Great Golf Holiday Destination, offers more than 100 golf courses, 1,600 restaurants, shopping complexes, amusement parks and live entertainment theatres. Charleston, which is loaded with museums, Civil War sites and plantation homes and gardens, also has superb golf offerings highlighted by the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Resort.

The first time you go to New York, go ahead and be a sight-seer—everyone should visit the Statue of Liberty, the Met, Times Square, etc. But on a return trip, pick a neighbourhood and go deep. You’ll find hole-in-the-wall bars, great delis, quirky shops… exploring the non-touristy side of New York is an incredibly rewarding experience for a traveller.

Taking a light aircraft flight over the plains 200 miles south of Lima is the best way to appreciate the Nasca Lines, the World Heritage-designated geoglyphs etched into the stony desert surface. The creators and meaning behind these startlingly precise abstracts and animal figures remain a mystery, but their 1939 discovery launched a steady swarm of tourists upon this tiny town – accessible via bus from Lima, Cusco and Arequipa.

Is there any possible way Las Vegas could not be on our "best nightlife" list? The only way we could possibly omit it is on a technicality—since you can do pretty much anything 24/7 in Vegas, it might be wrong to call it "nightlife."