From Islamabad to Mexico City; Our correspondents' best bets for travelers

In previous weeks we covered Rome with Christine Spolar; Moscow with Alex J. Rodriguez; London with Tom Hundley, now posted in Chicago; Israel with Joel Greenberg; Lebanon, Syria and Jordan with Liz Sly; and Africa with Laurie Goering, now posted in London. This week we're on to points in Asia, plus Beijing; Islamabad, Pakistan; and Mexico City.

Evan Osnos, Beijing

1. My favorite place: The hutongs, or alleys, of central Beijing. In a city of epic monuments -- The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Olympic stadiums -- these narrow streets, first laid out by Mongol invaders centuries ago, make for some of the world's best walking. They are lined by low-slung houses and alive with shops and schools and playgrounds. If you zig and zag through the hutongs, you can cross all of downtown Beijing with little to remind you which century it is.

2. Best place no one knows about: Xihai, or West Lake. This is the unsung hero of Beijing's great lakes. Created by Kublai Khan, the lake complex in central Beijing has been largely overrun by loud bars and neon-lit cafes, which is a pity. But Xihai is just outside the reach of the nightclub frontier, so it remains an idyllic spot for strolling or fishing or, if you're a Chinese teenager, attaching yourself to the face of your classmate.

3. Best meal for taste and ambience: The Source. Try this place for Sichuan cooking with an artisanal twist. It offers a set menu of dishes you will never have tried, reliably delicious, all in a serene, reconstructed courtyard home in the eye of Beijing's urban storm. Book early or you might get shut out by the frequent visitors from European embassies.

4. Why you should come here: Beijing is, today, what Chicago was in the late 19th Century: a throbbing, ambitious monument to the powers of self-invention. This moment will eventually pass, so see this city before it becomes homogenized.

5. A shopping tip: Bargain with energy but restraint. China is still inexpensive for Westerners, so there are few sights as inelegant as a sun-burned tourist haggling for pennies over a ceramic Buddha, with a vendor who needs those pennies more than you do. Expect to knock a third or more off the initial price in a market (shops have fixed prices), but don't get carried away.

6. Best way to get around: The subway is clean and fast and growing (miles of new track go online every year). And it beats sitting in traffic that is known to grind to a dead halt from 4 until 8 p.m. If you're not around a subway and you see a cyclo-pedicab driver, take it. But ask for the price before you get on board.

7. Safety/security tip: Beijing is a safe city, so it's OK to walk outside late at night. Watch out not for thieves but for scams. A common scam around tourist sites involves a friendly young Chinese "student" who wants to practice English with you over tea. When the bill comes, you might end up on the hook for a $50 cup of tea.

8. When friends come to visit I always take them to . . . Panjiayuan flea market. This is the promised land for anyone who likes flea markets. There is the usual assortment of tchotchkes -- Mao watches, silk and lanterns -- but there also are treasures that vendors bring from the countryside: store signs, farm implements, cookware. They aren't valuable, but they bear the nicks and dings of a turbulent century.

9. Best photo op: The Bell Tower. This imperial-era brick tower in the heart of Beijing is a delight to see, but it also refers to a neighborhood around it. On a clear day -- choose wisely -- you can see in every direction, and there are rarely other visitors.

10. Don't miss: Having a bowl of noodles or a few shish kebabs on the street on a summer night. This is how much of Beijing eats dinner or a late-night snack, and you can slurp up some street flavor along with whatever is being offered. People invariably are nice and helpful, and the food couldn't be fresher. Watch out if someone offers you moonshine.

Laurie Goering, Asia at large

1. My favorite place: Bhutan, a tiny Himalayan Shangri-La complete with stunning Buddhist monasteries, beautiful forests, clear mountain streams and a great national sense of humor. No wonder it measures life in Gross National Happiness.

2. Best place no one knows about: Sri Lanka. The seafood is spectacular, the beaches even better, and five-star hotels are ridiculously cheap thanks to the country's long civil war.

3. Best meal for taste and ambience: A big box of Indian Alphonso mangos, the best in the world, eaten anywhere. Nothing in the world is tastier than these sweet, bright orange gems.

4. Why you should come here: Southern Asia can be hot, trying and likely to give you a case of Delhi belly, the region's answer to Mexico's Montezuma's revenge. But just one night's stay on a houseboat on Kashmir's Dal Lake, with its view of the Himalayas, can make you forget it all.

5. A shopping tip: India's one of the best places in the world for reproductions of just about anything. Bring that favorite outfit from home and a local seamstress can make you another at a price so low you'll pay twice what was asked just out of a sense of decency. Or bring along a catalog photo of a piece of furniture you can't afford at home and have one made to order.

6. Best way to get around: You can't beat the first-class tourist train from New Delhi to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. By all means avoid making the trip on the painfully slow, roach-infested second-class coaches, however.

7. Safety/security tip: When traveling in India, women should leave shorts and short skirts out of the suitcase or suffer undue attention from men. "Eve Teasing" -- touching or verbally harassing pretty or provocatively dressed women -- can be a problem.

8. When friends come to visit I always take them to . . . New Delhi's Lodi Gardens with its spectacular Moghul tombs and legions of Indian families out enjoying the day. Bring a picnic!

9. Best photo op: Elephants, camels and white wedding horses joining New Delhi's already chaotic traffic during wedding season, which usually hits its peak in November and March.

10. Don't miss: White-water rafting down the sacred River Ganges from the hills above Rishikesh, in India's Himalayan foothills.

Kim Barker, Islamabad

1. My favorite place: The hiking trails of the Margalla Hills, just above Islamabad. Although not as majestic as the mountains in northern Pakistan, the trails here -- especially Trail 5, which no one seems to know about -- provide an escape from Pakistan and urban life. Here it's possible to wear shorts -- albeit long ones -- and a loose T-shirt and go on a three-hour hike, away from typical societal constraints, curious eyes and most people. On the more crowded Trail 3, some of the best scenery is the flirting between young Pakistanis. Some men even hang signs on trees, looking for women they spotted on earlier hikes. It's like an ice-cream social, only up the side of a steep hill.

2. Best place no one knows about: The hole-in-the-wall store in the bustling city of Rawalpindi, just outside Islamabad, that sells household items like watering cans and teapots, painted with psychedelic fluorescent designs including hot-pink trees, purple skies and monkeys with four ears. The store is so local that its name, Tribal Truck Art, isn't even outside the door. Find it by heading down to the market known for selling truck accessories such as metal fish and metal windmills, then ask someone on the street for the old toothless man who paints teapots. A fun Saturday afternoon can include driving to another market in Rawalpindi, which specializes in metal trunks, buying a trunk and telling the toothless man who runs the truck art store to do whatever he wants. He is a genius. He is also not afraid of glitter.

3. Best meal for taste and ambience: The Talking Fish Restaurant across the street from Jinnah Supermarket. This restaurant has several things that others in Islamabad don't -- fish, beer and soft lighting.

4. Why you should come here: Come to Islamabad as a launching point to see Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Lahore or the mountains up north. Pakistan has gorgeous ancient sights, stunning mountains and hospitable people. It's important geopolitically for obvious reasons, but one visit here will likely erase stereotypes of the entire country as a haven for terrorists.

5. A shopping tip: At outdoor markets and bazaars with stalls, never pay what you are asked. Offer one-third of the price demanded. Settle on half if you're in an area with a lot of foreigners, two-thirds if not. In fixed-price stores, though, pay what's on the price tag. Otherwise you're being tacky.

6. Best way to get around: By car. In relatively sterile Islamabad, drive yourself. In Rawalpindi or elsewhere, with all the donkey-drawn carts and rickshaws, don't even think about it.

7. Safety/security tip: In public, to blend in and show respect for the culture and Islam, a woman should wear a long-sleeved loose blouse that drapes to her midthigh and a long skirt or pants. A Western man can get away with wearing what he wants but watch the tight T-shirts. In more conservative areas such as Peshawar, women should cover their hair with scarves. No matter what, don't drink black-market booze in public, swear loudly in public or accept rides from strangers.

8. When friends come to visit I always take them to . . . the Serena, one of the top hotels in Islamabad. With plenty of restaurants, a good gym and an outdoor swimming pool, plus a cushy cafe with outdoor seating, the Serena is a bit of the West in the East. Plus, most of the other places I once took guests have closed because of security fears or nearby suicide blasts.

9. Best photo op: Near the house of A.Q. Khan, under house arrest for selling nuclear secrets to countries such as Iran and North Korea. But good luck -- signs on his street in the E-7 neighborhood of Islamabad prohibit pictures, and the mustachioed guards outside glare at any passers-by suspiciously.

10. Don't miss: Mango season. The mangos of Pakistan are rivaled only by those of India and available only during the late spring and summer months. They are a meal in their own right, and many Pakistanis insist there is an art to eating the juicy fruit correctly. I eat them in the pool.

Oscar D. Avila, Mexico City

1. My favorite place: Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine-Arts Palace). A triple threat of architecture, art and live performance, this Art Deco masterpiece houses jarringly violent murals from Diego Rivera and other masters under a delicate multicolored dome. The building's contents will make you think, but its beauty will make you feel.

2. Best place no one knows about: Cuernavaca has long outgrown its status as a tranquil day trip from Mexico City. Try Tepoztlan, about an hour south, where a New Agey vibe takes root in a spectacularly scenic valley.

3. Best meal for taste and ambience: Contramar is a great example of the city's new tradition of inventive upscale fare that relies on native ingredients. Businessmen and local hipsters pack the place (lunch only) for a menu of nearly all seafood. Try the pescado al pastor, shredded meat marinated in a variety of chiles.

4. Why you should come here: Because Mexicans aren't just our neighbors across the Rio Grande, they are our neighbors in Elgin, Logan Square, etc. And 20 million of them are ready to get to know you less than a four-hour flight away.

5. A shopping tip: If your conscience is cool with pirated music, the Metro subway system is a convenient spot from which to stock your Spanish CD collection. Vendors with boomboxes often board the trains to offer CDs for about $1 each.

6. Best way to get around: Distances being what they are, an efficient way to pack in a lot of sights is the double-decker Turibus, complete with English audio tour.

7. Safety/security tip: The warnings about avoiding dangerous unlicensed taxis are real. When you get dropped off for dinner or a drink, write down the telephone number of licensed taxi stands you walk by. That way, you can pass them along to waiters who will be happy to call for pickup later in the evening.

8. When friends come to visit I take them to . . . A cantina. Once male-only, rough-and-tumble spots, these old-school establishments now cram in men, women and sometimes families for cheap drinks, snacks and bonding over dominoes and televised soccer. Some of the classic ones, in the Centro Historico, have hardly changed in decades.

9. Best photo op: The pyramids of Teotihuacan are wonders. But for the best shots, get an early night's sleep and arrive before dawn to catch the sunrise from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. The view is worth the lung-straining climb.

10. Don't miss: Lucha Libre wrestling. For all the campiness of the masked wrestlers, there is a real art to their costumes, showmanship and -- yes -- athleticism. The show also is in the stands, where the faithful heckle and hail the competitors. Outsiders are welcome to classic venues such as the sweaty "Arena Coliseo."