The works in this year's portfolio are compelling enough to inspire their own pilgrimages, but there's more to each locale than just the new design. Read on for more to see and do—and what's coming up—around the latest architectural masterpieces.

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA

Daniel Libeskind's addition to the Royal Ontario Museum isn't the only piece of high-profile architecture to arrive in town. Now closed, the Art Gallery of Ontario is set to reopen this fall after a redesign conceived by Frank Gehry. A local boy made good, Gehry is transforming the Bauhaus northern side of the old building into what looks like the world's largest solar panel, a tilting, warped sheet of clear glass and blue titanium cladding (317 Dundas St. W.; 416-979-6648; ago.net).

One of the sleeker properties in town, the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel feels a bit like a museum itself, thanks to the Dale Chihuly glasswork displayed liberally throughout (416-599-8800; doubles, $285–$385).

QINHUANGDAO, CHINA

Meandering as it does through the Tanghe River Park, the Red Ribbon echoes the big tourist draw to this city of two million: the Great Wall. The eastern end of the ancient marvel stands in the city's Shanhaiguan area, and portions of the wall itself, built in the 14th century, have been integrated into the neighborhood. Especially popular is the Zhendong Tower, a 45-foot prospect from which you can see the wall roll out before you on one side, with the waves of the Bohai Sea on the other.

In Qinhuangdao's Haigang business district, the Great Wall Hotel is one of the few Western-style lodgings, with air-conditioning and satellite TV in the 150 modest guest rooms (86-335-306-1666; doubles, $65–$75).

NORDBORG, DENMARK

It's a 40-minute flight from Copenhagen to Sønderborg, which is a short drive from Nordborg, where you'll find Danfoss Universe, the science museum that's the site of Jürgen Mayer H.'s otherworldly Cumulus building. Nordborg is a company town, with most residents working for the heating--engineering conglomerate that gives the attraction its name. Danfoss Universe is not the first family-friendly destination in South Jutland. The Danish region just north of the German border is also home to kid faves Givskud Zoo, the country's largest animal park (3 Løveparkvej, Givskud; 45-7573-0222; givskudzoo.dk); Egeskov, a 16th-century castle with collections of antique cars, ambulances, and airplanes, as well as a massive dollhouse cum palace and several mazes (18 Egeskov Gade, Kværndrup; 45-6227-1016; egeskov.dk); and, of course, the original Legoland, where aspiring architects can take in the great buildings of the world in miniature, when they're not dressing up like pirates or riding the flume in a canoe (9 Nordmarksvej, Billund; 45-7533-1333; legoland.dk).

Visitors are usually on business and stay at the Hotel Nørherredhus, the nearest lodgings. Proximity isn't the only thing it has going for it, though. Built in the 1960s with Danish modern lines, the hotel was recently refurbished with blond wood, stone accents, and bold geometric carpets and upholstery (45-7445-0111; nhhus.dk; doubles, $155–$230).

LONDON, ENGLAND

Architect Norman Foster's hometown has seen a bumper crop of the Pritzker Prize–winner's output this decade. His Great Court at the British Museum, whose fishnet glass roof seems to spring out of the roof of the reading room and onto the surrounding building (Great Russell St.; 44-20-7323- 8299; britishmuseum.org), and 30 St. Mary Axe, his bulging skyscraper lovingly called "The Gherkin" (44-20-7071-5011), have done more than any other structure to change the face of London. Foster fans will soon have another project to ogle: A hotel of his design, Silken Aldwych, opens at the end of this year on the Strand.

For a peek at what else the future holds for this ever-evolving city, visit New London Architecture, where a scale model of the center of town is surrounded by plans for upcoming projects, including Renzo Piano's Shard, which, when it opens in 2011 on the Southwark end of London Bridge, will be the tallest building in Europe (26 Store St.; 44-20-7636-4044; newlondonarchitecture.org).

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

When it's completed later this year, the Burj Dubai not only will be the tallest man-made structure in the world but will house the first Armani Hotel on its bottom 37 floors. The 175 guest rooms will have furnishings from the Casa Armani line, and amenities will include a spa, two restaurants, and a nightclub. Visitors to Dubai who don't want to foot the steep room rate can go to the observation decks on the tower's top two floors. In the meantime, you can stay at the original Dubai tower hotel, the Burj Al Arab, the thousand-foot dhow-shaped structure that is the icon on the city's burgeoning skyline, and the tallest building in the world to be used exclusively as a hotel. Inside, the bright I Dream of Jeannie interiors are a jolt to the retinas, but the Persian Gulf views, particularly from the rooftop bar and restaurant, are worth the price of admission (971-4-301-7777; suites, $1,635– $3,268).

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES

New York's Bowery, where the New Museum now resides, is still lined primarily with restaurant supply shops and flophouses. If you walk several blocks, though, you will find the kind of chic boutiques that the refurbished Lower East Side is becoming famous for. Two not to miss: Le Labo, where a perfumer will blend a scent with your name on it (233 Elizabeth St.; 212-219-2230), and Steven Alan, the namesake boutique of a downtown designer known for his artfully rumpled button-downs and other hipster staples (229 Elizabeth St.; 212-226-7482).

The Bowery Hotel, which opened last year just north of Houston Street—with its doormen in red waistcoats and bowler hats, a lobby with dark wood paneling, and rooms with tapestry curtains—is another sign that the neighborhood is going upscale. Its restaurant, Gemma, turns out rustic Italian cuisine such as frito misto and rigatoni in meat sauce-, and the bar provides just the kind of beautiful-people scene you'd expect from the designers of such celeb magnets as Chelsea's Maritime Hotel and the Waverly Inn, in the West Village (212-505-9100; doubles, $495–$550; entrées, $19–$36).

WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES

Like the 19th-century Old Patent Office Building itself, now capped with Lord Foster's new wavy glass roof over its courtyard, the collections found inside span the ages and justify the walk four blocks north of the mall. The canvases in the National Portrait Gallery run the gamut from Gilbert Stuart's many iconic likenesses of George Washington to David Hockney's iconoclastic studies of mavericks such as Man Ray and Billy Wilder (F St. at 8th St. N.W.; 202-633-8300; npg.si.edu). The American Art Museum's collection ranges from early colonial works, including oils of prosperous merchant families, to mixed media installations and site-specific sculptures by major contemporary artists like Jenny Holzer (202-633-1000; americanart.si.edu).

Culture vultures who want to explore the various Smithsonian buildings should check in to the Mandarin Oriental, near the Tidal Basin. Lord Foster would certainly approve of its modern take on Eastern design (202-554-8588; doubles, $595–$735).