Moca, Puerto Rico

Moca sits in the rolling hills of the noroeste, a short drive inland from Aguadilla. Its identity is woven into mundillo, a delicate handmade lace technique brought from Spain and kept alive here in a way it isn't anywhere else in Puerto Rico. The annual Festival Nacional del Mundillo turns the plaza into an open studio where artisans show pattern books that have passed through three or four generations.

Beyond the lace, Moca rewards a slow visit. The Palacete Los Moreau — a French-style mansion tied to Enrique Laguerre's novel La Llamarada — anchors a stretch of cane-country history, and the Iglesia Nuestra Señora de la Monserrate has watched over the plaza since the 1700s. The roads out of town climb into coffee fincas and quiet farmland, the kind of countryside you only really see if someone local takes you.