Crossing the Northwest Passage from the Pacific coast of Canada to Greenland and the Atlantic wasn't something you could do in the past, but due to a dramatic retreat in the summer sea ice it was navigable last year for the first time since monitoring began. Cruises that currently head up the inland waterway in Alaska may slowly inch further north as the glaciers recede.

You may not see Santa, but with large parts of the Arctic navigable, a sailing voyage to the North Pole will be much more feasible than in the past. Along the way, you may find new fishing towns and tourist way-stations that pop up along the thawed land, catering to the new traffic and offering hiking and other outdoor activities.

While Reykjavik has turned into a more popular tourist destination in the past decade, it could become even more so as its climate becomes more temperate for a greater portion of the year. The Orkney Islands, off of Scotland, also extend to the Arctic Circle and could develop a climate similar to that of coastal Finland and Scandinavia.

By necessity, there will be more ski resorts closer to the poles. In the mountains of Switzerland and Colorado, the ski season will gradually shorten, with fewer and fewer days of snow each year. At the same time, the line where skiing temperatures are bearable would presumably move northward. In time, Whistler could become the southern edge of the ski region in the Rockies, while mountains in Russia and Scandinavia could attract more skiers.

According to predictions, Southern Europe, including most of Spain, southern France and Italy will be hit by serious heat waves in the summers—making their beaches much less appealing for sun worshippers. Tourists looking for a European beach holiday may give up their villas in the roasting Riviera and instead look to the shores of Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway—where there will be increased rainfall and eroding coastlines, but more pleasant temperatures.

Beaches along the Atlantic coast in the U.S. and in the Caribbean, particularly in southern Florida, could be submerged as the ocean creeps inland. Winter vacationers looking for a suntan will likely forego whatever is left of Miami Beach and head to the temperate shores of Delaware, New Jersey and New York instead.

Snorkelers who now flock to coral wonders like Australia's Great Barrier Reef—which hosts thousands of species in its 130,000-plus square mile space—will have to venture elsewhere as these corals are bleached by changes in the sea's temperature and acidity. Regions where corals are now on the margin, like Easter Island or the Eastern Galapagos, may actually experience reef growth.

For those who enjoy vacationing in the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, there may be more choices. "Temperate rainforests are only found in a few places in the world—places like the Cascades and British Columbia," notes Michael Mann. "They could become more plentiful, because temperate regions may experience, in general, more of the intense rainfall that sustains a temperate rainforest."

"People go to the Canary Islands now, which are in the tropic portion of the Atlantic," says the Earth System Science Center's Michael Mann, "while very few people vacation in the Azores, generally, because the weather is not very warm and it's cloudy." With climate change, the Azores may benefit from a more favorable climate—while at the same time the Canary Islands become inhospitably hot in the summer.

As glaciers recede in the Arctic, Antarctica could become the only place to see them. While the temperature at the South Pole will doubtless remain chilly (and be less affected than that at the North Pole), even more people will be drawn to Patagonia and points further south. Cruise lines will no doubt expand their offerings as a consequence.