C'mon, people! What else is this forum good for if not travel tips (and the occasional football post)?

That said we will be back to France this summer so expect a deluge (French for deluge) of travel posts from me.

Would consider going back, but I’d like to try someplace new.

I haven’t been there in 20 years. BUT, definitely climb up the hill on the right-hand side of the concha - the north side - until you get to the ruins and can see the ocean and the Pyrenees.

We're going to hit the Northern coast, from Santiago de Compostela over to San Sebastian. Let me know how your trip is...

10 days of safari through Kenya and Tanzania and ended up with four days in the Seychelles. Probably should have done Zanzibar--Seychelles was amazing but I think Zanzibar is probably similar and the travel would have been less of a drag. I sort of felt like I'd never do Seychelles again, though, so it was worth going all in.

For the safari, we did a tour company and went to four of their camps so I feel like our "cultural" experience was somewhat limited but the wildlife is amazing and the camps were pretty fantastic. The experience was totally seamless and very beautifully done, if not necessarily super-relaxing (since you want to get up early for the morning game drives, there's not really a lazy sleeping in type option).

Pete's got some great comments on Thailand, key being to likely avoid the more touristy beaches/islands.

Vietnam / Cambodia / Laos will get you lots of SE Asian culture, beaches, activities and even less expensive than Thailand. Good food to be had and as much adventure as you wish. The more remote you travel, language may become a challenge, but having a good Wifi hotspot for your trip will do wonders.

Including airfare. That was back in 2010, but I imagine it's still remarkably cheap there. We didn't live high on the hog, but weren't slumming it in backpacking hostels either -- consistently stayed in actual boutique hotels while traveling around the country.

There's definitely a cliched backpacker component to it, but it's honestly pretty isolated to a handful of areas in Bangkok. Kind of like Amsterdam in that the notoriety of the area is actually a very limited part of the city that you actually need to seek out if you want to experience it.

That being said, running down your list:

1. Somewhere off the beaten path - check
2. Relaxing - not itinerary-driven - check, most days we just wandered around the areas we were staying, finding cool spots to eat, temples, etc.
3. Experience a different/new culture - yup
4. Good food! - some of the best in the world IMO
5. Preferably somewhere warm/near a beach. - Thailand has some gorgeous beaches. Some down South are big party hubs, i.e. Phuket, but we managed to find a much less developed area that was gorgeous.
6. Outdoor activities (hiking, biking, walking, etc.) - Perhaps a bit less so in the main vacation spots, but the mountains up north are much less urban and allows for some of that.
7. Interesting sights or architectural interest. - Deffo.

...I love Hope Town in Abaco, Bahamas.

Also I love Little Dix Bay in BVA.

Finally, if you are at all interested in coming this way I have a ND buddy who works with a big resort in the Islands. Could hook y'all up if you want.

But kinda of a long way to go for what I assume you can get and better where Jay mentioned or otherwise around the Pacific.

EDIT: Anywhere in or around the Caribbean is subject to being closed because of hurricane damage.

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It’s way overblown.
Wash DC and Chicago are more dangerous.
I love Zihuatanejo in Mexico and the quieter nearby town of Troncones.
I’m not sure where you live but there’s a non stop flight from Minneapolis.
Zihuat is an unusually nice airport for Mexico as well

Didn't have any safety concerns at all. From talking to folks, tourists are left alone for the most part as messing with the tourism industry messes with a lot of money that hurts everyone.

We had a great time, but we weren't adventure hunting or anything, so your experience might vary from ours. We literally just wanted to get away from our kids and do nothing but eat, drink and hang out on beaches. I didn't want to hear kids, I didn't want to see kids, I didn't want to know that kids existed in the world. So, we just hung out at the adults-only resort that had solid food and drank ourselves silly for a week. Best week of my life.

That said, we did hit this private cenote that was owned and run by a tour company and got to repel down into it and swim around for an hour or so. THAT was a pretty great experience.

It's all pretty touristy. Petty crime would be your only issue. I say this as someone who pops down to Tijuana for dinner from time to time so YMMV.

Be sure to check up on auto insurance requirements/coverage in Mexico (as you will need wheels for that area to visit all the cool stuff, unless you are just planning on joining excursions that operate out of the resorts).

world is pretty safe. Other areas are less so. I'm not aware of any cartel activity on the Riviera Maya.