Have you been to Florence yet?

We stayed camping...though you certainly could find a hotel or something outside of Florence. So we had the countryside...though not nearly enough from an American perspective. The camp had a bus go into town but I'm sure your hotel could suggest something.

Day trips from Florence (where you have all the art and culture you want with more crowds than you can stand) include Pisa, Lucca, and numerous others.

It's a bit of a drive but I suggest going to Cinque Terre. Its a beautiful walk along the ocean between five towns. It wasn't crowded at all in May and there are a few tiny B&Bs there with a few cafes. Personally, I think you are getting culture since it's more "traditionally" Italian than Florence was with skyscrapers, etc. We met many Americans and British people there.

The further out from cities you get, the less likely people were to speak English but everyone was very nice about my garbled Italian. My kids were 4 and 1 1/2 at the time and they loved everyplace we went except Florence. We tried to do a city one day and something a little more calm the next.

I was thinking you wanted to stick with Europe since I was nosy and looked at your travel map! But if you are open to anything, I'm sure you'll get tons of suggestions!!

Cuba!

Fabulous culture in Havana - not so much shopping outside of rum & cigars - but beautiful architecture and interesting history, museums, etc.

Outside of Havana are beautiful beaches, rugged countryside and plenty of peace & quiet.

Anywhere in Italy then somewhere like Lake Garda, Neopolitan Riviera, Tuscany or maybe Greece somewhere like Crete Rhodes or Kos has lots of history and culture and also lots of space. Croatia, Valencia, Estoril coast of Portugal. France, Sardinia or Sicily would all be good.

Hi

Italy for sure can work out! You may choose to rent a house in the coutryside of any big city (Rome, Florence & Venice) and then move by train to tour the city or enjoy beaches and local culture.

I wrote a post in this web site try to take a look

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i10700-k1910742…

Good luck!

You might like Sedona, AZ (Beautiful Red Rock country with great hiking and outdoor activities -- breathtaking canyones -- wide open spaces // art galleries, shopping, nice dining). You might want to look at the Sedona trip advisor site / forums and see if this would appeal to you. We've done numerous extended family trips here, as there is something here for everyone in our diverse family, and everyone loves it here.