Folks - we are a family of 4 including 2 toddlers. Our travel style is traveilng during shoulder season to avoid big crowds. We like open-air natural beauty or if it' a city, find a cute neighborhood cafe and people watch, leisurely stroll in a park, eat at restaurants that locals flock to, check out outdoor farmers/flea markets, open-air music and festivals. We avoid typical tourist places like Cancun or some of the places that look like they fully cater to cruise crowds since you can't get much of an authentic local flavor

We are planning a 2 week vacation and we'd like to split 4 days in 3 locations. I've already been to many parts of Mexico and costa rica so that's out. Ideally, we'd like a non-stop flight from the NYC area and then be able to travel to the other 2 locations by rental car or bus and not have to fly so 4-5 hour distances will be ideal. If one of the locations is a coastal city with a beach, that'd be a good way to wind down. Also looked at Argentina and chile but distances are very long

Advice would be appreciated with countries and places within with the above in mind!

Thanks!!