I went on a Balkans Road trip, Sofia to Veliko Tarnovo throught the actual Balkan range itself, then back to Sofia before going through the Kresna Gorge, through the Rila national park and on to Thessaloniki in Greek Macedonia. That was a really stunning area. Thessaloniki is a really youthful and energetic city with a great bar culture, I think per capita there are more bars and cafes than anywhere in Europe, everyone likes to sit in the streets and people watch or listen to the various music venues that bellow onto the streets. That was my favourite holiday before flying on to Athens and Paris.
Second probably I'd rate my Hawaii adventure, travelling to both Maui (Honolulu) and Oahu (west side of the main volcano). The Hana highway is famous for it's scenery but in my opinion the balkans were better.
I didn't rate my times in New York, LA or Washington but I though San Francisco was by far the nicest city there. That'd be my third favourite, there was more to the city than trashy areas like Hollywood in LA, which is really a drug and prozzie ridden dump, and New York that soon wears off due to all the buildings looking so uniform and lacking in character.
4th would be The Gambia, the beach is a fantastic tropical place with lots of wildlife, I quite like seeing brightly coloured Sunbirds and all the different varieties of Turacos, Hornbills and so on. Very good for nature watching. It has the vibe of the Caribbean but feels more authentic, people there really aren't bothered about living a western lifestyle, they like to chill. The poverty was apparent but all the kids had massive smiles on their faces and is proof money doesn't buy happiness.
Turkey when you get out of the commercialised tourist resorts is really very different, I went white water rafting in the Taurus mountains and to the historical Cappadocia region in the centre. The famous mosque in Konya was interesting, but the city felt fairly hostile to westerners, then again we were warned not to leave the hotel at night in cappadocia also. Didn't detract from the interest of the place though.
