Thinking about two of my favorite recent vacations (as empty nesters): one was a river cruise in Europe, and the other a week at the Chautauqua Institution in western NY.
On the river cruise, I really enjoyed the delicious food, with meals/wines that tied in to the local areas we visited. I also enjoyed the guided excursions to historical sites. Our room was the least expensive so was not very spacious, but it was not an issue as we did not spend much time there.
At the Chautauqua Institution, we stayed in a room in a boarding house with a shared bathroom down the hall, and were designated a portion in one of many commercial size refrigerators and shelf space in the shared kitchen. I cooked some of our meals, and we ate out for others. The weather was perfect while we were there. We selected from the numerous daily activities, from famous speakers who were authors, experts in their area, etc. to the multiple performing arts events (dance, music, theater, etc.), or just enjoying the beautiful lake and area.
So evidently the lodging is not important to me, nor is not cooking (although I wouldn’t have wanted to cook all the meals). I think what I enjoyed most was having multiple opportunities for enrichment that I didn’t have to plan or work too hard to seek out and enjoy.