I'm blessed with a great deal of seniority and a truly magnanimous boss, with the result that I have four weeks of paid vacation leave, to do with as I please.
I don't take summer vacations: why should I go someplace hot, crowded, and miserable, when I can spend the summer in a nice office, where we might even turn on the air conditioner, if it's hot enough, and then take my vacations in the spring and the fall (typically 16-17 days each), when the weather is nicer, and the crowds are thinner.
With only one exception in recent memory, I take my spring vacation going up the West Coast, at least as far as Northern Calfornia, by rail, typically spending at least the better part of a week in San Francisco, and at least a weekend in Sacramento. This year will begin with a weekend in San Jose, followed by almost a week in San Francisco, then a few days in Yosemite, and finally a weekend in Sacramento. From Los Angeles to San Jose, and coming home from Sacramento, I'll be taking Amtrak's Coast Starlight. From San Jose to San Francisco, Caltrain. From San Francisco to Merced, and from Merced to Sacramento, Amtrak's San Joaquins. And between Merced and Yosemite, a YARTS bus.
Last year, my fall vacation was a quick trip up the West Coast, with brief stops in San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle, on the Starlight, before catching a bus to Vancouver, BC, and spending a week crossing Western Canada from there to Toronto, with a 2-day stop in Winnipeg, on VIA Rail Canada. This year's fall vacation plan is to fly to Chicago, and from there to Toronto, and then tour Eastern Canada primarily on VIA Rail Canada, before flying home, with a full day layover in Boston.
And of course vacations are good for productivity. The whole reason for paid vacation leave is to give your employees a change of scenery and a break from the routine. Just as the whole point of paid sick leave is to avoid having sick employees on the job, doing impaired work and infecting other employees.