Italy or Spain May 2017

Both countries are great places to visit, but Italy is a treasure trove of history.

Rome has the ancient history as well as St. Peter's Basilica and the incomparable Sistine Chapel. Also, the Vatican Museum is filled with wonderful art.

Florence was the center of the Renaissance and is amazing, with its museums including Michalengo's David at Academia.
Venice is a special place and a must see.

I didn't mention Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri and the Amalfi Coast as another option.

As for cheaper, I would say Spain would be a little cheaper, but not by much.

Spain's interesting cities are more spread out, with Madrid being the first to visit since Toledo and Segovia are near. Seville, Cordoba and Granada are in the South and Barcelona in the NE. Then you have the Basque region in the middle north nest to France.

Do some research and decide what you really want to see.

Cost will depend to a considerable degree on where you would go in each country. Venice is fabulous, but the hotels don't come cheap, for example. I'd say the expensive cities in Italy are more expensive than the expensive cities in Spain, if that helps any. Budget Spanish hotels (which is where I generally stayed) were more likely to have elevators and showers larger than phone booths.

If the cities you'd want to visit in one country are quite close together, and those in the second country are all over the place, you'll spend less on ground transportation in the first country.

Restaurant food can be noticeably cheaper in Spain than in Italy, but you get what you pay for. Some parts of Spain are very meat-centric. Others are seafood-centric. Sometimes it's not so easy to find vegetables except in salads (and they seem to be something put on the menu for outsiders and not given much thought).

Whichever country you decide on, if you're covering much territory you'll potentially save a lot of money by booking your train tickets for all but the rather short trips very early, Prices start very low but can triple, or more, as the day of travel approaches. That can add up to a lot of money for a family your size. For some trips (usually shorter ones) buses are a viable option, and they are nearly always cheaper than trains.

Not only are hotels and restaurants more costly, but attractions also tend to cost more in large, touristy cities, partly because there are just more things to see in Rome than in Verona, just as an example. But also, I suspect, because there are so many travelers in the key tourist cities that they can get away with charging premium prices. Resist the urge to think that if you've seen a picture of it on a calendar, you have to pay to go inside it, or up it.

Tell us how much time you have and what sort of things your family is interested in, and maybe we can suggest some suitable destinations that won't break the bank.

Edited to add: You will have a great time, whichever you choose.

As a general rule Spain is less costly. But ea country has its own definite culture, history and food. Food espec maybe more to teens liking in Italy.

We are looking at 9-12 days in total, Italy - Rome, Florence and Venice. or Spain - Madrid, Seville , Granada and Barcelona. I would love to squeeze Toledo in there as well but I dont think it will fit. The intention is to travel by train when going city to city.

kanjc, I have been to many locations in both countries recently, and both are wonderful and diverse, with a large number of highly interesting and beautiful sites, in both large cities and smaller towns. You can't go wrong, visiting either country this year, and then the other sometime in the future. May is generally a great time to visit both countries, in terms of moderate temperatures, likelihood of clear weather, and avoiding peak tourist crowds. From June through the summer, you'd expect heavier crowds, and higher temperatures in most of Italy, and especially in Andalusia in the south of Spain. Travel well!

Both would be great, and the experiences in many ways similar, but I think you need a family vote.
Unfortunately, with an even number in your family, it looks like you will have to abstain.

I agree with everything acraven wrote. Some other things to consider . . . .

Flying. For Italy, the best is into Venice (best place to start the trip, relax and get over the jetlag) and back from (intense) Rome. For Spain, it's a little harder to make a recommendation because your cities are not on a simple route. Barcelona-Madrid is served by fast train, so is Madrid-Sevilla. While Granada's Alhambra is the #1 must-see in Spain, it's time-consuming to get to/from Granada.

Which brings me to my big question: How many nights do you have in Europe? You wrote: We are looking at 9-12 days in total Does that total include the 2 days over the Atlantic? To have 12 days on the ground, you need 13 nights in Europe? If you only have 7-8 nights on the ground, you'll be hard put to see more than 2 cities, since you lose about 1/2 day each time you change places.

Expanding on Chani above ....

So if your 12 day holiday is 11 nights away, and one night is lost with the flight travelling to Europe (the return flight is normally same day), then you only have only 10 nights in Europe to play with. In that case I would consider either ...
Barcelona (4N) > Sevilla (3N) > Madrid (3N) or Venice (3N) > Florence (4N) > Rome (3N)
With 12 nights you could add Granada (2) on to a Spain trip.

If you don't see Toledo when you visit Madrid, then plan to go back on another trip. Toledo is a gem and a must see city.

In my opinion, Toledo and Sevilla are the real gems of Spain.

We will be leaving the US on the day before the vacation starts i.e fly out Tuesday to start our vacation "nights" on Wednesday. On the return flight I am trying to find the one leaving the latest but, most of them have us leaving either early or late morning. At most I will probably only lose one day of vacation on travelling which should be the last day.

One thing I don't believe any of us mentioned is the very late meal hours in Spain. Perhaps you already know that Spaniards typically start eating lunch around 2 PM and dinner around 10 PM. In both cases you'll be able to find tapas available earlier, and they are often very good (but usually light on vegetables).

I cannot eat dinner late for medical reasons, but it didn't stop me from going to Spain. It did mean that if I wanted a sit-down meal every day (and I did), I needed to take time out at lunchtime to do that. Dinner was tapas or something like a salad or fruit and yogurt I found at a mini-market. It certainly kept my food costs down!

Okay, you arrive on Wednesday, but what day do you leave? If you are flying out on Sunday, then you have 10 full days. Wednesday, even if you land pretty early, it'll probably be midday before you've checked in to your hotel and dropped your luggage off and sorted out what you need for sightseeing. Then lunch. You're left with 1/2 day with jetlag and minimal sleep. 10 days leaves you about 2-2.5 days for each of 4 cities in Spain. If you really want Spain, pick 3 cities. Madrid would be the one I'd drop, unless you want to spend hours and hours with the wonderful collections of paintings in its 3 major world-class art museums. You would fly from Barcelona to Granada, then train to Sevilla. Then you'll need to either find a flight home from there or still move on to Madrid the night before your flight.

For what is really a 10-day (or less) trip, Italy sounds less stressful.