spain and italy

migdalia, As this is your first trip to Europe, my first suggestion would be to read Europe Through The Back Door. That will provide lots of good information on "how" to travel in Europe and tips on things like Itinerary planning. The country or city-specific Guidebooks can be used to fine-tune the touring in each city you visit. For the trip from Barcelona to Italy, I'd consider a budget flight as the rail trip will be fairly long. That will depend on which city in Italy you'll be visiting after Barcelona. It's difficult to provide much information on "favourite little spots" until you have some kind of Itinerary roughed-out. Good luck with your planning!

I took a three week train trip in Europe last May. My advice is to get reservations at hotels near the trainstations. The farther we went, the more we enjoyed it. Have fun.

You are asking us to write a guide book for you. Very hard to do in the limited response space provide by this site. But it is better if you do your homework first. Use you local library to check out a variety of guidebooks, DVDs, etc. for the areas you want to visit. Get a background for what you think you would like to see and do. Then return with specific questions.

Three weeks goes quickly. I think you could have a nice Trip to either Spain or Italy, or do a more limited itinerary that combines the two. If you do both, fly between Spain and Italy (check vueling.com among others) the train would take too much valuable time. For B&B reviews, you can look at guidebooks or use tripadvisor.com and choose the B&B option.

thank you for your replies, just brainstorming as i'm not even sure where i really want to go. Open for any suggestions and i'll be getting some books to narrow things down.

i think the more and more i read, it will be too hectic to see Spain and Italy.. so i think our trip will be something like this fly into Venice 3 days rent car or take bus to Florence 3 or 4 days Stay in Siena for 5 days and do day trips take bus or train to Rome and stay either in Rome or just outside would love to see Capri too..
i have some days extra with this itinerary so i'd love some suggestions on making the most of my first attempt at an itinerary. thank you

3 weeks for spain and italy. yikes! You could spend 3 weeks in each and not see everything. my advice. stay 3-4 days in Madrid, then 3-5 days in Barcelona. fly Italy. 5 days rome. 3 days Florence. 3 days Venice. Or just pick one country and do both big and little cities, and dont forget to include a few days on the beach to relax and enjoy your birthday! and make it your birthday wish to visit Europe again soon so you can see the other places/countries you didn't see this trip!