Spain

Well this site is helpful, we have some transportation whizes on the site here, very helpful with train and bus info. ( I have learned in planning my trip to Spain for this summer that buses are just as useful as trains for some trips within the country,, unusual for many europeon countries where trains rule)
I also suggest you go on tripadvisor.com Spain forums, very helpful there, some locals and expats have been a godsend, plus there are a few Brits that go there like every year and know it inside and out.

Go the your local library and rent the Rick Steve's Spain DVD's. I found it helped in the original ion of towns. Decide small towns/ big cities, how many nights in each place (I like to spend at least 2 nights in each place) Decide if you are going to rent a car or not and begin to map transportation. Check out Tripadvisor and blogs. Remember there is no exact right or wrong answer on where you go; it's what fits you best given your situation (likes/dislikes). And perhaps most importantly understand your travel comfort levels. We are going in May 2
012.

As previous posters have said, you will need to identify what your interests are. Large cities, art galleries, smaller towns, mountains, coast and so on. Spain is a very large country by European standards. One question might be- why did you choose Spain? What is your travelling style - do you like to move from place to place every few days or stay longer in one place? Where will you fly into from the US and will you depart from the same airport? Do you plan to rent a car or use mostly trains, buses or fly? I know that seems a lot of questions but your questions are almost impossible to answer without knowing some of the above.

Some I recommend: The Moon Guide To Spain - Amazon...great source of information. www.madridman.com - An American who has moved to Spain. And the subject matter is more than just Madrid...has a good question and comment area as well. Cities/Places: Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Salamanca, Sevilla. I have visited each and will be glad to provide more specific information.
www.vaughantown.com - An one week English-Spanish language program in which Anglos meet one on one with Spanish (mainly business professionals) who want to improve their English. Held in different venues around the country. The absolute best way to get acquainted upfront, first hand, with the people, its history, and its places.

We're going in April. I went to the Library and checked out every travel guide they had for Spain. I also bought Rick's 2012 book and the Michelin Green Guide. After reading every book, I built an itinerary (most of it not included in Rick's book). We'll fly into Barcelona, stay a few days, rent a car for three weeks, drop it in Cordoba, and train into Madrid for our last stop before flying home from there. We'll pack only the Michelin Green Guide. I've found tripadvisor.com an excellent resource for lodging. I normally research every potential stop and make a list of places we'd like to stay, then call on the road based on when I expect to arrive (usually the morning before I get there). We only have reservations for Barcelona and Madrid. We'll buy a basic cell phone there, bring a GPS, and also pack an ipod and add a booking.com application. We may use that rather than calling to make last minute bookings as we go. Last, but not least, back to the library to check out some language programs and cram on Spanish. I've already been doing the BBC free online course.

Congratulations on your husband's graduation from medical school. That is a huge accomplishment for both of you and well worth a celebration. My husband went to Europe for 3 weeks after he earned his M.D. But we didn't know each other then so I didn't get to go. ;( Now we visit Europe almost every year. This past April/May we spent 2 weeks in Spain, and it was one of our favorite trips. Much more affordable than Switzerland, where we go for hiking, or the UK. Our main interest was Moorish Spain, for the amazing architecture and history, so we spent most of our time in Andalucia (Granada, Sevilla, Cordoba), and we also stayed in Toledo and Barcelona. We traveled exclusively by train. If we had more time we would have included the white hill towns and visited by bus. Train travel enabled us to stay in the historic center of these cities, without worrying about parking a car. These places make for delightful walking in the narrow streets, such as Barrio Santa Cruz in Sevilla. We used Tripadvisor and Maribel's Guides ( online for free), and read Michene'rs Iberia, which is an in-depth exploration of the culture and history, told city by city. It helped bring to life what were seeing.

Thank you all so much! This gives us a great place to start. We've recorded all of the RS shows on Spain, but beyond that haven't done much. My husband went there during free travel for a couple days in college. He loved Seville, and has wanted to go back ever since. So now we are! Thank you again for your advice!!!