Spain or Ireland?

Dublin is a good three day city, and it' nice enough. But the best part of Ireland in my opinion is in the smaller towns. So if you determined to follow the approach you suggest choose Spain. Madrid offers more in the way of day trips than Barcelona. El Escorial, Toledo, Segovia are all spectacular. Out of Barcelona Montserrat is a good one, but does not rise to the level of the ones for Madrid.

What time of year? IMHO I'd save Ireland for the summer months--only.

I have not been to Spain yet, but I did take my family to Ireland for Christmas and New Year's this last year and loved it. The Irish people are so friendly and the country is beautiful and easy to travel in. It is probably easier to take a baby than a toddler on a long flight so take her with you. I like the smaller towns better than the big cities.

Unlike Bets, I would never consider Ireland in the summer months, unless you really like crowds and standing in line at the things you want to see. Shoulder season is the best season in Ireland. Spring or fall are the perfect time, in my opinion. All parks and attractions are still open and the crowds are far less. The weather can be iffy at any time of year.

Two great choices! But I agree that a lot will depend on when you go - we did a summer trip to Ireland and it was great. Warm & sunny for 10 days out of 14 (had to buy a skirt as I had only brought jeans thinking it would be coolish). Summer would be tough for me in Spain, though we've done Italy when it was also very warm - just think it would be nicer in Ireland. And unlike poster above, we did not find Ireland to be crowded at all - well not like the other European countries we had been to in the summer. And since you are asking and it sounds like you may have other options - I did not take my own kids on long (over 5 hrs), overnight flights till they were old enough to understand the concept of "be quiet & stay in your seat". A one week trip for just your wife and yourself would be a wonderful thing, especially if you have grandparents who would like to stay with her. We did that for our first 4 trips to Europe and then started taking the kids overseas when the youngest was 8. My parents and children were happy to stay home with each other and it was a good boost for my husband and myself as well.

Both nations are fantastic. In addition to what others have already said. If you choose Ireland, you will need to drive to get the most out of your trip. I second VS on Dublin. Head to the west or fly into Shannon and choose a base or two from there. A combination of Galway and Dingle might work well for a week-long trip. In my opinion, Ireland was more naturally scenic and relaxing. Most places are also very casual and family friendly, so it might be a better choice with an infant. On the other hand Spain is also great. A week in either Madrid or Barcelona would be fabulous. Both are certainly more hectic than Ireland, but offer more in terms of art, architecture, food, etc. If you want to spend the week in one place, I'd give the edge to Madrid for the reasons that VS stated. If you have 7 full days on the ground or more, you could do both Madrid and Barcelona via the AVE train. This would of course require giving up most side-trips though. We saw young children in tapas bars in most places in Spain except Madrid where places were considerably more crowded. I can't say if this was the norm or just our experience.

Wow, thank you all for your insightful information! Believe me, my wife and I know how difficult it would be to bring our daughter with us, but my wife is adamant about breastfeeding and doesn't want to give that up. However, we are also adamant about traveling to Europe again :-) That being said, we will be going either next Spring or the following Fall. NOT summer. Our anniversary is in Spring, but if we waited until the following Fall our daughter would be about 16 months old and she probably won't be breastfeeding anymore, so we would feel better about leaving her at home with family. We are very into history, art, architecture, and culture. From the Rick Steves DVD's and research we've done on our own, we are equally interested in both these places. We're kind of hoping for more of a relaxed "vacation" as opposed to an aggressive "tour". I'm kind of afraid that we'd have to drive all over Ireland to really get a feel for the character of the country, and I would hate to short change ourselves ... or Ireland for that matter. We absolutely LOVED having 7 whole days in Paris on our last trip. Of course, we didn't see France as a whole, but that's not really what we were looking for with that trip. Other than Paris, or maybe Rome, is there any other place in Europe that we could consider doing that kind of trip in? It kind of sounds like a whole week in one city in either Ireland or Spain might not be the best idea? Any follow up thoughts or suggestions? My wife and I sure do appreciate your help. Thank you again!

My wife and I and our 4 children (ages 18-25 )had a wonderful trip to Spain the last week of June. We split our time between Madrid(3 days) and Barcelona(5 days). We flew into Madrid and took the sppedy AVE Train to Barcelona which gets you there in 2hrs 15 minutes. Madrid is great walking city and very easy to get around. I would echo Rick Steves by saying that the Prado is my favorite Museum in the world. Fantastic masterpieces in a beautifully laid out building. We side tripped to Toledo and enjoyed it very much especially the magnificent Cathedral which is chock full of masterpieces(only 30 minutes via train from Madrid). My boys and I enjoyed the Bull Fights on Sunday night in Ventas Arena. We spent more time in Barcelona and and followed Rick's basic itinerary - Gaudi Day, Bari Gotic Picaso Day, Montserrat Day, Montjuic Day including the beach. Generally speaking Barca is more interesting than Madrid. I would compare it favorably to Paris because of the numerous interesting neighborhoods, history and supreme architexture - Gaudi's Sagrada Familia etc. The day trip to Montserrat was a highlite for all. If you enjoy hiking you will love exploring the trails above the Montestary. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful trip where ever you go. Just a note on summer temperatures in Spain: Madrid was close to 90 every day but a dry heat that didn't bother you as long as you drank a lot (we're use to the muggy humid Jersey weather). Toledo was actually 112 the day we were there. Barcelona was in the 80s and very comfortible with a slight breeze. Great travel weather all in all.
Adios amigo

Josh- in looking for other suggestions, assuming you decide not to take your daughter - what about London? That could be a repeat of your Paris week trip, staying in one city but with many day trip options. Also one non-Europe trip we took that would be great for you living on the west coast would be Hong Kong. Now granted, our trip was pre-turnover to china but I can't imagine that it still wouldn't be fabulous. It was a great 8 day trip with 1 full week in the city. I appreciated the short duration since we were leaving the kids at home. And I assume you don't want to go back to Italy? We've been three times now and each trip was different. Our last time there we spent a week in Sicily. So that might feel different from the rest of Italy that you have seen. And returning to your original cities-I do think a weeklong trip to Madrid could include overnight stays in Segovia or Toledo and still allow you a more relaxed feel. We were surprisingly impressed by Madrid when we were there last year and again, assuming you take the shorter trip (fall would be great!) so that you are not away from your daughter very long, then charming Madrid might fit the bill after all!

Barcelona, especially if you like what you've read re the art and architecture of the city, could possibly fill a whole week, including day trips. Girona is quite interesting. And if you like Salvador Dali, you can't miss his museum in Figueres. For another suggestion entirely, the Dordogne region of France has a lot to offer in terms of history and enough to fill an entire week (or more). Medieval (defensive) castles, pre-historic cave paintings, gorgeous scenery and great food. You'd be staying in a small town or city, and would need to drive around from place to place, but you could have one base location and easily get to everywhere else without hours of driving. Look at Sarlat and the sights and sites near there.