Spain or Portugal or neither

Regions of Spain (there are many Spains) and Portugal are little like Italy and little like one another, in the same way as regions in Italy are little like one another. I could give more or different to what you can find in a good guide book, but that would be a book in itself and you are planning next to no time in these countries. A guide to help decide what interests you and not direction to what interests me should be your start point. http://www.maribelsguides.com/ - useful info. and not a suggestion to use the guided tours.

Where will you be visiting in Italy? That would help to answer the question. I personally love Spain and I don't really think it's that similar to Italy. I've been to most of the major attractions in Italy (Rome, Venice, Florence, CT, Amalfi Coast etc...). If you plan to go to Tangiers, then I assume you are thinking of going to Southern Spain (Analucia)? I loved this area of Spain. I would definitely plan on visiting Granada. The Alhambra is my favorite place on earth (that's saying alot!). The Albayzin area is also wonderful. We loved the beach town of Nerja (Costa Tropical) also. Definitely check out this part of Spain.

I would say both Spain and Portugal if you could fit them in. And as one commenter said, neither is like Italy. And like in Italy, Spanish regions are very different from each other. I'm not sure about Portugal, since it's much smaller and probably more homogeneous.

There may be some similarities in landscape between Spain and Italy and there are Roman ruins in Spain, but that's about all. Very, very different places and cultures. In Andalusia especially, you'll see the results of the mix of Moorish, Jewish and Catholic cultures that coexisted for several hundred years. Northern Spain and the Barcelona region are also very different from southern; Barcelona is a lot more like Paris than Madrid. Portugal is unique too, though there are far more similarities with Spain. But depending on how much time you have, Portugal can be difficult to get to from Spain. Or if you'll be in Andalusia, you could more easily hit southern Portugal.

Thank you all for the information. I've been to the major cities in Italy, coast, Tuscany and am originally from an old Eutruscan town in L'Aquila. If we had to pick between Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia or Grenada or? which would you recommend if we allowed 3 days per/city? And can you tell me about visiting Mallorca? Expensive? Would you recommend one of the major cities and time out in the countryside? Your comments are appreciated.

Lucy, what time of year will you be going? That can make a difference in the answers. Andalucia in particular can be very hot in summer, although the Alhambra of Granada is nice and shady in places.

Neither Spain or Portugal are anything like Italy, to me anyway. Spain is also a very large country with very diverse areas. It is hard to compare Madrid, Barcelona, Granada and Valencia. The first 2 are major cities with everything big cities have to offer and both are wonderful, but very different. Valencia I have not been to but I have spent a lot of time in Granada as we live not far from it. It is a wonderful city, the Alhambra is stunning and it has much more to offer besides that. Of the two countries, I would choose Spain but that may be a slightly biased view of course. Depending on how much time you have trying to fit in Tangiers and/or Mallorca could be a bit of a stretch. You could easily spend a few weeks just in Andalucia - between Granada, Seville and Cordoba and some smaller towns.