Hi guys! I am graduating from College this fall and as my gift my parents are giving me a trip to spain. I have never been to the country and want to get the most out of the culture as possible. I would love any suggestions on where to stay, what to see, etc. I want to get the truest parts of the culture as possible and see the best spots of the country. I would love any and all suggestions so this trip and be a life learning experience for me! please email any suggestions at [email protected]
Thanks

Check out this website; lots of ideas:
http://www.maribelsguides.com/
Good luck and have fun!

I imagine your parents are gifting you the trip as a reward and an educational experience. I looked at Maribel's guide as suggested and does she have everything scoped for the tourist, but at age 21,22?, you should be doing more than that.

Explore options for a family stay somewhere. Pick someplace besides Madrid, Sevilla or Salamanca...and I hear now Vailladolid is even packed with international students. Cross off
Barcelona for its use of Catalán. Stay with a family for a while...and really see what life is like.

I assume you know some Spanish. If you don't, the family stay might be shorter rather than longer.

You didn't say the budget or time frame your parents are giving you, but you only get this chance when you're young. It's much harder for more affluent, "mature" travellers to have this experience. Grab it.

Goggle "Homestay in Spain" and see what you can come up with. As a parent, I would advocate at less some time like this combined with independent travel as reward for your B.S., B.A.

Don't cross off Barcelona. Barcelona is just as much a part of Spain as is Galicia . You don't say how much time you have - 2 weeks, a month, 6 months? Andalusian, Catalan, Basque - all different aspects of Spain - and all worthy of exploring.

If you are interested on Spanish culture..please don't cross off Barcelona or Catalunya or any other part of Spain where there are two languages. That's a very important part of our culture..the different communities living together inside a not very big country
"The truest part of the culture" is the diversity for me. I don't know how much time you will have for the trip so it's difficult to suggest places.
But if you have time enough..I will say
San Sebastian, Salamanca, Madrid, Seville, Granada, Valencia and Barcelona as the best spots to taste the different parts of the country. It all depends on the time you have because they are not near one from another.

Irim,
What a great gift! Spain is a marvelous country. You don't mention if you speak Spanish, but I suggest taking some classes or getting some tapes before you go. Also, check out bookstores for guidebooks and various websites such as aboutspain.net, spainlist.com, spainalive.com, red2000.com. I agree with Barcelona and Seville being musts--there's so much to see and do...how much time do you have?

You'll probably want to stay in youth hostels--just google "internationalstudent travel" and you'll get lots of them--good way to meet up with other young travellers and exchange information and such.

My 21 yr. old daughter was just in Italy for 6 mo. (she has pretty neat parents too LOL) and she visited Barcelona, Girona, and Figueres (she's a Dali fan) and loved that area.

We were just there and were in the area around Madrid. You can read my trip report at http://www.fodors./com/forums/thread...p;tid=34628971

May I recommend a great history of Spain? "The Story of Spain," by Mark Williams. I ordered it from www.amazon.com. It's only 265 pages, a nice easy read, and offers a good nice balance in interpreting the various influences on Spain's culture.

For places to stay, tru tp fot Caceres and Merida into your plans. It's gorgeous and unspoiled by hordes of tourists.

Eeek! Typos! I couldn't get preview to work!

Correction. I did not mean to cross Barcelona off for travel and touring. Cross it off for linguistic purposes..or homestay. Barcelona is awesome for many things.
OK. Maybe I am a fanatic on homestay.. but if you don't consider homestay,at least pick one city or town to "live" in. Stay longer than a few days. A week. Get a feel for the living the life in Spain.

Maybe if you said what some of the parameters of this trip are, it would help. I imagine you have some budget or time limit for this trip, that your parents aren't giving you months in Spain (I could be wrong), or that you have some responsibilities (such as a job) and can't take off months.

I've only been to Madrid, Seville, and Segovia as a day trip from MAdrid, but really liked all of them. I think it's important to see both northern and southern Spain, if you want to see a lot of the country.

I don't get the homestay recommendations. That is for students studying language in a place for a while, I thought.

Some homestays are as short as five days. Since everything was vague about the gift, and I imagined the parents had an ulterior motive...education would be what I was thinking of, I jumped at the homestay idea. Young people often can do it easily than the mature ones.

Granted I just hear another report about the anti-Americanism for students studying in Sevilla, etc. That's one problem with knowing the language. You get to know what people think, and it often isn't the same as our president or theirs. (Yes, I know in English he's called a PM, but in Spanish, Zapatero is "el presidente" I try to blow off those sentiments and define how similar, in some respects, our feelings are.