We were in Madrid for 2 nights, and Valencia for 5 nights. Here's what we liked most:
1) The food: Tapas are a fantastic idea. We've experienced "American Tapas", but it's not the same as in Spain. Most tapas seem to be consumed in bars where you may see 20 plates of different items. You simply pick up the ones you like, eat them, and save the toothpicks. When you leave, they charge you for your drinks and the number of toothpicks on your plate. You get some great stuff, and some weird stuff, but you get to eat until you're full, enjoy the atmosphere, and go when you're ready.
Spanish ham is also a new favorite of ours, especially the acorn-fed variety. And paella. But don't order calimari in Spain unless you have strong stomach. They tend to fry up the little squids whole, so their little fried-up eyeballs stare back at you when you're trying to eat them. I'm not a terribly squeamish eater, but I do prefer the way we do it here.
The wine was awesome too. The Vino Tinto from the Valencia area was generally very dense and robust. I've been scouring the local wine stores for Valencian wine on and off since we got back, but without any luck. (There's got to be some around here, I'll just keep looking. )
2) The lifestyle: There really is a siesta. I'm not sure anyone sleeps during this period of time - I refer to it as "Grown Up Recess" (or "recesta"), but it's a nice break in the middle of the day where everyone can go see their families and/or take a long lunch.
The typical Spanish workday seems to be: start at 7-8 with a coffee and a pastry. Have a snack at 11am. Have a BIG lunch at 2. Have a snack and a beer or wine at 6-7. Have dinner at 10pm. Go to bed at midnight. Even the kids seem to stay up late.
Restaurants don't even open for dinner until 9pm, and everything except coffee shops closes between 2 and 4 (sort of randomly as well, there's no precision to that timeframe that I could see). And I can't tell you how jet-lag-friendly it was to be eating dinner at 11pm local time (6pm Eastern Standard Time). It made the transition much easier.
3) The Scenery: Madrid is a gorgeous city, with huge parks, tree-lined boulevards and history around every corner. Valencia is a little newer for the most part, but there was still oodles of history there and a lot to see. Both places are clean and seemed very safe. In our typical fashion we walked at least five miles a day, much of it without a definite plan, and never found ourselves in a place where we thought "uh-oh, this is pretty scary". (I'm not sure you can say that about any major US cities.)
4) The Tourist Scene (or lack thereof): There were certainly tourists in both places, but they weren't an overwhelming proportion of the people we'd see every day. There also didn't seem to be any tourist-facing infrastructure (like tour buses, gimmicky restaurants, amusement facilities, etc. Orlando, for example, is almost entirely tourist-facing infrastructure). We like that. It was nice to be "part of" another culture rather than transporting ours across the ocean with us.
My high-school Spanish got a real workout, which is a good thing.
5) The People: Nice folks, helpful but not obsequious. Nor were they snobby, or shy/reserved like you encounter in other European cities. They generally seemed happy and accomodating, if a bit language-challenged. ;-)
6) Flamenco: We attended a couple of impromptu Flamenco performances, in small smokey bars, and enjoyed them thoroughly. The talent level was amazing, and the emotions of the style really came through in the performances (even though we couldn't understand a word).
Drawbacks? None that I can think of. We'll definitely go back.
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