Best logistics for Andalusia + Algarve + Lisbon road trip

Even though I love all the places you list, I count way too many destinations for 10 days. I would suggest dropping Portugal so you can, possibly, do justice to the places in Spain. Or vice versa. You will spend all your time driving and very little in your actual destinations. I did a road trip hitting all the places you mention in Spain, except Malaga.
We spent a full two weeks doing it and felt like we had done the area justice.

That would also eliminate the problem of a rental car in two countries.

you haven't said how old the family - and whether they can drag their own luggage.

Seville to Algarve by bus is very easy, there is pretty frequent service taking well less than 3 hours to Faro bus station. Some then continue further west, some also stop at towns like Tavira between the border and Faro.

There are also efficient express bus services between various towns along the Algarve coast to Lisbon, and a few decent fast trains from Faro to Lisbon, which need slower connections for the coastal resorts towns.

Autostrada in Portugal are mostly toll roads, and some don't have toll booths. In those cases if you don't have an electronic toll tag you have to register for payment and go online to pay your bill after the journey. The A22 which stetches across the Algarve from the spanish border is one of those. So this is another problem with using a spanish registered car.

Lisbon traffic is a often a nightmare and car is a liablity.

I’m with Kathryn, too many destinations for 10 day (do you mean 11 or 10 nights?). How many days do you plan on staying per destination? IMHO, I would cut Algarve and stick to Andalucía and Lisbon. There is a lot to do in Malaga, Granada, Sevilla and Lisbon to fill 10 days. You can use buses and/or trains to travel in Andalucía, fly to Lisbon and use their trams, trains and buses to get around (visit Sintra). No need to rent a car.
Have fun.

I agree with kathrynj about dropping Portugal for this trip. Sevilla, Granada, and Córdoba can easily use up most of your time. Add a day in each Ronda and Málaga and you’ve used all your days.That would save you the large drop fee and give you more time to enjoy the sites that you visit. Plan for 2-3 hours of driving time between each of the Spain cities.

We try to book hotels with parking. In the cities/towns it can cost €15 per night, or slightly more. Public parking garage can cost up to €25 a night.

If you did decide to keep the Portugal portion, the drive to Lisbon is pretty easy and yes, the majority of the highways are tolls roads. With a car rented in Spain you can register it online and put in a payment method. Your account will be billed daily after a day’s tolls have been aggregated; one charge even if you went through five toll areas. You do need to remember to cancel your account when you turn in the vehicle or leave Portugal since the account remains active for 30 days. If you don’t cancel, you will be paying the next person that rents the vehicle’s toll.

https://www.pttolls.com/en

In Málaga, many off-site rental locations are in an odd spot very near the terminal and a traffic circle than get very congested.

In Ronda the street through the center of town is a restricted driving area. Unless your hotel is within that zone you cannot drive there. Likewise, the historic center of Córdoba is off limits to vehicles unless your hotel is within it.

On our recent (May) trip, our flight arrived in Málaga in the evening. What we did was pick up the rental car and drive the 2 miles to Parador de Málaga Golf Club. In the morning we drove to Ronda. Not only is it near the airport, but its location makes leaving for Ronda easy since you don’t need to go into Málaga. Driving to Ronda will take just over 1.5 hours.

Thank you all for the thoughtful replies, they have been very helpful.

I have taken on board the comments about not trying to do too much. Our travel style is a little faster than many Rick Steves travelers, though. We don't mind changing hotels if each day offers genuinely different scenery or experiences, and we would rather avoid spending multiple days seeing variations of the same thing.

Our Andalusia plan (Ronda, Granada, Córdoba, and Seville) is more or less fixed. We will have 10 sightseeing days after arriving in Europe before flying home. After knowing the logistics options between Spain and Portugal, the one decision we are still struggling with is the Portugal portion.

Would you choose:

Option A
Continue from Seville into the Algarve, then visit Sintra and Lisbon before flying home.

Option B
Fly from Seville to Porto, rent a car there, drive through the Douro Valley and down toward Lisbon (possibly with a stop such as Coimbra), then fly home from Lisbon.

Option C
Stay entirely in Spain and use those remaining days to explore another region that offers scenery and experiences quite different from Andalusia. That was the reason, I added different (Portugal) part, and flights from Lisbon to US are easy too, in comparison to Malaga

Our priorities are:

• Scenic landscapes and photography
• Beautiful architecture and historic towns
• Variety of experiences rather than beaches alone
• We don't mind driving if the scenery justifies it

For those who have experienced both southern and northern Portugal.