20 days in Andalucia

cut Malaga and add the time to Granada. Go directly to Toledo from the airport and stay the night there rather that Madrid twice. Jerez can be done in two nights, one day to see the horses. Cordoba also has Lipizaners. J

I love the idea of going to Toledo directly.. GOOD ONE!

Can I get the train at the Madrid Airport to Toledo ( we land in Madrid Adolfo Suarez) Terminal one.

You cannot take a train directly from the airport to Toledo, but it is a pretty easy trip with 1 transfer:

1. Take the Cercanía line 1 or 10 from Aeropuerto T4 to Atocha station
2. Catch a Renfe train from Atocha to Toledo.

I like the idea of going directly to Toledo, but you will need to back track to Madrid to catch the train to Granada.
We fly from Miami to Madrid and often continue our journey on same day of arrival. We highly recommend adding a connecting flight form Madrid airport to Granada on day of arrival to Madrid. Your Miami flight will arrive early to mid morning and tis easy to connect to Iberia commuter flights to Granada. Pack using only carry on luggage and this connection becomes quite simple.
There is a 11:50 departure for $132 economy arriving in Granada by 2 pm. Taking this approach maximizes your travel day and starts your journey in a wonderful city. Double check your arrival time in Madrid to insure this works, if you have 90 minutes between flights this should work. PM me with questions.
Recommend you strive to stay in apartments at all destinations. Adults and kids will have their own bedrooms, room to spread out, and a kitchen to prepare breakfast and enjoy some snacks. Just having flexibility with breakfast saves $. One way to quickly peel back layers for learning local culture is to engage an owner whose best interest is served by helping travelers enjoy their journey.
recommend skipping Malaga and driving from Granada to Ronda for two nights then head to Jerez. Rent car on way out of Granada, DO NOT attempt to drive in Granada!
https://www.viamichelin.com/web/Maps?address=spain
via Michelin is our web site of choice for plotting trips. Recommend purchasing local SIM card for your phone, if unlocked, to use map apps while driving. Be sure and obtain from AAA your International Drivers Permit for $20. Makes you legal to drive in Spain and brings peace of mind in case of accident or ticket.
We have driven on several journeys in Spain (our favorite country), but have changed to where we utilize public transport to get form point A to B. We enjoy our journey more by leaving the driving to others. Keep in mind, majority of time your car rental expense is for a vehicle that will be parked. Be sure and check into parking expense and fuel expense. Take into consideration of need to rent vehicle to COMFORTABLY match your crowd. We will rent a car for day trips once we are at destination.

Recommend:
Arrive Madrid and immediately go to Granada for three nights. Book your Alhambra tickets IMMEDIATELY!
Three hour drive to Ronda, stay two nights.
Ronda to Jerez about a two hour drive. Stay 2/3 nights.
Jerez to Seville is about two hours. Stay in Seville five nights.
Train to Cordoba for 1 night (I will take grief for this recommendation).
Then finish trip in Madrid with day trip to Toledo (I will take grief for this recommendation).

Enjoy!

You are right about having to trail back to Madrid from Toledo. It is just too much to do all that. IM thinking of skipping Toledo and heading to Granada from the Madrid airport.
Thoughts?

I would buy the one way flights and maximize the effectiveness of arriving at the Madrid airport and use it to continue your journey via air to Granada. Figure out your travel expense of getting from Madrid Airport to Atocha train station and then expense of the train and deduct form the expense of flying. Then take the time you will spend in getting form the airport to the train station, time spent on the train and when you will arrive in Granada. For me, and we have done this drill, the effective expense of the plane connection placing us sooner and easier in Granada is a worthwhile investment.

Tickets are bought and not worth changing. Too expensive to do so. Not an option.

Toledo is on a spur line from Madrid. The train is the best way there and back and you can't avoid a transfer in Madrid. So I would go to Toledo for the first 2N. From the airport, you'd have to change trains in Madrid anyway to go to Granada. Ttrains from Madrid to Toledo are frequent and cheap so there's no problem just getting the next available one. OTOH trains to Granada are few and expensive. (check them on renfe.com). If you buy highly discounted tickets well in advance, you risk missing the train if the flight is late, or there is any delay from the plane to the train (like passport control). Or you wait to buy tickets on the spot at full price. Lastly if you go straight to Granada, you'll get there fairly late in the day and you may well be zonked the next day when you presumably want to spend a good part of the at the Alhambra.

Another possibility is to go to Cordoba between Toledo and Granada and at the end, go to Madrid from Sevilla. This may make more sense because of the train schedules.

What draws you to Malaga? I ask because it is not a typical choice. I would have suggested getting the car in Granada and spending 2 days going through the white hill towns to Jerez. Ronda is where I've based twice to do this.

I'd take a night away from somewhere (maybe Jerez) and add it to Granada.

Hi Chani

I have to play around with the horse tix in Jerez to make it work (my daughters highlight is the horses)
With that said have you been to Cadiz? It seems to be big in Andalusian horses..

I have moved it around for logistics as you suggested

Madrid (land) to Toledo Sept 30 to Oct 3 ( Im doing 3 nights just bc I imagine after a long flight we need a little time)
Cordoba Oct 3 to the 5th (2 nights) would like to visit Jaen
Jerez Oct 5th to the 8th (3 nights) we could visit Cadiz and Ronda
Granada Oct 8th to the 11th ( 3 nights) (thinking maybbe I should skip Granada and stay West) ?

Seville Oct 11th to the 16th (5 nights)
Madrid Oct 16th to the 18 (2 nights)

I dont know what to substitute to be able to do Ronda... With 2 teenagers its a little harder to move around so much and one being on the autism spectrum. We (before covid) would take one trip to Europe every 1 to 2 years and do 30 to 40 days. We hope this will become the norm again. With that said, i rather enjoy a little more and not hop around so much... What are your thoughts on staying in the South west and saving the East for another time?

Thoughts?

Hello Chani

I like your ideas.. After checking trains yesterday I believe I will definitely go to Toledo and spend 2 to 3 nights after such a long trip. I though of doing Malaga to be able to do the Caminito del Rey but honestly it might be too much.
Madrid to Toledo (day we land) 2 nights
Cordoba (wondering how we will get here) 3 nights
Granada 3 nights
Jerez 3 nights
Seville 5 nights
Madrid 2 nights and we go home!

Madrid to Toledo (day we land) 2 nights Cordoba (wondering how we will
get here) 3 nights

I know you were considering renting a car at some point, I wonder if using it for Toledo to Cordoba might make sense--the backtracking to Madrid would just irk me, especially with kids. It might be worth the drive just to be able to see the windmills at Consuegra. We hoped to see them on my recent trip but ended up not making the detour on our route, but they look so wonderful.

That sounds like a good idea.. we can rent the car in Toledo and let it go somewhere...

Newest itinerary

Sept 30 land in Madrid and off to Toledo (via booking.com apt pick up
Sept 30 to Oct 2 Toledo (2 nights)
Oct 2 to the 4th Cordoba (visit Jaen) (2 nights)
Oct 4 to the 9th Seville (5 nights)
October 9th to the 12 Cadiz (one day to travel to Jerez and one to Ronda) Horses!! (3 nights)
Oct 12 to the 16th Granada (4 nights)
Oct 16 to the 18th Madrid and then home sweet home! (2 nights)

I would not omit Malaga. We spent 2 nights there and wish we had an extra night. Rick Steves treats Malaga like it's only a transportation hub, and he is wrong about this. After being inland for most of your trip, Malaga will give you some coastal ambience. There is so much to see and do in Malaga. The walk to the top of the Alcazaba is beautiful with gardens, ruins, patios, fountains, and spectacular views of the Mediterranean. The cathedral is beautiful, and the city center is lovely with marble pedestrian walkways, lots of restaurants and cafes, etc. There are many small art museums, the Ataranzas market, the seaside promenade, and cafes by the port where you can have drinks and watch the sunset.

And Malaga is about a 1.5 hour bus ride from Granada. Take the ALSA bus. They are wonderful: modern, comfortable, clean.

Although I would not say Jaen isn't worth visiting, I believe all sources agree that Ubeda and Baeza rank higher from the sightseeing standpoint. Neither has an in-town train station, so you'd need to take a bus. However, you have only one full day in Cordoba, so I don't think you've really got time to take a day trip.

You've listed each hotel-change day as if you will be spending it in two different cities. In reality, those are days when you'll spend much of your time just getting to and from train or bus stations and sitting on trains/buses. I know you understand what you're doing, but those of us just reviewing your itinerary may be misinterpreting it.

My hubby's family is from Jaen and he wants to visit.

I'm sorry. You posted that before, didn't you. I forgot.

The way to get to Cordoba is take the train and transfer in Madrid. Google maps says it's over 3.5 hours to drive. Renfe shouldn't take any longer, maybe less.

As acraven says, you only have one full day in Cordoba. The current Renfe schedule shows a couple morning trains to Jaen and the last train back at just before 5. Since it's a must-see, you need another night in Cordoba.

You can stay in Cadiz or Jerez. I don't think it makes a big difference. It's easy to go from one to the other by train. Ronda is far for a day trip by car and may not even be practical by bus or train. Instead, pick up a rental car when you leave Jerez/Cadiz and spend a night in Ronda on the way to Granada.

I am thinking that I should skip Toledo and go straight to Cordoba, add an extra night there and fit in Ronda for an overnight when on our way from Jerez to Granada
Toledo is just throwing me off.
Is it worth it?

I don't think anyone has mentioned October 12, which is a national holiday. Look at the wiki article for it. I did a few days ago for another poster. It said that it is always celebrated as a 3-day holiday and many Spaniards take advantage for out-of-town trips. I didn't read the whole article but it may be necessary to adjust your schedule for that.

Toledo is one of the top destinations in Spain. The historic center is medieval. By comparison, Ronda is a distinctly secondary destination. I say that having been to Ronda three times, so it's not that I don't like the place.

The train from Toledo back to Marid takes only 33 minutes.

We were in Spain for October 12 three years ago and there were a lot of festivals going on but mostly everything was running the same.