9 full days, 10 nights in Andalusia

How about this itinerary so you don't have stay in 4 different cities:

1) Arrive Malaga in the evening and spend 3 nights. (Rent a car and Day trip to Ronda)

2) Spend 3 nights in Seville

3) Spend 3 nights in Granada

4) Return to Malaga for 1 night and fly out at noon the next day

(On your next to last day in Malaga drive over to Cordoba for a tour)

It's not advisable to leave from Granada and drive to Málaga on the same day of your flight. It's always safer to spend the night at the city you are flying out from. You don't want to have to deal with any unforeseen circumstances happen the day of your flight driving to Málaga. You can choose to do it but it's a risk.

Is this next month October or next year October? I ask because if next month, and if the Alhambra is the reason you are going to Granada, you may be scrambling for tickets to the Nazrid Palace. I think even the Dobla d'Oro tickets are booked out. You may need to take a tour or ask your hotel to help you obtain tickets.
You don't need a car for Seville or Granada - in fact it would be a headache.I would choose option 1 dropping the car in Seville and taking the train or bus from there....or if you think there are sights to stop and see enroute, then drop the car in Seville and then pick up a new one to drive from Seville to Granada. You need to work in the cost of parking for the days you won't be using the vehicle and the need for parking is going to limit your lodging options - particularly if this is next month. The bus is a scenic route. You need to consider Hubby's stress level if you don't depart from Granada the night before. As a new to Europe traveler, I would give him his wish.

First I'll just throw out that I didn't go to Malaga, and I do see that a priority for you is for longer stays. However, I'll also point out that there is more to do in beautiful Sevilla and that most consider a visit to Cordoba to be one of the 3 great "must see" cities in Andalusia. Ideally, I would spend two nights in Cordoba to really experience the beautiful city and Mezquita, but a day trip from Sevilla would provide a nice taste of Cordoba. While Sevilla and Cordoba were my favorite cities that I visited, my favorite site was the Alhambra, with the Mezquita a close second. My suggestion would be 4 nights in Sevilla (with day trip to Cordoba) and 2 nights in Granada. I don't think a car is the least bit helpful to tour those cities, but I understand your point about driving back to Malaga along the coast. I did visit Ronda along with other pueblos blancos (Arcos, Zahara, Grazelema) and we certainly enjoyed them, but I consider Sevilla, Granada and Cordoba to be higher priority than the pueblos blancos. A car is helpful for the pueblos blancos.

Thanks, Rjean. That is a creative solution, although I read good things about staying in Ronda overnight. If I did this, we'd either need to return the car or find a place to park it overnight in Malaga for our trip to Seville.

MariaF, It is this October and I have found tickets to the Alhambra.
Question for both of you: How easy is it to rent a car in one city and drop it off in another? Do all the rental companies allow for this? Is there a charge? I had read that there are two reputable rental car companies who give you quotes with the all inclusive/excess insurance and the rest are aggressive and add a lot of extras. Don't know if in the end it all works out to be the same price.....rental car recs appreciated. I do know that we need international driving permits.

Do you plan on having the car for the entire trip ?

I have never rented a car in Europe, but many, many people recommend checking rates with the consolidators: AutoEurope (apparently the most-used), Kemwel and Gemut. You can then compare their rates to those you get by contacting the car-rental firm directly; often you'll save with AutoEurope or one of the others. Typically, there is not a large fee for dropping a car in a different city within the same country.

My reaction to your itinerary is similar to Jules's: Too much time in Malaga, not enough time in Seville to allow a decent visit to Cordoba. Malaga is pleasant, but I would strongly prefer to spend that time partly in Cordoba and partly in Seville. I liked spending multiple nights in Cordoba, but it's a short trip on the AVE train from Seville, and many folks choose the day-trip option to avoid changing hotels for just a night or two.

I always spend the night before my transatlantic flight home in a city very near my departure airport. I certainly would not spend the last night in Granada. You could have a problem with the car, or there could be an accident on the highway that costs you a lot of time. The financial penalty for missing that flight would be very steep.

RJean, I had planned on it, but the suggestion of renting one in Malaga and returning in Seville would be great! Then we could rent again in Seville and return in Granada. But now that I start looking into that, it seems like there are hefty fees involved (over $50) for dropping in a different city. When looking I was able to find AirBnB's with parking that wouldn't be more than this. Any tips on rental cars or rental car companies appreciated.

AutoEurope would be ideal.

https://www.autoeurope.com/car-rental-malaga/

https://www.autoeurope.com/travel-guides/spain/driving-in-sevilla/

https://www.smartertravel.com/european-car-rental-companies/

In Europe, we have always picked up a car in one location and dropped at another. The only place in Europe where I ever encountered a drop charge, was actually in Andalusia, but there were other car company options that did not charge a "drop" fee. We rented at Sevilla's Santa Justa station and returned upon arrival to Granada at the train station. I booked thru Autoeurope and the company was Europcar. The other option was Hertz thru Autoeurope and they did charge a drop fee. In Europe, we have only rented thru Autoeurope and one time directly thru Europcar. Don't discard the possibility of getting lost navigating thru an area or within a city, trying to return a rental car. Also, factor in the administrative time it takes to pick up and drop off the car. Also, in many cases, a train trip is faster than a car trip.

Any tips on rental cars or rental car companies appreciated.

I typically use Rentalcars.com to book my car at Malaga Airport or sometimes RyanairCars.com. Both are consolidators and with Rentalcars.com all my rentals with them have been fulfilled by Hertz or Budget. Both companies are reliable and provide decent cars. Avis and Sixt are also reputable but are also amongst the most expensive.

I'd avoid Goldcar, their reputation is not that good, the queues are very long and whilst their prices look attractive there are lots of additional costs once you reach the collection desk.

If you can, opt for an automatic as it makes driving those twisty mountain roads easier. If you're inexperienced with driving in old European towns with their narrow roads then opt for the smallest car you can but bearing in mind the need for a bit of oomph to get up those mountains and also some of the steep roads in the towns (I can think of one particular cobbled road in Benehavis that has me leaning forward into the steering wheel in an effort to provide some weight to the front of the car, I couldn't imagine what it's like when it's wet!).

The coastal road is in excellent condition in the main and sometimes quite deserted in places (particularly in October) but be aware of speed cameras, I've never seen them but they've seen me!

We'll be there at the same time so here's hoping for some great weather (it usually is).

Ona trip years ago, we stayed at a place in a small town a little west of Malaga, and drove day trips for a week, including Ronda. So we didn’t get to spend the night, and just had a Ronda visit for part of a day. Some of our returns were late at night, so we’re were on Spanish Time, having dinner late, which made getting up early the next morning a challenge.

We parked our rental car in a lot for the whole time we stayed in Seville, expensive, but we didn’t want to have to dodge the hordes of motorbikes in town.

Our last trip to Spain, in the northern part, we rented from Europcar, and picked up in one city and dropped off in another. If they charged more for this than if we picked up and dropped off in the same city, it was built in to the rental fee quote, and there wasn’t a specific “drop fee.” On that earlier trip to southern Spain, though, we’d actually picked up the car in a different country, Portugal, and returned it in Malaga, and the fee was a hefty $600. A lot, but logistically it was our best option at the time.

We generally have early morning departures when heading back to the USA, so almost always are near the airport. One exception that I can remember was in Scotland about 5 years ago, where we dropped off the car at the Edinburgh airport and headed to the terminal, a short walk away. Even then, we stayed only just about 45 minutes away by car our last night.

Thanks all! Sounds like it would be prudent to return to Malaga the day before our flight. At your recommendation, I've done some looking on Auto Europe and called their customer service. Hertz will charge a $50+ drop off fee if you return to a different city. Europcar doesn't charge to drop off in another city, but they do charge a $19 fee to pick up at a railway station - just on the pick up end. There is also a fee for pick up at an airport. Not sure if it is $19 or higher. It is way more economical to keep the car the whole time, however, you have to weigh the cost of parking, or being limited to AirBnBs that have parking, and the extra cost involved with that. When you read reviews for apartments with parking a lot of them have comments like, "you must have a very small car to fit into the spot." So I have to decide if it's less stressful and time consuming to keep the car the whole trip or have to deal with the picking up and dropping off in a couple of cities which also sounds like it could be a hassle. Right now the getting the car and keeping it just sounds a little easier. I suppose we could also rent a car for the drive to Ronda, drop off in Seville, and then take public transportation the rest of the trip. I was just really looking forward to the drives and seeing the sights between the towns. A couple of years ago I went to Rome and never left the city for 8 days. I prefer this type of vacation, but this time we're trying something different!

@skastner90 - You only need the car for the drive from Malaga to Ronda. When you reach Seville, drop off the car and continue on the rest of the trip via public transport. You can train from Seville to Granada and train from Granada to Malaga.

Also for your 3 days in Malaga with the car, if you have the time, drive up to the town of Nerja less than 1 hour away from Malaga. It's a pretty town.

https://www.nerja-turismo.com/en/

The ONLY reason to rent a car for any itinerary with these cities is if you want to spend a day or two driving through the hills and visiting a few of the white towns. Other than that you will be paying for the rental car, for gas, and for parking. If your hotel has free or low-cost parking, you can probably find equally good rooms for less without parking.

BTW a $50 fee, never mind a $19 fee, sounds like perhaps you aren't thinking about the overall cost.

Thanks again to everyone who responded! I think I have decided on my itinerary and car situation!

Arrive in Malaga 19:45 (spend 2 nights in Malaga), Rent car and drive to Ronda, explore Ronda (I know we won't be able to see everything) then continue on to Arcos de la Frontera and spend the night at a cute little hotel I booked. (I know there is a lot to see and do in Ronda, but none of the accommodations appealed to me and Arcos de la Frontera seems to offer a unique, quaint experience that I hope will serve as a contrast to the rest of our trip!) Next day drive to Seville and dump the car. Spend 4 nights in Seville. We may take a day trip to Cordoba, but I think I will welcome staying in one place and exploring Seville. After 4 nights in Seville take a bus or train to Granada. Spend 2 nights in Granada and visit the Alhambra. I already got my tickets! I went the Granada Pass route that gives us access to the Nasrid Palaces as well as the rest of the Alhambra. After two nights in Granada take a bus back to Malaga. Spend the night in Malaga and fly out the next day!

Question on buses/trains? At some point I read there is a high speed train from Seville to Granada, but it doesn't look like it's in effect yet? Do you recommend the bus or the train? And how much in advance should I book the tickets or can I be assured of getting tickets the day of my travel? Same question for Granada to Malaga. Do I need to book in advance?

Also if we are going to the Alhambra do you recommend going to the Alcazar in Seville? I hear it is just as beautiful as the Alhambra, I am sure there is lots to see in Seville. Wondering if they are too much the same to do in one short trip?

Thanks to everyone for your help and any tips and recommendations are still appreciated!

You have enough time in Sevilla to visit the cathedral and the Alcazar. I would make the Alcazar tickets in advance to avoid the long lines. You can use the strategy in the RS guide for the cathedral which is to purchase the combined ticket at the Church of the Savior. We got to the Church of the Savior about 10 minutes before opening and were at the front of the line there. We liked both the cathedral and the Alcazar very much and it will be interesting combined with a trip that includes the Alhambra. In Sevilla, make sure you also visit the Plaza Espana.

I really love Moorish architecture, probably to an atypical degree. I loved both the Alhambra and the Alcazar in Seville, and I did see them on the same trip. I think you'll have time for the Alcazar in Seville; just take care of the ticket ahead of time so you aren't standing in the ticket line for hours. You'll be well ahead of all the folks who show up in town without tickets and spend about as much time in the ticket line as inside the Alcazar. And use the suggested workaround for the cathedral as well. That's another line you don't need to waste time in.

I think it's cheating yourselves not to go to Cordoba to see the unique and beautiful Mezquita and the well-preserved medieval quarter.

I recommend seeing both the Alhambra in Granada and the Alcazar in Seville! Both are gorgeous, similar but different. Both are 2 of my favorite sites in Andalusia. And I liked the Alcazar even more than the Seville cathedral.

I agree with Chani about visiting Cordoba. It was one of our favorite cities, and the Mezquita is amazing. A day trip is better than not seeing it at all, but we stayed in Cordoba 2 nights and loved it.