Andalucia - 5 days

We are doing the same trip in 2 weeks, except we are flyng into Madrid and spending 12 days in Andalucia. The room choices were overwhelming on Booking.com. There were so many choices. We usually stay in 4-5 * hotels and found many in $100-$150 range. For one example, we are staying 3 nights in Granada at the Hotel Monjas Del Carmen for $350 U.S. BTW, we shop on search in engines and then book directly with the hotel, much better cancellation options booking directly.

You might want to reconsider having a car. All of your destinations are easily accessible by train or bus. And city centers are not car-friendly.

You may also find that five days is not enough to do everything on your list. You'll need up to two days for Granada and it's a three hour bus trip from Sevilla. Cordoba is an easy daytrip from Sevilla (45 minutes by AVE) and can even be a stop between Sevilla and Madrid. Sevilla also is a two day stop. So that leaves only a day for something else at a minimum.

For La Alhambra, you need to purchase tickets online ahead of time. They do sell out and it's unlikely that you can buy tickets the day of. You'll choose an entry time for the Nasarid Palace, which MUST be met or you won't be allowed into that part of the site. The rest of the site is seen either in the morning or afternoon shift (if you have a morning Nasarid time, you'll have a morning shift).

Renting a car is a good idea. The roads are good and easily navigated. Public transportation options won't allow you to see as much.

Seville, Granada, Cordoba and Ronda are all nice destinations.

Pleasant surprises for me were Jerez (the only drop-in Bodega tours for the public we found in Spain), Tarifa (surprisingly nice beach town even though we weren't planning to ferry to Tangier), Gibraltar (take a taxi tour and get up close to barbary apes then eat steak and kidney pie at a pub), Antequera (between Ronda and Granada, stone age passage tombs and museum are worth a stop), Claudia-Baello Roman ruins (about 15 miles from Tarifa and right on the beach).

Disappointment was Cadiz (really run down).

I avoided Costa del Sol completely because it's just condos and golf courses. Costa de la Luz (from Tarifa up to the Portuguese border) is really nice.

Thanks guys and thanks Brad for the surprise finds. So here's how things are beginning to shape up - train into Cordova, 2 nights there. Pick up car and drive to Grananda (2 nights), drive (meander) to Ronda and onto Seville - drop car and spend 2-3 nights. Trying to not spend only 1 night in a hotel to minimize packing and moving and get a better feel for the places. Also, we are 3 adults - looking at B&Bs / apartment rentals. Any likes? Thanks again.