Andalucia June 2016

My suggestion - Day trips to Segovia and Toledo from Madrid are a must do. Seville is a great pick, deserves 2-3 night. Madrid is electric and a city that never sleeps , so 3 nights should be sufficient. Granada - 2 nights is sufficent, book Alhambra tickets in advance. I cannot comment on Arcos or Ronda know they are great beach towns, I had 4 nights in Barcelona, flew from Granada. Barcelona is a must visit . Barcelona and costa del sol has beaches too.

I should mention that our family has been to Madrid. This time we are visiting friends and seeing some of the things that we missed previously.

You might consider a 3rd night in Granada ...

Day 1 Fly from Cleveland to Madrid
Day 2 AVE train from Madrid to Cordoba - 2 nights
Day 3 Cordoba
Day 4 AVE train to Sevilla - 3 nights
Day 5 Sevilla
Day 6 Sevilla
Day 7 (Pick up hire car). Drive via Jerez to Arcos de la Frontera - 2 nights
Day 8 Arcos de la Frontera
Day 9 Drive via Grazalema to Ronda - 2 nights
Day 10 Ronda
Day 11 Drive to Granada - 3 nights
Day 12 (Return hire car). Granada
Day 13 Granada (or to Madrid if you want more time there for Toledo/Segovia)
Day 14 Bus/Train to Madrid - 3 nights
Day 15 Madrid - visit friends
Day 16 Madrid
Day 17 Madrid to US

Renting a car between Sevilla and Granada gives you more flexibility for visiting white towns.
If you choose public transport (buses and trains), I would overnight in Jerez on Day 7, then move on to Arcos on Day 8.

Thank you David. That makes sense.

Another perspective - I visited Arcos on a day trip by bus from Jerez and felt I'd seen it in one day, including the RS self-guided walk and a wander through the weekly market (not much, mostly cheap textiles and such). On the other hand, I find more and more in Cordoba each time I visit. I thought 2 full days in Granada was plenty. I had 3 :-) But 3 days in Sevilla is not a lot. Ronda has some surprisingly charming museums - the bull ring museum, bandoleros, wine (as much a folk museum as a wine museum).

Unless your flight lands late in the day, consider taking the train fro Atocha to Cordoba on Day 1.

Instead of a day trip to Jerez, take the train there from Sevilla. Spend 2-3 nights, day trip by train to Cadiz and/or to Arcos by bus, then rent a car and drive through the pueblos blancos. You could spend a night in Grazalema and 2 in Ronda. Then take a full day to drive to Granada, making a small detour to El Torcal for a 1/2 day of hiking, or visit Antequera. Then return the car when you get to Granada.

Thank you Chani. El Torcal looks really nice. Will add it to our itinerary.

We are moving the trip a couple of weeks earlier to start at the end of May. With the current schedule I am having trouble finding an available hotel in Córdoba. I guess they are having their Feria that week. Should I move Córdoba to the end of our trip after visiting Granada or should we make Córdoba a day trip from Sevilla adding one more day in Sevilla to our schedule?

I think given that you have the luxury of time, I would move it to the end of your trip.
Drive from Granada to Cordoba if you wish, returning the vehicle on arrival.
You will get to enjoy the evenings in Cordoba.

I took a quick look at booking.com and there are plenty of rooms In Cordoba for the dates I tried for last week in May. Where are you looking? Do you have special requirements?

I will be doing a similar itinerary in February; 18 days CLE-MAD-CLE. I'm planning to spend only one night in MAD since I was there for 3 weeks in 2013. I have been told to set up Sevilla as a base for Jerez and Ronda for Arcos.

I travel solo so everything will be by train and bus. A car rental doesn't make sense. I'll let you know how the itinerary works out. Most of Andalucia will be hot when you are there. I was in BCN this past April and couple of days were hot.

Thank you David for your always insightful feedback. Chani you are right. I guess I was trying to get into some of the more popular hotels that were already booked for our dates at the end of May. I understand that the Córdoba Fair will be either May 21-28 or May 28 - June 4 and the exact dates are to be determined according to the web. I don't know if it would be a good idea to visit Córdoba during their spring fair even if we can book a hotel.
Kina I would love to get feedback from your trip. Thank you all.

Roger, I think it would be absolutely crazy NOT to be in a town during their Feria. From the little I read on one website, it sounds even better than the one in Sevilla, because [1] the whole world doesn't know about it, so fewer tourists and [2] the law says you can go into any tent and join in without an invitation (unlike Seville). What looked like the official city website said the dates were March 21-28.

Kina, I found Jerez was a good base for Arcos (by bus) and Cadiz (by train) and Ronda was a good base for other pueblos blancos by car.