Andalusia for 8 days, car or no car, order of sights and cities

Nerja in February? Unless it's for the carnival, which ends on your arrival date, I wouldn't bother. If you just want to be at the seaside, stick to Malaga which at least has lots of sights as well as the beach.

If you drop Nerja you can go by coach from Malaga to Granada (some direct connections from the airport, others via the city). From Granada to Cordoba by railway and then onto Sevilla, also by railway, before driving back to Malaga via a white town or two.

However, it's a lot to accomplish in eight nights and I fear you'll be short-changing many places. Still, it's your holiday, so if that's what you want how about two nights in Granada, one in Cordoba, three in Seville, one in Ronda and one in Malaga? You'll be spending a lot of time travelling, mind. You might want to check timetables to see how much.

Personally, I'd stick to Granada, Sevilla (and Malaga for the final night), with a day-trip to Cordoba (or stop en route between Granada and Sevilla), and another to a pueblos blancos.

I like Nick's ideas. Certainly, two nights in Seville would feel terribly inadequate to me. You will not see more by moving around as you originally proposed. You will see less, because you will spend so much of your limited time in transit, packing/unpacking, and checking into and out of hotels. You have eight nights, which equates to seven days plus some jetlagged hours on your arrival day (possibly not worth much). You cannot see all of Andalucía in that amount of time, and I think it is a mistake to try to do so. My priorities would be Seville, Cordoba and Granada. Anything else would be gravy. Flying in an out of Malaga means you will necessarily have at least some time there. I like Ronda and the white villages, but I wouldn't try to shoehorn them into this trip.

Granada tickets sell out months in advance. Stay on top of that situation and buy yours when your date becomes available. The official ticket source is https://tickets.alhambra-patronato.es/en/tickets-alhambra-general/. Google will give you a lot of results that are non-official and will cost you extra money.

Thanks Nick and acraven. I will take your advice and drop Nerja and head straight to Granada for Sat and Sun nights, train or bus to Cordoba for Mon, and then Seville Tues, Wed and Thurs. At that point I can see how we feel about heading to Malaga for Fri and Sat nights or whether we want to squeeze in Arco and or Ronda for a night or on our way to Malaga.

That sounds like a good plan to me.

How good are you at dealing with jetlag? You may not want to spend your first full day in a haze at the Alhambra. It's an individual thing. Maybe spend your first day in low key Malaga and take late bus to Granada on Sunday. There are enough worthy sights in pretty Malaga for a full day: small ethnography museum, art museums (Thyssen and Picasso) and Roman ruins.

If you spend more time in Sevilla, you can day trip to Jerez/Arcos or Jerez/Cadiz. The train to Cadiz takes about 1.5 hours and stops in Jerez, spend the morning in Cadiz, then possibly stop in Jerez on the way back for a walk around the cathedral and a sherry bodega tour - Tio Pepe's is fun and close to the cathedral. It's walking distance to the train station but a taxi may save some time. Or maybe catch an 11.00 horse show at the Royal Equestrian School, maybe a bodega tour, and the rest of the day in Cadiz. It's about a 45 minute bus ride from Jerez to Arcos, so that is also possible.

I'd only recommend Ronda as an overnight stop.