Bus travel

We took several trains. The only route you are doing that we took the bus was Nerja to Malaga (one of of your buses in the Ronda-to-Nerja route.). I purchase our tickets ahead of time - not sure if it was required. We traveled in October. I will share a piece of advice: be sure you are not on any of the slower buses when there is a quicker one. We accidentally rode the slow one from Nerja to Malaga instead of the previous one, and it was almost a comically crazy ride trying to arrive in Malaga!

We were in Ronda last week and even in off season on a rainy day it was busy so I would either book the Ronda-Malaga bus or take the train. If there is a train option then I would take that rather than a bus as Spanish roads are crazy. We were on a bus tour from Seville to the white towns and our bus narrowly avoided several head on collisions.

There certainly is a train service to Ronda, on the line to Algeciras. It's about 2 hours from Malaga, change at ANTEQUERA-SANTA ANA.

I used the Trainline app to buy bus tickets at the last minute. I think the answer to your question will depend on the frequency of departures. We were going to Madrid from Granada so there were many buses so a last minute ticket was easy to get.

I just searched your routes on a Friday in April and for tomorrow (i.e., last minute) and see lots of options and seats still available.

ALSA is the main bus line for that area of Spain. If I recall from last visit, they also have dynamic pricing, so if you are sure on dates and time, you could save a bit buying ahead. They assign seats.

Thanks to all of you. I've found our bus routes and have tickets!