I am hoping for some feedback on driving in Spain and Portugal. We obviously do not need a car in Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon, but is it worth a car (versus the train) to get around Seville, Cordoba, and the Spanish and Portugal seacoasts? I have driven in Sweden, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, and Italy so have some experience driving in Europe. Thanks for the information.
Sevilla is for walking....definitely..a car would be a liability! Not sure about Cordoba, but think the same....both are accessible by the AVE train from Madrid...2 1/2 hours to Sevilla, and Cordoba is a stop on the way...
You certainly do not need a car for the sites of a modest size city like Cordoba. As with Seville you will not need a car in streets built for, at most, a donkey and cart and in many instances are inaccessible with modern transport.
The Spanish and Portugal seacoasts are several hundred kilometres, so without knowing what your aims are, probably yes.
The train is easy and convenient. I only rented a car for a few days, from Jerez through the pueblos blancos (harrowing driving in some of them and I used to drive the steep hills of San Francisco) to visit El Torcal. For the Algarve I think you would need a car.
If you are thinking of renting a car in, say, Seville, and driving through the Algarve and ending in Lisbon, be sure to look at drop-off charges for a rental car. They can run to hundreds of euros.