Itinerary questions for 14 nights in Southern Spain in January

. First question: If we aren't going to Tangier, is Tarifa worth spending a night in?

Tarifa is a small place and if you are not going to Tanger is not worth it to spend a night there, I wouldn´t spend a night in Gibraltar neither. Tarifa is good during the summer, nice beach there and very windy for kite surfers..why do you want to spend a night in Gibraltar?

We're thinking going to Sevilla first and staying there the longest (4 nights), especially since things will be closed for the Wednesday, Jan. 6th Epiphany Holiday (with possible early closures the night before).

On the 5th is the Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos ( Three Kings procession) and every city in Spain is full of people and shops close late for last minutes shopping as the presents in Spain are the 6th.

Then, get a car on Friday, Jan. 8th to drive through the white hill towns, staying in Arcos (1) and also in Ronda (1), then continuing down to Gibraltar (1), then NE along the Costa del Sol, staying at either Marbella or Nerja (1) - Second question, any suggestions whether Marbella or Nerja would be best?
Then, continue to Granada on Wednesday, Jan. 13th and turn in the car. In Granada (3), then take the train to Córdoba (2).
Third question: Any tips or flaws and suggestions you might have? There is an extra night in there with the car that we haven't planned for yet.

I wouldn´t spend a night in Gibraltar...and if you have to choose between Marbella or Nerja I would stay in Nerja and also visit Frigiliana. Nerja has got everything that makes it popular with tourist, but has retained much of its charm and character. Great food and beaches and clam atmosphere.

I would also go to Malaga, the city itself is fabolous. Vibrant Andalusian atmosphere, excellent tapas bars, cafés, shopping and perhaps the most easy-going people in all of Andalucía. Within three hundred metres in the center, you'll find the recently excavated Roman theater, the 8-11th century Moorish Alcazaba, the great 16th century Cathedral and both Picasso's birth-place and the Picasso museum, also the Carmen Thyssen Museum and the historical Cervantes Theatre.
Some articles about Malaga:

http://www.andalucia.com/cities/malaga/home.htm

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/27/malaga-museums-tourists-arts-culture-spain

No train from Granada to Cordoba. You have to take a bus in Granada to Antequera and then the train.

Do not forget to book your tickets for the Alhambra in advance.

Thank you, Andalusia, for all these useful tips. I'm a fan of Brit history and quirkiness, thus Gibraltar. Malaga and Frigiliana were not on my radar so I appreciate you pointing them out. Cheers!

First question: If we aren't going to Tangier, is Tarifa worth spending a night in?
No, it's January, mid winter.

Second question: Any suggestions whether Marbella or Nerja would be best?
Nerja, but briefly - it's January, mid winter.

Third question: Any tips or flaws and suggestions you might have?
As romantic as Gibraltar sounds, I don't think it is worth the effort, and is best left as a cruise port destination.
It remains virtually a disputed territory and your Spanish hosts will probably not look too fondly upon your visit there.

Train to Cordoba (2 nights)
Train to Seville (3 nights)
Pick up hire car in Sevilla
Drive to Jerez (2 nights) - with day to Cadiz
Drive via Arcos de la Frontera to Ronda (2 nights) - with day to pueblos blancos
Drive via Malaga to Nerja (2 nights)
Drive to Granada (3 nights)
Return hire car in Granada, then train to Madrid (1 night)

Hi, David. Great, thanks for your suggestions.
I like your idea of putting Cordoba first because our travel day to Sevilla would then be on the holiday when sights or shops might be closed, and since I understand the festivities are mostly on the holiday eve. Also, we won't be moving backwards at the end.
We could also get into Sevilla early enough for a full 1/2 day and have an extra night for one of your other ideas.
Thank you,
Annie

I like David's itinerary. When I first visited Andalucia in 2013, I considered going to Gibraltar. I spoke with a few British expats living in the south, and they said to skip it - not worth the trouble, rundown, not very clean. The one thing I was sorry about was missing the Barbary apes - but they have a reputation for being very agressive and unfriendly. You can see colonies of these monkeys in other parts of Europe in sanctuaries (natural settings for them) where they are gentle. While you can drive a car into Gibraltar, the lines are often very long. You can drive there and see the Rock from across the street and then go back along the coast without using the better part of a day to visit it.

If you have an extra night with the car, you could spend it in Antequera.

Be aware that they are currently upgrading the train tracks into Granada. If you take the train from there, you'll board a bus at the Granada train station which takes you to Antequera where you connect with the high speed train to Cordoba or Madrid. You can also take a bus directly. The bus station in Cordoba is across the street from the train station. In Granada it's a few minutes was between the two (the train station is closer to the historic center). Don't know where the bus station is in Madrid.

Do you know that if you buy train tickets when they first go on sale, usually 62 days in advance, you get huge discounts?

Thanks for this good advice, Chani.
I just got ALSA direct bus tickets from Granada back to Madrid. Lots of scary stories on the web about their difficult site; I decided to use PayPal and maybe lucked out because of that. I'm getting close to 62 days pre-travel, so I'll start hanging out on the Renfe/AVE site for the Madrid-Córdoba-Sevilla train legs. Cheers!

You'll have a wonderful time in Andalusia, even in January. A dear friend and her mother did similar in January this year and they had crisp weather with blue skies all the time. It makes for wonderful photos. Enjoy.

Thanks, David, and also for your suggestions which minimize my number of "one night stands."