Madrid to Granada Road Trip

pintxosndetours - There are a list of must see places on the road trip. You can plot the road trip like this to make stops at these cities.

Madrid > Toledo > Cordoba > Granada

or

If you want to take a longer road trip from Madrid to Granada. You can opt to do this journey.

Madrid > Toledo > Valencia > Alicante > Granada

Depends on how long the road trip is and what you like to see. Other than the standard places people recommend, like those RJean mentioned, I’ll mention Chinchon, Consuegra with its castle and Windmills, Campo de Criptana with its windmills, possibly Belmonte castle, Ubeda, and Baeza,

Yes, we seriously need to know how many nights you'll be sleeping on the road between Madrid and Granada. Many people use the term "road trip" simply to mean they want to drive rather than take a train. ViaMichelin.com estimates about 4-1/2 hours for the direct drive. Even allowing for some optimism there, it's possible the OP is planning only one night (or even zero nights) on the road.

In addition to the places already mentioned, I'll offer Almagro as a non-(foreign) touristy place that's only a slight detour. It would definitely not be my top choice for a substantial visit, but then again I don't really see much sense in stopping in a place like Toledo for an hour or two. If there's limited time available, I'd rather choose a smaller destination where most of my time wouldn't be consumed by looking for a place to park the car.

Chinchon (already mentioned) is another place where you could accomplish something in a couple of hours.

I'll add - if you want to visit Toledo, Cordoba, Sevilla you won't want a car in any of them. The trains are faster and easier, and probably cheaper, especially if you buy the deeply discounted no-refund no-exchange tickets 2 months in advance. I have used a car twice to spend 3-4 days and visit some of the white hill towns.

Assuming you take a more or less direct route, you'll mainly be driving through Castilla La Mancha which, La Mancha especially, is sort of the "Spanish Spain" of Quixote and windmills. There is a lot to see - if not, perhaps, places to stop for several nights. As others have said, it depends how long you have - the castle in Belmonte is very worth visiting if that's not been mentioned already [edit- I see it has]

I'd recommend, if time allows, an overnight stop in Ubeda/Baeza before the last stretch to Granada. Though in Andalucia, they are very different from the other towns and cities you'll see in the south.