Maybe Andalusia in mid-March 2022

Since you’re starting and ending in Malaga here’s my suggested loop. You could take it in either direction depending on when you want to be in Ronda.
Malaga - Vejer de la Frontera - Cadiz - Jerez de la Frontera - Arcos de la Frontera - Zahara de la Sierra - Grazalema - Ronda - Malaga.

Time wise, Cadiz is about 35-40 minutes from Jerez, and Jerez is about the same from Arcos. While the distance is short, the road between Zahara and Grazalema has a lot of twists and turns so you’ll be driving pretty slowly. You’ll have no problem getting from Jerez to Ronda in a single day. Cadiz, while not one of my favorite cities and Jerez would be logical choices for spending the night. Jerez has no must see sights, but does have bodegas, an equestrian center, and an alcázar. Depending on what you plan to see, you could spend nights in Vejer for that small town feel and Cadiz. Both Zahara and Grazalema are about 20 miles from Ronda so I’d rule them out as places to spend the night.

jaimeelsabio: Thank you for your response. There’s been a new development. We are not too keen on going to Malaga. Instead, we will pick up and return the car in Seville (then take the bus to Granada). I think we’ll only go as far south as Vejer. Two nights in Ronda, maybe two nights in Arcos, drive to Jerez, Cadiz, and Vejer on one day. Would that make sense?

If you're going to Granada after Seville, it makes more sense to drive the car to Granada and drop it there. Thus go first to Jerez/Cadiz/Arcos, then Rondo.

For the first leg, staying in Jerez might be best because it's central and car-friendly. Arcos is much prettier and more scenic, but it's atop a steep hill. It's very hard to drive in the historic center with its very steep narrow streets and blind corners with limited parking. Most visitors park in the large lot at the base and either walk up or take the mini-shuttle.

Driving from Rondo to Granada is pretty easy, mostly on the highway. You could stop for a visit to Antequera and/or the prehistoric dolmens just outside the town.

Chani’s idea is good. I doubt you’d be able to visit Jerez, Cadiz, and Vejer in the same day if you consider the driving time and time it takes to get into and out of the city, and find parking. Assuming starting and ending in Sevilla, personally I’d do this loop in either direction: Sevilla - Jerez - Cadiz (spend a night) - Vejer - Arcos (spend one night)- Ronda - Sevilla. Between Arcos and Ronda you can visit both Zahara and Grazalema. From Ronda back to Sevilla, possibly stop at Sentenil de las Bodegas. Cadiz has no must see sights but is nice to walk around. One can get a good feel for it in a few hours, although others would disagree and say you need more time.

There are no interstates between Ronda and Sevilla, so assume you’ll be driving at no more than 70kph/42mph. It takes 1 hour to get to Jerez de la Frontera from Sevilla. Cadiz is another 30-40 minutes depending on traffic. Arcos de la Frontera and Ronda are fairly close together so fitting in Zahara de la Sierra and Grazalema shouldn’t be a problem. As Chani stated, the road to the overlook in Arcos is very narrow. From the parking lot at the bottom up to the overlook the road is straight. There is a small paid parking lot at the top by the church. Coming down from the overlook has a couple 90 degree turns that are hard to navigate if the rental car is too large. When I lived over there (decades ago) my car was small enough maneuvering wasn’t an issue. On my last trip there in 2011 those 90 degree turns were 5 point turns since our rental was larger.

Thank you so much Chani and jamieelsabio!
Based on your suggestions, this is how the trip is shaping up.
Pick up and return car in Sevilla. My husband wants to minimize his driving so he ruled out returning the car in Granada.
Day 1: drive to Jerez (2-3 hrs incl. lunch?) - Cadiz - overnight here.
Day 2: drive to Vejer (~2hrs) - Arcos ~3hrs incl. lunch) - Zahara de la Sierra - overnight here (taking Chani’s advice regarding parking in Arcos)
Day 3: explore Z de la S, Grazelama - drive to Ronda - first of two nights here
Day 4: drive to Setenil (2-3hrs?) - rest of day/evening in Ronda
Day 5: drive early to Sevilla, return car, Alsa bus to Granada (direct, no stops, more frequent and cheaper than train)
How does this look? Is it too rushed? Any suggestions for moderate hike (2-3hrs) in Grazelama? We’re thinking of staying at the Parador de Ronda. Is it worth the extra bucks? Hotel Montelirio gets very good reviews for a lot less…just wondering.
I would appreciate suggestions for restaurants as well. Thank you!

With the time you have, I feel you should have a fairly relaxed trip. In the grand scheme of things the distances between towns are short and you shouldn’t have to rush at all. Jerez’s street layout is a mess since few roads are straight. Cadiz is easy to drive in since it is on a peninsula so there are fewer places to make a wrong turn. Some friends of ours stayed in Grazalema and enjoyed it. If you are considering taking a hike for a couple hours there, consider staying there rather than Zahara. The towns are only about 7 miles apart, but a 30 minute drive. There are plenty of places in that area to go hiking. Arcos, Zahara, Grazalema, Vejer, and Sentenil are really small and won’t take long to see; my guess is less than two hours each. If you have a GPS, you may want to look up parking lots in the towns you intend on visiting.

We love Paradors and try to stay at them whenever possibly. The one in Ronda, while we haven’t stayed at it, is right at the New Bridge (built 1751-1793) and has great views. I believe it has its own parking garage, for a fee, which is a bonus since parking is at a premium in town. If we make it back to Ronda we will stay at the Parador, but it’s a personal choice whether to spend the money. On our last trip there in 2011 (before we had stayed at a Parador) we stayed at hotel San Gabriel and enjoyed it. I’ll send you a private message about Paradors.

I don't understand why you need to drive back to Sevilla to drop the car and then take a bus to Granada. You can drive from Ronda to Granada in a couple of hours and return the car there. Backtracking to Sevilla uses up the better part of a day.

My suggestion was based on spending 1-2 nights in Jerez to tour the area.

Spring in the beautiful green mountains of Spain, how wonderful, skip Jerez no reason to use valuable time going to a city when you could be out in the mountains. Returning the car in Granada is no more difficult than to do so in Seville. That part of Spain is easy to drive around as long as you have googe to help. The hike (more of a stroll) Caminito del Rey is wonderful and should not be missed, you don't need a guide just get your entrance tickets on line. Park at the bottom, bus to the entrance, then you can get directly in your car at the finish and leave. Since you will have a car I would take a look at spending 4 nights out in the hill towns in the middle say Grazelema at an Airbnb and driving to the towns of Arcos, Ronda, etc as day trips. I do hope your spending some nights in both Seville and Granada if you have not already visited them. Enjoy your trip and have a sangria for me, J

Chani:
Thank you. Returning the car in Sevilla saves us a few bucks. We’ll be able to return the car on the 4th day and without incurring a drop-off fee. The difference is about $200. Bus to Granada is only 29€ pp. Having said that, we might still consider returning the car in Granada depending on how much we really want to see Friligiana.

Joanne, yes, we’ll be spending 4 nts in Seville and and for 3 nts in Granada. Thanks for the suggestions. I like your idea of basing in one spot but there’s a guitar concert in Ronda that we would really like to see. We want to avoid driving back to a hill town in the dark (after the concert).

I wouldn't bother with Frigiliana mid-March.
I am also suprised at the $200 price difference for the car rental if you drop off in Granada rather than back in Sevilla. It seems high...but then, rental prices are high these days anyway. Try to shop around a little bit more if you haven't done so yet?

On Tuesday, we did a one-day sortie from Malaga (in a one-day rental car) to Ronda, so have a few suggestions for that piece of your trip, at least! (Planning to bite off the rest of the Pueblos Blancos in sorties from Sevilla/Cadiz when we're there for the month of Feb.)
1) Be warned paid parking isn't cheap, but even in January it wasn't easy to find street parking, so it's necessary. We parked at Parking La Merced, from 1-7 in "new town," and it was about $18.

2) Don't miss the park and viewpoints/walkway at Alameda de Tajo just a block from the parking. You'll basically want to skip the main drag and walk the rim of the cliffs, which has incredible views of the valley and surrounding mountains, then will swing you around to a stunning view of the "new" bridge.

3) Make sure to give yourselves a full day there! The Bullring Museum is fascinating, and we felt a little rushed only having 1:45 until close. (It closes early in winter, at 3; hopefully hours will be longer in March.) We also had time to wander old town and go BY most of the sites Rick recommends, but not enough time to do more than pop in quickly to a couple. (W/ benefit of hindsight, we would have eaten a more substantial meal before the trip so as to not have spent a prime touring/daylight hour eating, though the meal was lovely and the view divine!)

4) Foodwise, you'll hopefully find more open in mid-March than we did in January. There were (literally) only 4 restaurants to pick from: The big hotels on each side of the bridge, a wine/tapas bar in the first block of Old Town, and where we ate, Restaurante Don Miguel, clinging to the cliff on the New Town side. We feared it might be a restaurant that coasted on its location, as it has outdoor terraces RIGHT in front of the "New Bridge," but both the food and service were excellent, and the prices weren't bad, either. I had a lovely salmon and avocado salad for E12, and the famous Andalusian cold almond soup (surprisingly tangy, but with a swirly of strawberry preserves) for E6. My husband had a risotto that was about half meat and mushrooms for E14, and it was scrumptious as well. The only other table seated at the time had steaks that looked primo.

5) I hope you'll be able to catch that nightly guitar concert in Rick's book! Sounded amazing, but we didn't want to be driving back too late -- and suspect during a Tuesday in Jan it might not have been happening.

6) I agree it doesn't make sense to return to Sevilla by car, then bus to Granada. I'd do some more shopping for that car rental! We're only paying $200 total for a five-day, one-way rental from Malaga to Cadiz. I used autoslash.com. They get your info -- including whether your AAA or Costco members, etc. -- then go find the best quote. It wound up sending us to Priceline, but I recall it was nearly $50 less than what I'd found on Kayak. (Found out about it by way of Scott's Cheap Travel, a site that scours for low and mistake fares, which is how we found $450 flights here. Well, $600 by the time you upgrade to include a checked bag and the ability to change.)

Hope that helps!