Pueblos Blancos, Ronda, Caminito Del Rey suggestions- UTTERLY CONFUSED

I can't address all your points but:
-If you rent in Seville rent from the train station. It's close to downtown and right near the motorway.
I rented a car in Seville and drove to Arcos, toured the white hills towns to the coast and then to Ronda eventually.
Rent the smallest car you can, get an international drivers license (they care in Spain) and get full coverage. GET FULL COVERAGE. Check the price of full coverage and if the rental is too expensive then don't skimp and make other plans. Even parking garages in big cities are very narrow and full of issues let alone trying to negotiate Arcos or other small hilltowns.
-I'm pretty sure there is public transport from Seville to Arcos or the coast to Ronda but trying to string together hill towns into a plan via public transportation is probably not do-able on any kind of vacation timetable.

The drive to Arcos is easy and straightforward although there are many different ways to approach the town itself.
Drivers in Spain are pretty safe and sane and outside of major cities not really difficult.

Hope that helps some,
=Tod

Thanks Tod. The bus is not feasible, because with that kind of frequency, I’ll end up wasting precious day hours doing the trip itself. Yeah i need peace of mind while travelling, so I’ll definitely get full coverage while renting a car. I think while planning, I realised that time is literally more precious even if a bit costly.
Thanks !!

Are you talking about La Alpujarra? That would probably be a whole separate issue - it's almost as far as Malaga from Granada. Unless you're up for some heavy driving and keeping in the car in Granada (a bad idea) I'm not sure how you can do both.

You could easily rent a car, drive to Los Arcos and stay there. The next day go through either Zahara de la Sierra or Grazalema and end up in Ronda. Overnight in Ronda and drop the car off in Granada. That's a couple hours a day driving max - the longest haul being driving from Ronda to Granada.

Park in the parking lots at the edge of both Arcos and Ronda unless your hotel has parking in Ronda. In Arcos the best you can hope for is a ticket from your hotel that limits or decreases your parking fees. (If you stay in Arcos I recommend El Convento Hotel - spring for a terrace room it's worth it.)

Only you can answer the question of what's worth it? There's nothing wrong with sticking to trains and seeing only bigger cities. Granada has enough ancient and medieval town texture to satisfy about anyone - you won't feel you missed out. I really liked visiting the small towns but there's not a lot to "see" there so you need to take enough time to get a feel for the life there which is hard to do on a whirlwind trip. Ronda is big enough to have sites and shops but the smaller towns are really just small towns with people living small town lives. I always cringe when people have a plan to see 4 Luberon hill towns in a day or are going to "see Dingle for three hours" and move on because for me it's trying to get a sense of the rhythm of a small town that's interesting. At least stay overnight if you can and see what the place feels like when the day trippers leave if you can. Anyway - enough soapbox.

As always the cost versus sites versus time is hard when planning. Have a great trip!
=Tod

Hi Paul,

I've driven solo through the pueblos blancos twice and stayed in Ronda overnight. The villages are picturesque on a sunny day and the views are beautiful. Some of the villages are worth driving into and and exploring. If you are comfortable driving, you should enjoy it - the main roads are well graded (lots of curves and up/down hills) and there are pullouts where you can stop and take photos of the beautiful vistas. A manual car is cheaper than an automatic, mainly because the small classes (2-door, small 4-door) are only manual. If you don't have experience driving a manual transmission or driving on mountain roads, it's probably not a good idea simply because you won't enjoy the time in the car. Some of the villages are very difficult to drive into because of steep, narrow streets. You can park the car near the entry and walk through. Ronda is a fair-sized city. There's an underground parking garage in the center.

I wouldn't (and didn't) go out to the airport to rent a car. Sevilla is linked to the rest of the country by highways, getting in or out of the city, you'll want GPS to make sure you're getting on the right highway for your destination. While you may not need GPS driving on the highways, it will help you navigate the cities themselves.

However, this doesn't address what, for me, is your main problem. You wrote tellingly: While doing my research, I stumbled upon Alpujarras first, and really find it enchanting reading several blogs. Recently I found out about the white villages between Seville and Ronda. Now, I'm confused about whether to cut one of them off my trip if I'm short of time. . . . . I don't want to miss the these places.

The more you research Spain, the more places you'll find that sound enchanting that you don't want to miss. Like other countries in Europe, that's the problem with Spain - too many places to see, to little time to see them. Welcome to the club :-)

The Alpujarras towns are attractive but I think mainly visited by walkers/hikers. I visited from Granada one day by bus, but that was in early May. The weather in November could be distinctly chilly if you get rained on, and then you need to consider the possibility of wind. I don't think I'd want to commit to the Alpujarras untiI I had a reliable weather forecast.

As Chani says, the more research you do the more spectacular places you will find in Andalucía that you haven't got time to see. First of all you need to decide if this is going to be your only trip to Andalucía or your first of several.....! If your only, inevitably it's probably best to stick with the classics - Seville Cordoba Granada are unmissable. If you plan on returning some time in the future choose one base for this time and visit what you can easily from there...so you don't waste a lot of time on transport. It also depends where you fly into / from.... And leave the rest for future trips.
I think a car is pretty essential for white towns but also agree with the comment above that smaller places require a slower pace of travel.
Here's our day in Ronda and Setenil
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2018/10/day-35-ronda-and-setenil-de-las-bodegas.html?m=1
Other posts about white towns
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2018-10-19T13:30:00-07:00&max-results=11&m=1
Anyway, don't get too anxious about planning because rest assured that from my experience in traveling in Andalucía whichever choices you make you will enjoy the trip!

Thanks a lot !! I guess I'm getting anxious because of travelling solo. But I will eventually cut down places, just to experience the culture in a better way. I will definitely come back and tour the rest with Portugal. As a young traveler, I feel I'm discovering myself everyday as I read more blogs, see more videos, and talk with people. I'm still developing my own taste, but I have always loved mountains and valleys more than bustling citites. That's why I'm only keeping one day in Madrid city ( with two or three days in Segovia and Toledo).
I'm travelling into Barcelona, spending 3 nights, 4 days there (including one day in Monserrat), then travelling to Granada by flight maybe, and thinking about spending 2 nights, 3 days in Granada (one day for Alhambra, and other for Alpujarras).
Then to Seville for 5 nights (incuding trips to Ronda and Caminito Del rey), then 1 night in Cordoba, and finally 3 days in Madrid.
Still feel I'm packing a lot in here, might cut Ronda off??

For what it's worth, I agree with the general advice Tinac has given you which I might summarise as "you cannot see it all, so pick some good, varied examples".

I know it's not entirely fair for me (or perhaps Tinac), to push the "remember you'll be back" line because for me visiting Spain is a reasonable drive, rail journey or cheap flight. But you cannot do everything and I think your latest itinerary is good for a first trip since you're hitting the big sights and some smaller ones. You are also seeing a variety of Spain between say Barcelona, Sevilla and Madrid. Personally, at least for a first visit, I think variety is the best approach - but that's just me.

As between the Granada "white towns" in the Alpujarras and the perhaps more famous Publos Blancos of the western part, I'm not sure you should be too worried about which to choose. You could do both or just pick one province. I won't give my preference, instead suggest they're both worth seeing, though have some similarities so in terms of variety to your other destinations pick one

On the other hand since you say you prefer mountains then Sierra Nevada / Alpujarras seems a good choice.

I can only advise you on the driving aspect of your question. Personally I would drive to visit the Pueblos Blancos that you have chosen. I have only ever driven in Spain, never taken public transport other than a taxi. I tend to opt for an automatic but I've driven manual ones fine however as a family of four we require a large car and typically the ones we opt for usually come with automatic as standard however, as a solo traveller you will not benefit from a large car and you will likely find it a hindrance in the small towns.

The roads in much of Spain, particularly Andalucia, are well maintained and the major highways are excellent, far better than much of what I've driven on in the US. The roads to many of the villages in the mountains can be quite twisty, some people love driving them, others don't. Some locals can be impatient with the slower driving of apprehensive tourists and will often conduct sometimes dangerous overtakes. In general the roads through the mountains are relatively quiet, even in summer, however cyclists are often a hindrance but should be less of a problem in November.

Parking isn't a problem. Many places have underground car parks, some manned others not. However, they are not built for large cars which is another reason why you should opt for a smaller car. If you are insistent on having an automatic then I've seen plenty of VW Golfs available through various agencies that come with an automatic option and they are a smallish sized car. If you can find a Fiat 500 in an automatic at a price that suits then even better.