Sevilla, Arcos and Rondo: stay in each or stay in hub?

If you have only five nights, I would stay in Sevilla. If you have free time, you can take a day trip to Arcos.

But why do you want to go to Arcos and Ronda? What do you expect to see or do in those towns? I think Ronda is too far for a day trip from Sevilla...

If you want to see a small "white" town or village, there are so many close to Sevilla that most travelers have never heard of...

Are there any other destinations on your trip?
Where are you flying in and out of?
Ronda is worth a day if en route to somewhere.
If you only have five days, Arcos is not really worth it.

Are you renting a car? Are you going to visit Carmona or Jerez while sleeping in Seville? Do you plan to see other "white villages"?

We had a car, saw Arcos in a few hours on the way to three nights sleeping at the Parador de Ronda. That worked well for us. We try to change hotels only every three or four nights. We only stayed two nights in Seville, but should have stayed three. (Drove to Carmona and Italica out from Seville.) We had thought of seeing Zahara between Arcos and Ronda, but the narrow, slow roads caused us to give up with Zahara in sight, in the distance.

Sevilla definitely, Ronda possibly. Ronda is a couple hours drive from Sevilla, so may not be the best use of your time to visit it as a day. While you could spend a night in Arcos de la Frontera it can be seen in a couple hours. The main draw to it are the views from the top of the hill.

You’ll spend the majority of your time in Sevilla and may decide not to go anyplace else.

With a rental car you could head south to Arcos de la Frontera, visit it, then continue on to Ronda for a night. When leaving Ronda going back to Sevilla you could stop at Setenil de las Bodegas en route.

Since I always have a rental car, I can’t speak to using public transportation to get to Arcos or Ronda.

My question is about what you hope to see in Ronda or Arcos. If you just want to see a white village, there are hundreds of them close to Sevilla that you could get to in well under an hour. Take a walk around and return to Sevilla.

Appreciate the advice and will add nights in Sevilla. Gracias!