South of Spain

To minimise moving locations I would try for something like this over a leisurely 2 weeks ...

Day
1. Arrive Sevilla (6 nights)
- with day trips by train to Cordoba, Jerez, Cadiz
7. Pick up hire car. Drive via Arcos de la Frontera to Ronda (3 nights)
- with day trip to Zahara+Grazalema
10. Drive to Malaga (2 nights)
12. Drive via Nerja to Granada (3 nights)
15. Depart Granada

For me Cadiz is a few hour stop at most. If you use Ronda as a base for the white towns, then it's 2-3 nights
Zahara is a couple hours stop
Cordoba -2 nights
Granada - 2-3 nights
Malaga - 2-3 nights (although I haven't been there in years)
Sevilla (if it's your first time there) 4 fulls days, so 4 or 5 nights.
I've never been to Nerja.

Where to fly into depends on the route you decide to take, but Malaga or Sevilla will probably have more flights.

From SFO you will probably find more 'one stop' flight options to Malaga than Sevilla or Granada.
So looking instead at a round trip journey from there ...

Day
1. Arrive Malaga and pick up hire car. Drive to Nerja (1 night)
2. Drive to Granada (2 nights)
4. Drive to Ronda (3 nights)
- Day trip to Zahara+Grazalema
7. Drive via Arcos de la Frontera to Sevilla (4 nights) and return hire car.
- Day trips by train to Jerez, Cadiz
11. Train to Cordoba (2 nights)
13. Train to Malaga (2 nights)
15. Depart Malaga

I an grateful to all who have already replied. Because of this forum I had a great trip last year in France.
Now onto Spain! I will look at these suggestions tomorrow and let you know what my route pick is, , again thank you!!

Malaga has a largish airport, but you may find the best fares flying round-trip to Madrid. There are fast trains between Madrid and Cordoba/Sevilla and Malaga.

On my first Andalucia trip, I flew RT Madrid. Here's my itinerary:
Cordoba (2N) from the airport via Madrid's Atocha station.
Sevilla (4N)
Jerez (5N) day trip to Cadiz by train, day trip to Arcos by bus. Rented a car when I left
Ronda (3N)
Antequera (1N)
Granada (4N) returned the car on arrival.
Madrid (2N)

I've returned to Andalucia twice since then. There's never enough time for Cordoba or Sevilla. Jerez is worth one full day, another half for the horse show (only 2-3 days a week). It's a pleasant, quiet town and good base for Cadiz and Arcos. Ronda has enough sights to easily fill a day. I left Jerez mid-morning and spend the day driving through the hills and stopping at a couple of the pueblos blancos. My second full day in Ronda I used to drive around the hills and visit more of the villages. The views are wonderful, thankfully there are pullouts where you can enjoy and photographic them. It's a couple hours drive from Ronda to Granada. I stopped at El Torcal for some hiking (skippable). 3 full days in Granada was one more than I needed.

On another visit I spent a little time in Malaga - pretty town with some interesting sights.

We spent 3 enjoyable nights in Ronda for some down time after Morocco and before Madrid and Barcelona. Beautiful, walkable and fun!

Did anyone arrive in Madrid and immediately take a train South? Due to long flight, is the recommendation to stay in Madrid one night? Thanks again for all the comments, my trip is shaping up, appears you all like Sevilla,Cordoba and Granada for muliple nights the best. Not going in June anymore, but still going eventually.

On my recent trips I was able to get good fares (or frequent-flier tickets) on open-jaw itineraries that allowed me to arrive in one of the cities where I wanted to spend time, so there was no need to hop on a train or bus immediately. Back in my Icelandair-to-Luxembourg days I used to go straight to the train station and head south to Switzerland or northern Italy.

For me that first day was usually fog-bound anyway, so it made sense to "waste" it getting a long transportation leg out of the way. Now that I'm older, on arrival day I'm practically sleep-walking, so it would still be smart for me to move on if I needed to. I would, however, set an alarm on my phone to be sure I didn't sleep past my bus/train destination!

I've landed in Madrid in the morning and taken the train to Cordoba. No hassles. Follow the signs to the the train. At the entrance there's a ticket agent, who will sell you a ticket on the next available train from Atocha station and take into account how long it will take you to connect from the airport. Cordoba, Sevilla or Malaga are probably best because there are frequent trains and the journey's less than 3 hours. On my last trip, I had an evening flight out of Madrid but didn't want to spend time there. I spent my last nights in Cordoba and took the train to the airport.

Thank you exactly what I needed.