Southern Spain

How much time to spend in each place depends on what you're interested in doing there. Seville is substantially larger than Cordoba and Granada. The white towns are much smaller. Seeing the Alhambra takes the better part of a day; what other things do you want to do in Granada? A lot of people treat Cordoba as a day-trip from Seville, but I found there was enough there to keep me busy for 2-1/2 days.

At this point getting to Granada (from anywhere) is a bit slow because they haven't got the AVE trains running beyond Antequera. The trip is currently being done by a combination of train + bus, and some people find it simpler just to take a bus the whole way. However, the train service all the way to Granada may be up and running by November.

If you have just 7 days between the time you depart from Madrid and the time you need to be back there, I think including white towns will be a push unless you just want to hit one or two highlights in each of the larger cities. On a tight schedule you will almost certainly need to rent a car for the white villages; I believe only Ronda has rail service, and buses are often faster. Buses are rather infrequent (only two per day from Seville to Arcos, for example), so you're likely to lose considerable time dealing with bus schedules. Renting a car to travel from Seville to white villages and on to Granada would probably be advisable.

Alhambra tickets sell out months in advance, so you'll want to pin down the scheduling of your Granada stop early. The Alcazar in Seville doesn't require ticket purchasing so far in advance, but I guarantee that you don't want to be in the line I saw today for people who hadn't pre-booked tickets!

Granada needs 2 nights. The Alhambra takes the better part of a day. If you can, be there for an evening visit to the Nasrid Palaces as well (may only be on weekends). I prefer the evening visit first, then spending a day there. There are nice evening views of Granada from the Nasrids and they look very different in daylight. Cordoba is my favorite Spanish city but as acraven says, with a short time frame you can see the highlights in one day. One way is to stop on the way from Sevilla to Madrid, leave early in the morning, store your luggage across the street from the train station in the bus station and continue to Madrid in the evening. If you are prepared to drive, you could pick up a car in Granada and drive through the hill towns, with an overnight in Ronda. Without a car, I'd skip the hill towns.

The AVE goes from Madrid to Córdoba and then Sevilla, so that's the logical start point. Agree you can do Córdoba in a day as the Mezquita is the (fabulous) high point. If it's sunny you could also visit the garden in the Alcazar. And if you're craving vegetables after all the jamon in Madrid, try Taberna D'ucles which is a five minute walk from the Mezquita. Their extensive menu includes many veg dishes, and the ambiance is delightful. We enjoyed two long, lazy meals there.
This trip we didn't do Sevilla or Ronda, but Granada is a two-day for sure. Note that if you've booked two nights in a hotel - we stayed in the Hotel Anacapri, and can recommend it - they can get you a Pernocta card for 16€ per person that includes Alhambra entry with a timed visit to the Palacio. We booked our trip two months ahead of time and Alhambra was already sold out, so that was a lifesaver. But ask for it as soon as you book.

With your time frame, I'd do Cordaba-one or two nights, Seville 4 nights and Granda two night. Tickets for the Alhambra haven't gone on sale for November so keep looking at https://tickets.alhambra-patronato.es/?ca=0&lg=en-GB for availability.

I'm in the minority but the white towns don't really have much to do and can be seen via train or bus while driving by.

Hi,
The white washed villages of yesterday have now expanded with condos to fill the entire valley they once snuggled into and now even spill over the edge of the valley. I wish someone would let the reality sink in and tour these places to see which are still worthy of our precious travel time and dollar. Not counting Ronda and Arcos, I visited eight and found one worth the time

Places like Ronda and Arcos de le Frontera have their cliff locations to keep them special. But even Ronda on a Friday is a place to avoid. Way too many tourists. Way too many umbrellas leading flocks of selfie cameras. Arcos' very extreme streets and hill prevents tour busses from entering and requires walking. And that keeps tourist groups to a reasonable level.

So I wold skip the white washed villages and enjoy the white washed Cordoba. Once you get two or three blocks away from Cordoba's Mesquita the tourists thin out. I found the mesquita more impressive than the Alhambra (I know, heresy).

wayne iNWI