three days in between Seville and Granada, where to go?

I know you would like to find a way to squeeze in more but as it is, your options seem unmanageable. When do you actually plan to see the sites and experience what each of these places has to offer? It seems that you will simply be driving through with maybe brief stops. Options 1 and 2 seem way too rushed, for example I just don't see how you can do justice to Jerez and Cadiz as well as driving time from Sevilla in just one day. At least with options 3 and 4 you are using Ronda as a base for two nights. With just three nights total and a lot of ground to cover between Sevilla and Granada I would prioritize and maybe consider Sevilla to Ronda to Granada, or Sevilla to Málaga to Granada. Do you have a preference for cities or smaller towns, or beaches? Sherry, arquitecture, natural beauty, historical sites? I hope your time in Sevilla already includes a trip to Córdoba, if not that is a worthy destination. Personally, I would look at a Sevilla, Córdoba, Ubeda/ Baeza, Granada route. If your husband has his heart set on visiting Gibraltar, plan on that taking a full day and sacrificing something else. Drop Nerja in option 3. If you go that route visit Málaga instead. What time of the year are you going?

I am going October 5-16. The trip stas in Cordoba and ends in Granada. I am just looking for things to do in between Seville and Granada with a car.

I start my trip in Cordoba and will have over 24 hours there before traveling to Seville for three nights. I also have three nights in Granada at the end of the trip

I definitely want to go to Ronda.

Nerja, Malaga, Cadiz and Gibraltar are just ideas... I need someone to help me build a nice three day route leaving from Seville and ending up in Granada.

Hopefully you're picking up the rental car when leaving Sevilla since you won't need it in the city. Depending what you want to see, Jerez is a nice place place to spend a few hours. Cadiz is worth a couple hours at most. Having lived across the bay in Rota, to me, there is nothing in Cadiz that can't been seen elsewhere and it's a little out of the way. The white towns of Arcos, Grazalema, Zahara, and Ronda are all nice to visit. Many people like Malaga, but I'm not a big fan; personal preferences.

You are biting off more than you can chew. A new destination each night means half your day is spent relocating, leaving the other half of the day for sightseeing, really only enough time for one place.

Day 1 Seville to Jerez De La Frontera (1)
Day 2 Via Arcos de la Frontera to Ronda (2)
Day 3 Day to Grazalema/Zahara
Day 4 To Granada

Or

Day 1 Seville to Ronda (2) via Arcos de la Frontera
Day 2 Day to Grazalema/Zahara
Day 3 To Nerja (1)
Day 4 To Granada

I like Option 3.

From Nerja you can get to Gibralter. Spend 4/5 hours there ( or less) then a stop in Malaga (eat some paella on the beach) then head to Granada.

How's that?

Have a great adventure!

Gibraltar only works as a stop on a day driving between Jerez/Arcos and Ronda.
Personally I wouldn't advise it as a worthwhile diversion as it would eat considerably into your time. Definitely not to be considered as advised above, which involves wasted time backtracking.

This is a crazy amount of driving. You also need to figure in that some of the trips, like to Grazalema or Zahara are on narrow, twisty roads (good surface, though) and you can't go very fast. We settled for a distant view of Grazalema and turned around to get to Ronda in time for a lovely sunset. We also made the mistake of a day trip to Gibraltar from three nights in Ronda, which was mostly spent behind slow-moving tractor trailers on excellent two-lane highways. So Malaga (which I doubt is worth the trip in any case) is way too far.

You didn't mention Carmona and Italica, which are superb, and not "off the track" like everything else you are considering.

Have you used Google Maps or another online tool to get rough, zero-traffic times, and then add 33% to 50% to the results?

I think all these sound great but maybe think twice about Gibraltar. I haven't been but I heard it was a hassle and not worth it at all. Unless there is something specific your husband wishes to see there I'd skip it!

Nerja is a nice relaxing beach town and in Malaga you can see the Alcazaba and museums. I guess that is how I would decide between the two - would you rather spend a day at the beach or more sightseeing?

Did you say when you are doing this trip? If it is very warm you may want to stay closer to the coast, it is super hot inland right now for example. :)

Have fun!

I will be in the Andalucia region from October 5-16. The trip starts in Cordoba and ends in Granada. I am definitely going to skip Gibraltar now. But I do want to see the coast before Granada so I don't think I want to go the Antequera route. I have one night booked in Ronda. If I love it there and get a wine tour booked I may stay two nights. Then I still think I want to do the third night in or around Nerja before I go to Granada for 3 1/2 days. I love to kayak so maybe I'll be able to rent a boat near Maro beach if it's not to chilly mid October.

October
5..Arrive Cordoba
6..Mezquita
7..Train to Sevilla
8..Sevilla
9..Day by train to Jerez or Cadiz
10..Pick up car. Drive via Arcos to Ronda
11..Day visiting white villages - Zahara & Grazalema
12..Drive via Malaga to Nerja
13..Beach time
14..Drive to Granada
15..Alhambra
16..Depart Granada

So, other people no doubt know Spain better than I. But we were in Spain last late Sept. to mid October. We took the train from Seville to Cadiz (90 minutes) which was a place we just loved. Interesting things in the town, and the beaches, oh my god the beaches are wonderful. Being from NH there is real joy in being at the beach, in the water, having coffee on the beach, and drinking Sangria without wearing sweat shirts in October. We stayed 2 nights but you could do 1. We picked up our rental car there. Our original lan had been to head for Jerez De La Frontera but the train had gone through there and it was not the small town we had thought. Instead we headed for Antequera which turned out to be a total joy. We stayed in Hotel Numero Uno in the center of town, a place that was so cheap I was terrified. (It does have a parking garage across the street, totally secure and 8 euros a night). It was just a wonderful and amazing experience, actually the entire time in Antequera was a highlight of our trip. From there we drove to Granada. The drive did take us through the area of the white towns which we admired from the road but kept going.

Just my two, atypical, cents.

Thank you Kate! What did you do in Antequera? What made you love it so much? Now I am again rethinking Cadiz and Antequera..... HA!

The hotel was great, the people at the hotel were great, the guy in the tourist info center was wonderful. We did spend several hours at The Alcazaba. Just outside the town, you can visit the Dolmen de Menga and the Dolmen de Viera, dating to the 2500 BC and represent some of the largest megalithic structures in Europe. Tthe Plaza de Escribanos was lovely. There was a pretty good museum. But a lot of it was wandering around without a lot of expectations and having everything be great. and the views of the surrounding area are amazing. The hotel is not fancy. Our room was about $40 a night and honestly I was terrified it would be awful. It isn't fancy but it was fine, well located. We had dinner there, two older women do all the cooking, the cost for 2 3-course dinners, with 2 glasses of wine each was 22E ... and delicious.