Travelling to Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada and maybe Arcos de la Frontera or Ronda

You can fly to Madrid and use the train fairly painlessly, or you can check flights into Sevilla, Malaga, Jerez de la Frontera (which means changing planes but sometimes works out more convenient).
The flights will determine the order, but all are linked by train and bus. Renfe is the train company. Once you get a general plan, someone can advise on bus connections.
I always recommend an overnight (or a few) in Cordoba if you have time, though it can be visited as a day trip.

ETA If you fly out of Madrid, you will most likely need to be in Madrid the night before unless the flight is very late in the day (and that could be risky in case of a rare train problem). It's also a massive airport.
Let us know when you know for sure what your flight options are and how many days you end up having--ten is of course better if you want all four destinations. With a week, you'll have to make some tough choices.

On our last trip, we flew in to Malaga, then headed to Granada. If you did likewise, head west from there to Cordoba, then Sevilla. If you included Arcos de la Frontera and/or Ronda at the end, you could complete a counter-clockwise route and fly home from Malaga, using round trip flights.

We were in Spain this past October. We flew on delta from JFK, nonstop. This was our route - Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Seville, cordoba, Toledo, home from Madrid. We used the train system, booked all tickets online before our trip. We booked first class because it wasn’t too expensive and we like to treat ourselves when we can. I did read that direct flights to Seville were going to be starting sometime in 2023, can’t remember which airline though, sorry.

I wrote a trip report you can read if you are interested.

Unless money is no object, I think the first thing you need to do is look at your flight options to the suggested cities. Some people find flying into one of the Andalusian cities is no more expensive than flying into Madrid, but from my origin (Washington-Dulles) it was going to cost about $500 extra, one way, back in 2019. Share your results with us and we can suggest the best itinerary order for your flight possibilities.

If you are forced by airfares and finances to use Madrid as your gateway, Cordoba can fit into the itinerary as the first stop on your way out of Madrid or as the last stop on the way back to Madrid. In addition, some of the trains between Seville and Granada go through Cordoba, so you could visit Cordoba then. It gives you a lot of flexibility to be in cities on the days you want to visit them (because there's a special event you're interested in or you're trying to hit or avoid a holiday in one of the cities).

If it turns out that flying into Malaga works but you don't have good options into Seville or Granada, there are lots of trains between Malaga and Cordoba/Seville but not as many to Granada (a smaller city not really on the way to anywhere else); a bus would be a workable option between Malaga and Granada.

Even if you don't have to fly in and out of Madrid, seven days would be tight for anything more than Seville, Cordoba and Granada. With ten days you'd have some breathing room for Ronda and/or the white villages. However, if you do have to use Madrid as your gateway, ten days may produce a "not relaxing" itinerary if you include both Ronda and one or more white villages. Transportation to places other than Cordoba, Seville, Granada and Malaga is not very frequent and will in some cases require buses. Only with a car can you--in one day--see both Ronda and at least one of the white villages in transit between two of the larger cities.

I'm a public-transportation user, too, and this is how I managed to see some smaller places in addition to the big cities. I had a lot more time than you do, so I'm not presenting this as a plan for you, but just showing where I found okay transportation links in 2019.

Cordoba-Cadiz by train
Cadiz-Vejer de la Frontera day trip by bus
Cadiz-Seville by train
Seville-Carmona day trip by bus
Seville-Arcos de la Frontera day trip by bus
Seville-Ronda by bus
Ronda-Grazalema day trip by bus
Ronda-Malaga by bus
Malaga-Granada: both trains (infrequent) and buses work
Granada-Priego de Cordoba day trip by bus

You can take the ALSA bus from Malaga to Granada. It’s about a 1.5 hour trip. The buses are clean, comfortable, reliable and air conditioned. We used them twice and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. It seems the air fares going into Malaga, Sevilla or Madrid are pretty similar. The best prices seem to be on Royal Airline of Morocco, Condor (German), Aer Lingus, and TAP Air Portugal. We've flown Aer Lingus and had a horrible experience while others have liked them. Any thoughts on these airlines? We can also pay more on Swiss Air and Lufthansa. We will most likely fly Business Class and take carry-on bag.

I'm thinking of flying into Malaga and going to Granada first because we're traveling the day after Easter and it might be busier in Sevilla than Granada(?) (My husband is very wary of traveling since Covid and this will be our first international flight). What do you think. I really appreciate your valuable input.

Hello from Wisconsin,

Our last trip to Spain included all four places you mentioned plus Baeza. Given a choice between Arcos and Ronda, I would take Ronda. Arcos is famous for the street (road) that you must take to travel through it. Maybe I should call it an alley. Ronda offers much more. Both sides of the Ravine are worth your time and energy. Lovely places to eat. Without a car, I don't know how you get there and back. There are mass transit connections.

While in Granda don't forget to see the Basilika of St. John.

wayne iNWI

Glad you found affordable flight options into Andalucia so you don't have to waste time with transportation from Madrid. If you fly into Malaga, I'd head next to Granada. In case you end up also needing to fly out of Malaga, I will mention that it is an attractive city, though not in the same league as Seville, Cordoba and Granada.

We have flown TAP Airlines many times, and we have no complaints whatsoever about TAP. One year when we landed in Lisbon to transfer to Marseilles, we discovered our flight to Marseilles was cancelled due to an air traffic controllers strike in Marseilles. TAP booked us on a flight for the next day. They paid for our hotel near the airport, bus transportation to/from hotel and airport, and gave us food vouchers.

If you have the time and you have to fly home from Malaga, I highly recommend spending a night or two in Malaga. The city center is beautiful, and there is lots to see and do in Malaga. The cathedral, walk to the top of the Alcazaba, the indoor market, many art museums, and take a walk along the seaside promenade.

Delta shows SFO-SVQ April 12, MAD-SFO April21 $1109. Round trip SFO-SVQ same dates $1037.

If you can afford to fly business class, you are in the best position to choose. All airlines are fairly equally miserable when you are in coach.
Spain was my first trip post-covid (had to test to fly home), so I just wanted to share that we found mask wearing to be common in small shops. (not sure how requirement have changed since then.) We had great weather and dined outdoors nearly exclusively. We drove, as we were not going to these towns that are so well linked with train and bus so I can't comment on public transport. Overall, we found it a great place to get over our covid nerves!