Southern Spain

"wanted to know if there is a good centrally located city to do day trips from" This obviously depends on what day trips you wanted to do, and how long a round trip you would feel comfortable doing as a day trip. But for the typical itinerary, no. You can see Cordoba as a day trip from Seville, or on the way from Madrid to Seville (even the fastest trains between these will stop in Cordoba anyway). But Granada is too far from these to be a convenient day trip. If you will have a car and don't mind driving two hours each way, you can see Granada from towns on the Costa del Sol, but other places are farther. From Toledo, almost all connections to other cities, both train and bus, go through Madrid. You can see it either at the beginning of your trip or at the end, but, unless you're driving, you'll have to connect to other cities through Madrid (not difficult).

We are planning a trip to Spain and hoping to do just what you are asking about. We fly to Madrid, stay in Seville 2 nights, stay in Marbella 8 nights, stay in Granada 2 nights, and back to Madrid. Our goal is to do day trips from Marbella. We have a trip set up to Tangier, Morocco, plan to go to Ronda, Cordoba, and Gibraltar. Those are the main day trips...we'll see if we want to do more of the coast (Nerja). We will have a car...

We are planning a similar trip- flying from Barcelona to Bilbao (staying 2 nights) with a side trip to San Sebastian, renting a car in Bibao, dropping it in Madrid. With 10 days I'm overwhelmed trying to decide what to see but considering the following: Santillana del Mar, Burgos, Segovia, Avila, Salamanca, Cordoba, Seville, Arcos, Granada... Any help or input would be much appreciated!!

You pretty much have to go through Madrid to get to Toledo, so either at the beginning or the end would work. I spent several nights in Jerez and day-tripped to Cadiz by train and and Arcos by bus. However, I think Seville would be a better place - day trips to Cordoba, Jerez, even Cadiz.