Toledo and Cordoba

If you aren't renting a car, then train is really your only optio, and you will have to back-track to Madrid. But, with the high-speed AVE, it won't take all that long.
Starting with the last part of your journey first, there are something like 22 trains, about 20 of them the high-speed AVE, between Madrid and Sevilla each weekday. The AVE journey takes 2.5 hours.
From Toledo to Madrid during the week, there are 11 trains/day, and the journey time is only half an hour.
So, in total, the train journey is 3 hours....add in a MAXIMUM of an hour's wait at Madrid Atocha station, and you've got a total of 4 hours travelling time. If we use existing schedules, you could leave Toledo at 9:30 and be in Madrid at 10 am. Catch the 10:35 train for Cordoba and be there at 1217 pm. Wander Cordoba for several hours, then catch the 603 pm train to Sevilla, and be there at 655 pm. As you can see, there are lots of combinations that will make this a pretty simply journey.
Book your tickets up to 62 1/2 days in advance at www.renfe.es . It's in Spanish, but we can help you work through it. You will print your tickets at home. There are no discount fares for Toledo-Madrid, but you're going to want to make sure you have tickets assured for this very popular route. Then book the cheapest fares you can find for Madrid-Cordoba and Cordoba-Sevilla.

Norm - Thanks for that info. Sounds like going from Toledo straight to Sevilla (via Madrid); and then doing Cordoba as a day trip from Sevilla, might be a better plan. That gives us less traveling in a single day and the opportunity for a less rushed Cordoba visit.

Is answering Spain questions an avocation or vocation for you?? You have been, to all of us with Spain questions, an invaluable font of knowledge and reality!

Phil,...an avocation.....my mission is to get more people interested in visiting this wonderful country.
BTW, there will be those (me among them) who will argue that 6 or 7 hours in Cordoba is plenty of time....

Norm, You do a pretty darn good job! keep up the good work ;)

"There will be those (me among them) who will argue that 6 or 7 hours in Cordoba is plenty of time...."

I'd agree with that. We did Cordoba as a day trip on the way between Seville and Madrid. 6-7 hours was enough (just enough, but I felt like I saw the best of Cordoba and was not short-changed). We were going the other way (Seville to Madrid) but Cordoba would work as a good (if full) day trip along the rail line in either direction.

If I were you, I'd go Toledo (spending 2 nights and one full day sounds perfect), then depart early, take the high speed train Toledo -> Madrid -> Cordoba. Get off, drop your bags (when we were there in Fall 2008, had to hike across the street to the bus station to nab one of the lockers - be quick, there aren't very many, and slow-pokes might be out of luck), then take the city bus to the old center. Budget most of your day for wandering in the Mezquita (hint: later in the day, when the crowds are gone and the low sun fills the space with golden light makes it totally magical). Get back to the train station and catch a fast train to Seville, arriving in early evening. It makes for a wonderful day, and it's not difficult to make it work.

Have a great trip.

The trip from Madrid to Toledo via the train is a pleasure. Mind you, the tickets have car and seat numbers printed on them, so be sure to get the right car. By the time the train reaches a high speed, it begins to slow down again. I have been there three times in the past two years and love the city. Lots and lots of walking, and no level ground!! Check out the Posada de Manolo - hostal near the cathederal..well run and delightful people work there. Have not made the remainder of your trip, but will do so sometime this year I think. As with Norm, let me say how wonderful this country is!!!