That is going to be a spectacular trip! Imagine how many rolls of film I would have used back in the day.....

BTW, I think the Festival de los Patios is May 6-19 in Cordoba. Not sure about your timing, but some patios will be open that are normally off limits to the public. You might want to look up patio walks in advance.

It´s a very good idea to drop the car in Granada at the train station. There is strict vehicular control in the center of the city, which makes it a major hassle to maneuver with a car.
Restricted Areas. CGIM. Mobility Area. City of Granada.
Areas with traffic restrictions in Granada | Turismo de Granada

In Ubeda, we stay at the Parador, which has parking. We're members of their Amigos program, I get a weekly newsletter alerting me to special rates for Amigos,, and we also qualify for their Golden Age rate (55+). So when we can, we stay at Paradors, except for in Córdoba, which isn't convenient, as it´s slightly outside of town (there's a bus but it doesn't run often enough for us).

It will be a good idea to drop the car off at Córdoba rail. With a car, I learned it best to stay outside of the labyrinthine Jewish Quarter, where it´s a major PITA to move around in a car. I was just there moving in and out in a taxi and made a note to myself never, ever to attempt to navigate this historic maze with my own car.

I understand your wish to pick up the car at the airport then straight on to Salamanca, then down to Segovia then on to Toledo. But given that you’ll be coming in on a long haul flight, it would be wiser, I think, just to get as far as Segovia. Coming from Seattle with 1 transfer for many years, we learned not to push on any further than Segovia or La Granja (both w/Paradors).

From Segovia, I´d make the drive to Salamanca, then after having rested more, make that drive from Salamanca down to Toledo through Avila (to photograph the walled city at the Cuatro Postes outside of town for that postcard perfect photo) and perhaps walk the walls themselves, then through Gredos (San Martin de Valdeiglesias has a castle and is wine producing, garnacha grape). Then from Toledo to Consuegra and Campo de Criptana for the windmills.

Where we park when we take that route in our car--
Salamanca--we at times stay at the Parador on the other side of the Roman bridge, which has its own parking. The very nice Hospes Palacio de San Esteban is also easy to reach, closer to the two Cathedrals/U. buildings and offers private parking.

Segovia--there's a very handy underground parking garage near the aqueduct, on Padre Claret, in front of the Burger King.
https://parkimeter.com/es/parking-segovia/parking-acueducto-oriental-segovia?utm_source=google_business&utm_medium=refe rral&utm_campaign=website

Toledo--again, a handy underground parking garage, the Indigo Recaredo, from which a short walk to the other side of the street takes you to one of the 2 escalators (remonte mecánico) that transports you up to the historic quarter.
https://parclick.com/parking-toledo/recaredo

If you want to pick up a car again after leaving Málaga to venture up to Ronda, that makes sense.

We’re actually big fans of using Ronda as a multi-night base for hiking, prehistoric cave exploring, photography, visiting the Roman ruins of Acinipo and nearby white towns of Grazalema, Zahara de la Sierra and Olvera to the north. Ronda makes a better central base, as it offers more lodging, dining options and even some evening entertainment (guitar concerts), an evocative ancient Arab quarter, a beautiful park and the great churrería Alba, 80 years old.

In Ronda the Parador has its own garage as does the Catalonia Reina Victoria, both w/fantastic views. The Catalonia Ronda has a pool overlooking the bullring but parking is nearby.
Probably the closest, most convenient public parking garage in the town center would be at the Plaza del Socorro, but it’s very steep access with sharp turns (I’ve done this in a mini van, aargh!).
https://apk2gestion.com/es/parking/plaza-del-socorro

Antequera isn’t convenient for visiting the above mentioned white towns, since it sits, at best, a full hour or, at worst, an hour and a half away by car.

Do you think this event will impact the availability or price of lodging? If so, I may have to make my reservations sooner rather than later.

The patio festival won't impact the price of Córdoba lodging quite as much as Holy Week and April Fair, 2 weeks later do in Seville, but the dates of the patio festival will be considered high season. I would book as soon as you can.

The Casas de la Judería, where we/ve stayed, has rates of 205/night during the festival but only 180 in April after Holy Week and 144 before Holy Week, so yes, the prices will be impacted for the most popular city center hotels.
For those dates the Parador is much, much less, but again, incconvient for enjoying the festival fully, as it sits outside of town.

Thanks, I will be booking as soon as I get the itinerary finalized.

in Cordoba, stay in a place with a patio! Casa Longa is right in the heart where patio tours are given and has a beautiful one (I believe it has won awards). Though this is not a personal rec. $142 per room during the festival. There is public parking nearby if that helps.

The Casas de La Judería has several patios and a pool. Poster KarenWoo enjoyed it very much, as we did. I recommend it for friends because it´s outside of the souk'like atmosphere of the ubiquitous souvenir shops, tucked away in a quiet area sort of across from the Alcázar, near the Caballerizas Reales, for the horse ballet, and on the way to the group of patios of the San Basilio quarter, 4 of which are always open outside of the festival dates.
The Balcón de Córdoba is much pricier during the festival but also has an indoor courtyard for dining.
The NH Amistad also has an interior courtyard with pool.

Hotel choices
 

I am now in the confusing work of deciding on hotels. When checking the websites, it seems information on bed and room sizes is very difficult to discern. I would love some feedback on these specifically.
Toledo
Hotel Boutique Adolfo
Sercotel Alfonso VI
Eugenia Autograph Collection

Granada
Melia Granada (particularly the Level rooms) seems to be some bad reviews about rooms being small, but the level rooms are huge by European standards. Am I missing something here? It almost seems to good to be true at the pricing.
Hotel Puerta De Las Granadas
Shine Albazan (very hard to figure out room configuration from website)
Hotel Comfort Dauro
Gar Anat
Aurea Catedral (love it, but is it worth that much more)

Thanks in advance, I will be back for more advice when I get to the other city booking.

If you use booking.com, the description of each room available will list its size, either in square feet or square meters.

For Toledo, I'd choose the Hotel Boutique Adolfo for its location.

For Granada, I wouldn't choose the Comfort Dauro, as your other choices are more "boutique" and offer a greater comfort level, although the pricing of the Dauro is probably the best, especially if you´re budget conscious. It's a solid budget choice but not as "memorable".

If it were my choice, I'd opt for the Gar Anat, tucked away on a quiet square, yet very walkable to the major sights, OR splurge on the Aurea Cathedral.
The Shine Albaizín is located directly on the Carrera del Darro, which goes along the river, which is also the route of the segways, the tuk tuks, the tourist train, the red minibus and the pedestrian route to the beginning of the walk up to the Albaizín at the Cuesta del Chapiz, so it´s a very busy, heavily transited street these days.

Room and bed sizes are listed on hotel booking sites, but it is not always evident. Once you see the list of room options, you are not done. You may have to select the room by room name (ie, "superior double") to get a popup that lists further details.

Ditto to what shelemm has written, which I should have explained more...
Using booking.com, you will need to select the room first by name from the available ones, then click on details.

For example, on booking.com when you put Shine Albayzín in your search window, if available for your dates, you´ll see "superior double or twin with Alhambra view". When you select this room, you'll see all the amenities, including room size, 30 square meters. You'll also see a rating for the comfort of the beds, 9.1.

Baeza is a short bus ride from Ubeda, if you have time, it's beautiful! Some photos:
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspo...and-ubeda.html

Thanks so much for all the suggestions on hotels.

Now I am off to figure out Ronda, Cadiz, and Cordoba lodging. Any suggestions would be great.

Here are some hotel suggestions (I know these)

Còrdoba
luxury--Palacio de Bailío
upper moderate--Balcón de Córdoba
moderate--Casas de la Judería

Cádiz
deluxe--modern Parador in room facing the bay
former mansion-turned-hotel--Casa Cánovas
little palace-turned-hotel with indoor pool--Áurea Casa Palacio Sagasta
deluxe apartment suites--Candelario 10 or Plaza Mina Suites

Ronda
deluxe--Catalonia Reina Victoria w/indoor pool, in a room with balcony and gorgeous views
upper moderate-in Parador (not my fav. Parador) but in their best room, 219 with 2 balconies overlooking the gorge, w/pool
upper moderate--Catalonia Ronda, with pool overlooking the bullring (but these last 2 pools are seasonal; won't be open in April)
moderate--Soho Boutique Palacio San Gabriel in the evocative, whitewashed, Old Quarter, "La Ciudad"
sweet little, 4 room B&B with fab breakfasts: Aire

Maribel,
Thank you for those suggestions. I should mention that this trip is now scheduled from September 25 to Oct 16th. I am hoping this time period will give us cool enough weather and still enough daylight hours to enjoy to the fullest.

Thanks again for all the help from you and this wonderful forum.

That's a very nice time to be in southern Spain, when it finally gets cooler (we hope!)

I highly recommend Casas de la Juderia in Cordoba. It's in an excellent location, within walking distance to almost everything. Our room was spacious, and we had a good-sized marble bathroom. On the street level there is a lovely courtyard where the hotel provides an honor bar. We were traveling with another couple, and we would meet them there each night for a drink before we went out for dinner.

I'm not sure what's going on in Cordoba, but finding many hotels with no availability for my dates in Oct, or a minimum stay of 4 nights.
I have found a few to consider at reasonable rates.
NH Hotel Amistad
Eurostars Patio Cordoba,
Eurostars Azahar
Marcia Alfaros, but it seems to have many bad reviews.

Any thoughts on the above mentioned ones?

We stayed at Eurostars Patio Cordoba in November. It is a really nice hotel. Huge room. very comfortable. It is a little bit of a walk to main attractions, but not far.I would stay there again.