Thank you Maribel and KarenWoo for your continued input- Ok, so here is the conundrum. I would love to stop in Malaga, but agree that with it being larger and more to offer we would barely get a glimpse on a stopover, therefore, I am thinking Nerja is more manageable. One option I have considered is reducing Ronda to only 2 nights ( presently staying 3 nights) and adding one night in Malaga, however, would it be worth the trouble and am I now going to feel rushed everywhere?

Having spend a lot of time in the region, if I had to choose between Nerja and Malaga it would be Malaga in a heartbeat. As I think has already been mentioned above, Nerja has become an expat haven for those from Northern Europe. We arrived there with the intention of of staying a few days but quickly moved on. Malaga, though a big city has quite a compact old town/centre and has a lot to offer especially if you are foodies. We often used to spend weekends there even though we were only 30kms away. There is a nice Parador there ( as indeed there are in all the places you are visiting) Always found them nice places to stay, often in historic buildings, great food and reasonably priced.

I agree with crellston. Málaga in a heartbeat. We too arrived in Nerja quite a while ago intending to stay a week. We lasted only 2 days, as we felt we were in a North European colony with very little need even to speak Spanish. Just a very personal opinion, YMMV.

Even though I have not been to Nerja, I agree with Crellston and Maribel with their recommendation to stay in Malaga instead of Nerja. Malaga is not so large that it is not manageable. As Crellston says, Malaga has a compact Old Town/Center. Two nights is definitely doable. We had 2 nights so basically 1.5 days, and we saw a lot without feeling like we were rushing around.

Jenny755,
Do I understand your itinerary correctly that you wanted just a stopover between Granada and Ronda rather than just one overnight? And is the motivation just to see a town on the Med? If you don't have a night or two to devote to Málaga and instead just a few hours on your Granada to Ronda drive, it probably won't be worth it find your way into the city, find a parking garage and just walk around for an hour or two.

Whether to take away a night in Ronda and put it towards an overnight in Málaga, I would think depends on what you have planned for your Ronda stay.
We've used Ronda as a multi'night base to do the following, which may or may not be of interest to you:
wine touring,
exploring the white towns of Olvera and Setenil de las Bodegas, which are to the north of Ronda
taking the ultra scenic loop drive from Ronda to Grazalema then up the stunning Puerto de Pajares pass to Zahara de la Sierra then back to Ronda.
stopping in Grazalema for purchasing the local Payoyo cheese and visiting the olive oil mill, Molino Ell Vínculo (Grazalema is also a blanket & throw producing town)
touring the pre historic La Pileta caves outside of Benaoján
visiting the Roman ruins of Acinipo
taking a tour of Reserva Tauro (the bull raising and horse farm outside of town, my husband's thing)

And there's also horseback riding and hiking galore.

Maribel, Ronda was a place that we wanted to linger a bit, and as you pointed out, with so much to do and beautiful scenery we will leave the 3 nights. Our question is this, we could extend the trip by one day and use it to overnight in Malaga. We usually do not like one night stopovers but are wondering if this would be worth it to see a coastal town. It will allow us to see the Mediterranean :)
Your thoughts

Yes, I didn't realize you could extend your trip by one day, and yes!, I would use it to overnight in Málaga to see the Med and get a feeling for this great city.

I agree with Maribel that you should use your extra day to overnight in Malaga, especially since you want to see the Mediterranean. It's well worth the stop. It's a 1.5 hour bus ride (ALSA bus) from Granada to Malaga. I remember we took a bus that left Granada around 9AM so you would arrive mid morning. At the time we visited (2017) the train tracks to/from Granada hadn't been finished yet, so we took the bus. I believe that now you can take the train if you prefer. Then you could pick up your rental car in Malaga instead of Granada.

As KarenWoo says, the Alsa bus is very comfortable, there are more departures to Málaga from Granada than train departures. There is still that 9:00 bus that arrives Málaga at 10:30. and...it's cheap! For the train there's only the three daily 7:41 and the 12:54 and 18:55 non-stop Avants. The train ride is more expensive, €23.10 versus €13.13 on Alsa.

We pick up our rental cars at Málaga's train station, María Zambrano, which locals refer to as "Vialia" because that's the name of the shopping center that was built. around the train station. All the major players are there.

Great- thank you everyone! We have added the extra day and will now visit Malaga!
Any places to stay? Someone mentioned The Parador but it is booked
Thanks

Don't stay at the Parador in Málaga because it isn't central. It´s above the city next to the Alcazaba. Stay downtown. These are my recommended hotels, depending on your budget--

AC Málaga Palacio, with superior rooms with balconies facing the sea and roof top terrace with sea views (a Marriott branded property), the Roommate Larios with rooftop terrace facing the cathedral but no sea views, the Roommate Valeria, also with roof top terrace in the Soho district, the Molino Larios, also with a nifty rooftop terrace and the Soho Equitativa. They are all within walking distance of each other. Very, very central.

We stayed at the Soho Boutique Malaga Hotel. Very centrally located. We walked everywhere.

https://www.sohohoteles.com/destinos...ique-malaga-3/

Thank you everyone- I will check them out and see what is available and in our budget.
Loved all this input- so valuable!!!

In Málaga there are several Sohos. The Soho Boutique Málaga, the 3-star, is located close to the wonderful Atarazanas market, and the Soho Boutique Equitativa is the newest, jazziest 4-star. Either would be just fine.

Quick follow up - all booked with flights and itinerary as so many of you suggested.
Looking now for a tour guide in Granada to visit the Alhambra- many have suggested Juan at [email protected] but I did not get a response. Perhaps there is another contact number?
Any other tour guides that you have used will be most helpful- I don't want to go the route of regular big tour companies- looking for a little more in depth visit. But if someone does have a company they recommend please let me know.
Once again, thank you, thank you!

Margarita Ortiz de Landazuri of Alhambra Tours. She does tours for Rick Steves and has also helped us.

Alhambra tours - Visitas guiadas a la Alhambra

Thank you!