How best to get to Andalusia from US?
 

We will be travelling from Alaska when we go to Andalusia. Are the any direct flights from the US to say Sevilla or any place on the Costa del Sol or would we have to go to Madrid or Barcelona and change planes? I'm guessing the latter is the case.

There are no trans-Atlantic flights to Seville. In general, Seville is relatively poorly served, with most flights on budget airlines, which are unlikely to make an international connection easy. The best option would likely be connecting via Madrid; something like AA to Chicago, and Iberia from Chicago to Seville, via Madrid. Brussels Airlines and TAP also serve Seville and you could connect via Brussels or Lisbon using one of their Star Alliance partners.

Malaga is better served, with a seasonal (summer) flight on Delta from JFK. There are also a few more possible connections. Again, you could connect via Madrid, using Iberia. Alternatively, Air Europa partners with the SkyTeam airlines (Delta, Air France, KLM), allowing connections with SkyTeam via either Madrid or Paris. Connecting via Brussels or Lisbon with Star Alliance is another option. Swiss also serves Malaga, so you could connect via Zurich. It looks like you could connect in Frankfurt or Munich with Lufthansa. Finally, BA serves Malaga, but only from Gatwick or London City, so you would likely need to find a way from Heathrow to these airports.

We flew into Madrid from the US and took the high speed train to Seville, which got us there faster than flying into Seville.

We are flying into Seville next month from the US. Check Iberia....we fly into Madrid, wait for 3 hours before continuing the flight into Seville (1 hr flight). I did look into going by train, but with the time/money spent going into Atocha, and then waiting for the train, and then the train time from Madrid to Seville (2.5hrs), flying for us is faster.

You might be able to get a flight from Malaga and rent a car there. If not - just fly to Madrid and then rent a car. The drive to Andalusia doesn't take long and roads in Spain - except in the center of resort areas - tend to be quite empty.