Unfortunately our 12 night trip to Spain had to be pared back to 9 nights, so we will not get to see everything we want. We arrive at 7:00 in the morning in Madrid. I plan on spending 4 nights in Madrid, then taking the AVE to Malaga , rent a car and drive to Nerja (my hubby really wants to spend a few days at the beach). Stay 4 nights, then catch the AVE back to Madrid, spend the night and catch our late morning flight home. My husband's priorities are the beach and visiting Toledo, my priorities are seeing the Nerja caves and the Alhambra.

My questions are:
Can one do a day trip to Granada from Nerja?
Is the weather nice enough the first week of April at the beach to make it worth going there?
Is renting a car a good idea, or is it easy to get to Nerja from Malaga by public transportation (and also to Granada)
Do you think I'm trying to fit too much in and should just stay in Madrid?

Thank you everyone for your help.

Answers:
1- Yes, a daytrip to Granada from Nerja is possible, we did so with our rental car, left Nerja at 10.00AM and returned at about 8 PM, visiting the Alhambra, and having a nice meal in the Albaicin - a very enjoyable day!
2- For the beach, it depends where you are from. Do not expect to swim much in the Med as the water will still be quite chilly. For lying on the beach, it may be possible if you are from a northern area, if you are from Florida or California for instance, you probably will find it way too chilly!
3- I would think that renting a car at the Malaga train station would make life much simpler, even to get to the Nerja caves and explore small nearby villages (many gorgeous ones!). Parking in Nerja is easy (and free!)
4- If you are doing only Madrid and Nerja as overnights, I do not think that it is trying to fit in too much, in my estimation anyways.

Enjoy Spain !

Thank you!! Kanadajin for you great advice. I'm so happy that going to Granada from Nerja is not a crazy idea.

We're from Southern California and we are older and have pretty much forsaken the lying on the beach thing so the cold water is not an issue. I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't be raining and freezing. We like the beach atmosphere and Nerja looks so pretty and I've never seen the Mediterranean sea before.

I am going to research the villages next to Nerja and see what we can find.

Any other tips from anyone?

We've been in Spain twice in late April and in the south it was definitely beach weather - highs in the mid 80s and everyone was using the hotel pool. Not sure about sea water. Madrid was even warmer - in the high 90's - which I believe i warmer than usual for late April.

Do not expect cold although rain is always possible.

Re. villages near Nerja

There are some gorgeous ones in the mountains nearby - for example Frigiliana, and particularly Competa.

Re. beach weather, as nytraveler mentions I would agree that late April would be more "swimmable", as there can be a fairly large temperature difference between early and late in that month. The three times I was there in late March/early April, only very brave souls were in the sea!