After reading everyone's suggestions, I redid my itinerary for my Sept. 06 trip- What do you all think? Suggestions appreciated.
Wed night-flight from NYC to Granada-(2 hour layover in Madrid)
Thurs. pm--2:30 arrive in Granada --thurs, Friday--stay over in Granada
Saturday-leave by train for Seville
Sat, Sun, Mon night in Seville--includes day trip to Cordoba
Tues-travel by train to Toledo--stay over Tues and Wed.
Wed -travel by train to Madrid--
Stay in Madrid Wed, Thurs. Friday night
return to NYC on Saturday or Sunday

Should I find room in itinerary for stop in Ronda, anything else I'm forgetting. Hotel recommendations --trying to spend no more than $150.00/night. thanks for all your suggestions--

I made a mistake on above itinerary--
Toledo--Tues, Wed,
Thurs-leave for Madrid--
Thurs, Fri, Sat in Madrid--
Sunday return to NYC--thanks

Not sure of the train schedule but I would skip two nights in Toledo. Its only 1/2 hour south of Madrid. So you could use an extra night to add Rhonda. Just returned and all i keep hearing about is Rhonda. You can easily do Toledo in 1/2 day and not feel rushed. Jeri

On hotels. I spent altogether too much time fretting and searching for Granada. Then when you arrive things are pretty much concentrated if you stick to things primarily in city center. We stayed at the Hesperia and got it on travelocity for $98 U.S. It was a lovely hotel the nicest we stayed in the whole trip but I like older buildings and more of a feel of "the city" But there are plenty of others - do a search on this forum, granda hotels and then check tripadvisor for specific comments.

for hotels you might check out bancotel.com, petrabrax.com, and sol-melia.com. I agree that you could do Toledo as a daytrip from Madrid, but it is really special at night too. Might just want to do one night there and then you'd have time for Ronda. Also, you might consider a daytrip to Segovia from Madrid.

Toledo is NOT 1/2 hour south of Madrid, it is more like 1-1.5 hours drive. Not sure it makes a tremendous difference anyway. This itinerary looks much better than the one previously posted. If you are set in visiting Ronda, I would add a day to Seville (day trip from Seville; an hour drive) and take a day from Toledo. As a matter of fact, I would go directly to Madrid from Seville and day trip to Toledo from there. This way you have 3 homebases (Granada, Seville, Madrid; should be your max for a trip of that duration) and still covering 6 major cities.

As far as flights, Iberia has the best schedules out of JFK. As far as prices for Sept, if you find anything under $600, DO NOT hesitate and get it right away. Sept is a great time to travel in Spain, with hot weather still. Strongly recommend you visit the Iberia site and book your tickets, you are on the edge of when summer airfares to that country starts climbing substantially.