I had a thread going about bases for Southern Spain, and thanks everyone who contributed to that. I've taken your comments on board and will definitely allow at least a week for Cordoba, Granada, Seville and Malaga. Thanks also for the comments on Gibraltar. I take the point that it is worth seeing, as long as it's not at the expense of a day in Seville or one of the other places mentioned!
Just one more question. Not terribly critical: more a matter of indulging a preference really, if possible. We are not really big-city people. Obviously there are some exceptions to that, but in the main, and because we travel by car (driving ourselves), we're usually happier in smaller cities or towns. I've been reading up on some of smaller places around the area we want to visit (Jerez, Arcos, Ronda, Cadiz - although even a couple of these are still quite large) and wondering how suitable any of these may be as a base for day-tripping to the bigger cities. I suspect not, but just thought I'd ask - as long as we can get accommodation with car parking in the bigger cities I guess we'll be OK anyway.
Some (or all?) of these smaller places look to be worth an overnight stay (or a visit) in their own right, even if not as a base for day-tripping. Fair comment?

Personally, I would not consider any of them a place to use as a base for any of the cities you plan on visiting. YMMV. If you're driving (why? in this part of the world, a car is neither necessary nor helpful), but if you insist on driving, you can check the distances on google.maps. For public transportation options, consult rome2rio.com.

I must admit that I don't think you've really taken the feedback you've been given to heart. I think if you check, we've all been saying that one week is NOT enough for Sevilla, Granada, and Cordoba, let alone Malaga.

Good luck!

Oops. Sorry, Kja. Spell check took over.

@ Sassafrass: No worries!

I agree that none of those places feel like big cities--even Sevilla.
I don't agree that you could not use a smaller place as a base--just go to google maps and plug in the drives and see if it would fit your preferences to be in the car that much. I like to not spend more than an hour in the car per day, so most would probably be ruled out for me. If you are going to have a car, I'd stay completely rural, and if you want to see those cities, I'd use the excellent bus and train system.

A few years ago a friend & I stayed on the edge of a small town, Iznajar, chosen because another friend's brother had an attached apartment at his home. It turned out to be a good location for touring around the area with a car. Larger, Antequera, I noted would also be good & also seemed to be far enough off the tourist track for me.

We only had a week so didn't visit a city other than Seville. We parked the car at the Antequera train station & spent 1 night in Seville. Both towns are more or less central to Seville, Granada, Malaga, Cordoba & Ronda which we visited on our way back to Malaga airport. None are very close but nor are they very far & we enjoyed leaving the car for the overnight by train to Seville.

Being out of a city for the most part is my preference and it worked well for my purposes.

I think you can make that remark about almost any city, that if you mainly stay in one area, it seems small or certainly walkable, because it is. FOr tourists, this is usually the case as the main touristic points of interest are usually in the center of the city with the longest history. Tourists don't usually want to visit suburbs or newer residential areas to walk around.

I also don't understand the whole car thing. I don't think staying in some small town but visiting big cities during the day (and dealing with the traffic, trying to find parking, etc) is a good way to have a vacation. Jerez and Cadiz are rather large cities, so I don't really see the point of staying in them to day trip to others because they are smaller than Seville, for example. I didn't think Jerez was that charming anyway, but perhaps I didn't see the best parts and it was bad weather. Those places aren't very central anyway, but I guess that depends what you plan to do. I just think they are poorly located for a base.

Ronda and Arcos are too small to have good rail connections to places. Ronda is about 3 hrs from Seville, I think, by public transportation, so how could you do that as a day trip. It would be quicker to drive, but then you'd have to deal with the Seville traffic and figuring out parking, how to get where you really want to go, etc. That wouldn't take 3 hrs one way, probably but probably over 2. Same situation for Arcos in terms of how long it would take to get to Seville. Arcos isn't really a great town for a driving base, it's on a cliff sort of. And parking isn't easy, some of the hotels in the village have any so then you have to find some in a public lot somewhere. There are some hotels just outside town, though. I think I think Ronda would be a better option, I think there are better/more hotel choices and tourist infrastructure. The Parador of Ronda has a good view and parking.

This is a very good website with info on the various towns
A guide to the town of Ronda - Malaga province | Andalucia.com

I thought you meant a week each for those cities which means a month right there. If you mean a week for all of them together, no. Two of them, sure. IF this is only one week, I don't know how you could do that, by public transportation or car. If you really want the car (I could see it for a longer trip), I think Ronda would be the better choice of those you list.

I have a different opinion than some of the previous posters. While it's true that having a car within a city is a detriment, it may be a huge time saver depending on your circumstances. If you want to stop as you please on your way from one place to another, then a driving vacation can give you the ultimate flexibility. In Spanish cities, you have to be mindful not to drive in historic centers that are off-limits to vehicles, and you have to know where to find the parking garages. But they are there!

All of the places mentioned in the OP are worth overnight stays, you would not go wrong in any of them, except that I find Malaga is not as exciting as the others.

We just got back from Spain. As far as southern Spain, we spent 4 nights in Estepona (on the coast, west of Marbella). We stayed in the old town and we loved it. Our apartment was a 5 minute walk to the beach and surrounded by great restaurants and lovely flower-lined winding streets for walking. We drove there from Granada - about 2.5 hours. We only did one day trip, to Caminito del Rey. We did the guided tour and loved it. Location - El Caminito del Rey Path - Diputación de Málaga

We also spent 4 nights in Arcos de la Frontera. We stayed in the old (upper) town. It is an amazing place with great views everywhere. We had a great apartment with a roof top terrace with plunge pool. We used it every day - it was very hot. Again we only did one day trip, to Jerez for a sherry tour. It was so much bother driving into Jerez that we didn't bother going anywhere else.

We had to park in public lots for both of these towns and then walk (in Arcos we took a taxi with our luggage) up hill to our apartments.
I wouldn't want to drive into any of the larger cities - traffic can be really congested. We stayed 3 nights in Sevilla without a car and walked to everything in the historic district.
Btw, you can see Gibraltar from the beach at Estepona.

Although I love just about anywhere in Spain, and the small towns are great, there is something extra special about Sevilla and Granada. Cordoba, Cadiz and Malaga are also nice. Sometimes I think the entire old part of Sevilla is a work of art in itself. They also really come alive at night. I would call them small as far as cities go.

The positive of having a car is if you want to go to a small out of the way stop. A remote beach for example. But stops like that either require a longer trip or are things you do on your second or third trip.

I don't see dates but especially if this is summer you'll want to wander those larger cities in the evening not mid day when they might feel like an oven.