i am booking a trip for my daughter who will be going to school in cadiz in the fall. i have her flying into malaga, thinking that it would be closer than madrid, but now i am wondering if the trip from malaga to cadiz after a long, long travel day will be more stressful than booking a flight to madrid then jerez de la tera and a bus from there to cadiz would be smoother? she would arrive in madrid around midnight and malaga at 8:30 pm.
help! i am one nervous mama

The trouble is, there is no bus connection from Malaga to Cádiz after your daughter lands, so she will have to spend the night there. Buses leave from estacíon de autobuses, connected to the airport by bus. Getting a night's accommodation in Malaga isn't difficult - go to booking.com - and ther are three direct buses to Cadiz daily, taking about 4 hours. Trains are less convenient, needing a change in Seville or Dos Hermanas.
Alternative routing via Madrid still entails a long layover until the first flight to Jerez at 7.45 am by Iberia - meaning sleeping at the airport. The flight is only 65 min and there are buses from Jerez Airport via Jerez to Cádiz, taking 75 min.
Third alternative is spending the night in Madrid, catch AVE high-speed train to Seville and change for Cádiz.

You have excellent information above, I'll just chime in to say if I had to spend only one overnight, I would overnight in Malaga over Madrid, because it isn't so overwhelming for one night, and she'd arrive at an earlier time. The bus from the airport to the city could not be easier, the old town is quite manageable, and she'd be close to the bus station for the transfer to Cadiz the next day.

First of all your daughter is so lucky to be going to school in Cadiz - it is probably my favorite city in all of Spain (if I had to choose one).

If you decide to have your daughter fly into Madrid there are 2 direct trains from Madrid to Cadiz daily. The first one leaves at 10:05 and then there's an afternoon train at 4:20pm. It's 5 hours and is an Altaria, not as nice as an Ave but a very good train without a great deal of stops. Then as someone had indicated you could also take the Ave from Madrid to Sevilla, then a regional train to Cadiz.

If the prices are the same I'd probably opt for Malaga due to the late arrival time in Madrid. Will your daugher be staying at a hotel the first few nights in Cadiz or will you have student accomondations? The Cadiz bus station is well located either way. There are several hotels within walking distance of the bus station and a local bus stop nearby also.

better still, get her a flight to jerez and she can take a taxi from the airport to cadiz. probably 30-40euros but well worth it for the time it saves at the end of the trip and the security if she's got baggage.

Hey, I am going to school in cadiz this year too! where is your daughter going to stay?have you decided yet? If you would like to chat more about this, please let me know