Would it be better to stay in Antequera for 4-5 nights rather than Malaga? What day trips are essential to see from Malaga? Nerja, Ronda...? I’d like to give Cordoba and Granada a few days each and Seville about a week. Just not sure how to use the other 7 or 8 days. We then will go to Portugal afterwards.

Nerja is very much a Brits playground. Plus the sea is polluted. I have said that before!
Visiting Gib may or may not be difficult after Brexit. The outlook is not good and the moment.
What do you mean better? There are pluses to both. Maybe in my opinion Antequera is a lot more of historical/country sites which can be visited then Málaga.
Maybe for suggestions of day trips should wait until YOU have made a choice.

We lived in a small town 30kms north of Malagá for almost a year and used it as a base to visit many other parts of Andalusia and so know the region reasonably well.

We spent several long weekends in Malagá and loved it. Great food, museums and a nice place to just chill and wander. How long you should allocate depends upon your interests and how you want to spend your time, I would certain be ok with staying there for 4-5 night

The closest town to where we were living was Antequera, a very pleasant small town which has the advantage of being a sort of hub for the train system making it easy to link to other cities. However, pleasant though it undoubtedly is, it is pretty quiet and I would not allocate anymore than a 2/3 days at most, unless using it as a base to visit other locations. Sights worth seeing nearby, assuming you are into a bit of walking, include ElCaminto Del Rey and El Torcal - we bloggged about the former @ https://accidentalnomads.com/2017/05...del-rey-spain/ both have stunning scenery.



Sevilla deserves a larger proportion of your time, a wonderful city. We preferred Jerez to Cadiz which I would probably limit to a day trip and try to schedule when there are no cruise ships due to dock!

Córdoba deserves two or maybe even three days and Granada about the same. I really would not bother with Nerja.

Basically, I think the itinerary you started with would be fine if you dropped a few days from Malagá and Sevilla

With the exception of Sevilla a rental car would help a lot in increasing your options and flexibility. One option would be to take a Paradores route. We used this company Routes | Paradores de Turismo to do a "route of the nasrids" which covered Ubeda, Jaen and Cazorla staying half board in a castle, a hunting lodge and a palace. Surprisingly affordable given thequality of the food and accomodation.

Anyway, just a few thoughts..

We enjoyed Malaga, a much under-rated city in my opinion. Its location on the Mediterranean is beautiful, and it was so nice to experience some coastal ambience. The promenade along the port is lovely, and we enjoyed drinks overlooking the port while watching the sunset. There is a lot to do in Malaga itself. Do you have a guidebook? There are quite a few museums; we visited the very interesting Picasso Museum. We also walked up through the Alcazaba, which was beautiful with ruins, flowers, greenery, small fountains and patios, and stunning views of the Mediterranean. We also visited the castle ruins, the cathedral, the indoor market, etc. There are lots of restaurants and cafes in the beautiful city center. We were there for only 2 nights, but would have enjoyed more nights.

Many people on Fodor's have really enjoyed Malaga.

I like the idea of the El Caminito del Rey... we enjoy hiking and we tend to do a lot of walking when we travel and wandering around in a city. I’m not overly comfortable with heights. Is that s big concern on this walk? Looks gorgeous and I’d love to try it. I am also interested in the Paradores route. I didn’t see the route of the nasrids....what were the prices of the half board?

It was 2-3 years ago we did that trip but from what I recall it cost around £400, say 500 usd for three nights half board. They don’t appear to offer that trip anymore, at least not that I could find. This seven day trip is the closest I could find Route of the Andalusí Legacy II | Paradores de Turismo

It is of course possible just to book the individual paradores either B&B or half board.

That is the company we used to book but there are others. I am semi thinking of heading back there maybe in December so if I find anything I will try and remember to post here.

The Caminito Del Rey does involve walking along board walks high above the gorge as you will see on our blog link above. I really don’t like heights either but was fine with this walk as it is well built with high safety fences. When we first visited a few years previously it consisted of derelict woooden platforms with large sections were missing. Some idiots were leaping over the gaps! Really made me cringe!

Don’t miss El Torcal , a beautiful wild area with wild rock formations and great views ( no heights!)

I meant to add that you need to reserve El Caminito Del Rey places a few weeks in advance as it does get booked up and numbers are strictly controlled

If we wanted to do both Caminito del Rey and El Torcal , would it be a better option to stay in Antequera as a home base for 4-5 days rather than Malaga? Or if we stay in Malaga, can we take public transport to these areas?

Again, for public transportation options, consult rome2rio.com