One week: Malaga, Cordoba and Madrid
 

How would you spend 8 nights between Malaga, Cordoba, and Madrid? I was thinking 3 nights Malaga (day trips to Granada and Ronda), 1 night in Cordoba, and 4 nights in Madrid.
Note that I would be flying into Malaga and out of Madrid.

Depends utterly on what you are looking for.

I notice you have DL in your profile, would I assume you would be planning to come in on the seasons JFK-Malaga service? Or are you connecting in?

Eitherway, what time does it arrive? Lets say you have 3 nights in Malaga, you have arrival day. Depending upon time of arrival, does this give you time in Malaga?

How would you be planning to move about? Train?

This itinerary is planned for October. I would arrive around 1 pm in AGP.
I would only stay in Malaga as a base to explore the region. Don't care one bit about the beaches but a big pool is nice.
I am planning to rent a car for my stay in Malaga, but take the train to Cordoba and Madrid.

Ok assuming you stay in city centre Malaga (for ease of transport access for your trips, bus and train).

If you were hiring a car, then you would do this differently, but public transport is improving a lot in Spain.

So you would have the evening to wander around Malaga when you arrive.
Lets say you loose a day on your two trips, then you got to Madrid at some point after your third night. Three full days in Madrid before the day you fly out.

It is NOT a bonkers plan. Also, I would certainly not take away any more nights from Madrid. I would work out how practical your trips are as day trips from Malaga, and let that guide you. Compared with options of basing yourself elsewhere.

I will be hiring a car for my stay in the Costa del Sol, as I technically plan to reside just outside Malaga.

Also, I changed my itinerary a little and would like to spend 4 nights in Malaga, 1 night in Cordoba, and 3 nights in Madrid. That is, planning to arrive at 1 pm in Malaga, at 10 am in Cordoba, and at 1 pm in Madrid. That means I will have 3.5 days in Malaga to do city sightseeing and day trips (Granada, Ronda, etc.), 1 full day in Cordoba, and 2.5 days in Madrid.
In principle, I could arrive earlier in Madrid by taking an earlier train out of Cordoba, but I am not sure if I can find a nice hotel that allows me to check-in early.

Another option would be to spend 4 nights in Malaga and 4 nights in Madrid with a lunch stopover in Cordoba. However, I cannot find any luggage storage facility for large bags near the train station in Cordoba.

I would be very surprised if there was not a consigna inside the Córdoba RENFE station.

It is not listed on the Adif website:
http://www.adif.es/en_US/infraestruc...s_000060.shtml

Compare with, for example, Malaga where lockers are listed:
http://www.adif.es/en_US/infraestruc...s_000014.shtml

I have only ever driven through there but this tripadvisor thread (ES) seems to indicate that the bus station across the street has the left luggage that essentially functions for the train station.

http://www.tripadvisor.es/ShowTopic-...Andalucia.html

If you are interested in the sights most tourist frequently see, I would add Granada and just stay 1 night in Malaga.. not much there IMO... lots more to see in Cordoba and Granada, this coming from a teacher that took students about 10x during my career: just my 2 cents

http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/cordoba/

http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/granada

http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/malaga

I will do day trips from Malaga including visiting Granada. Makes no sense to me wasting precious vacation time with packing, unpacking, checking in, and checking out of hotels.

A day trip to Granada would make sense since it's about 1-1/5 hour east by car but Cordoba is north of Malaga and at least 2 hours - on the way to Madrid.
Less if by train and of course longer by bus.
Check with trip advisor too for some advice.

Yes, that is why I am planning to overnight in Cordoba on my way to Madrid.

It's in the bus station across the street. I used it last year but can't remember much about it.
We stayed in Madrid and Granada last October and have stayed in Malaga, Seville and Cordoba many times in the past. I think Cordoba's worth an overnight stop at least.

Spain is about nightlife to me (and I'm not young, it's for all ages) so my perspective might be different - but I don't think you see much of a Spanish city unless you overnight there. For a start, in Andalucia (and Madrid to an extent) most places are "closed for business" in the afternoon, then spring back into life about 8-9pm.

I know, I have been in Valencia and Barcelona already. :)

It comes down to wildly differing definitions of night. In Spanish "afternoon" lasts until about 10 PM I'd say. If you ask a Spaniard about night life, it's talking about generally starting a 1-2AM. Since we all speak English, you can assume a heavy Anglo bias where that's just crazy unless really going crazy partying.

The life until 1AM is just the dinner crowd, honestly.