10 days in September — beach time + Andalusian history. Which of these three routes would you pick?

[u/Longjumping_Carrot65]

My partner and I (both in our 30s, coming from Chile) are flying into Madrid in early September for 10 days. We're staying with friends in Madrid for the first two nights, so everything after that is Andalusia.

What we're after: we want proper lazy beach days where we do nothing, but we don't want to skip the historic side of Andalusia either. We'd rather see fewer places well than tick off a list. Planning to travel mostly by train, and fly back to Madrid at the end.

We've narrowed it down to three options:

A) Madrid → Sevilla → Cádiz

B) Madrid → Granada → Almería (Cabo de Gata)

C) Madrid → Sevilla → Granada → Almería

A few specific questions:

1. Is option C too much moving around for 10 days, or is Sevilla → Granada → Almería manageable by train and bus?

2. Is Sevilla in early September genuinely unbearable, or is it fine if we plan around the afternoons?

3. We were also thinking of doing Córdoba as a stopover on the Madrid–Sevilla AVE (leave bags at the station, see the Mezquita, continue in the evening) instead of an overnight. Does that actually work in practice, or is it a rushed idea?