Best places for a photoshoot in Madrid

The best places for a photoshoot in Madrid are the Templo de Debod and the Sabatini gardens at sunset, the Plaza Mayor and Madrid Río first thing in the morning, and the Retiro — the Palacio de Cristal on a grey day, the lake for a family. Which one is right depends less on taste than on the hour: Madrid has the hardest light in Spain, and between noon and seven in summer nowhere in the city works outdoors. If you can choose the month, choose November to March.

The hour decides the place

Madrid sits at 650 metres in dry air, so the sun arrives as a point source: hard-edged shadows and a gap between the lit and unlit side of a face that no camera handles well. In summer that leaves two windows, roughly 07:00 to 08:30 and 20:45 to 21:45, as the hour-by-hour guide sets out. From late October the same physics turns into the best-lit winter on the peninsula: low, clean light all day, and a December session with no bad hour between nine and sunset.

Times are approximate, on the local clock.

Eight places, and when each one works

Templo de Debod

An Egyptian temple on a west-facing terrace above the Casa de Campo, with nothing between it and the horizon. It is the most photographed sunset in Madrid and it deserves it: the pools double the sky. The frames worth having are made from the far side of the pools looking back, not from the crowded rail. In summer the sun sets at about 21:45 and the terrace is full; from December to February the crowd is a third of that and the low sun rakes the stone instead of flattening it.

Jardines de Sabatini

Formal gardens along the north side of the Palacio Real: clipped hedges, a long pond, and the palace itself as the background. The late sun comes in low from the Casa de Campo side. The gardens keep their own opening hours, so check the closing time against the sunset. Debod is about ten minutes' walk, which makes these two the natural evening pair.

The Retiro: the Palacio de Cristal and the Estanque Grande

The Palacio de Cristal is a glass pavilion on a lake and the only large north-lit interior in central Madrid; on a grey morning between ten and midday it has the best light in the city. Entry is free, but tripods and any commercial set-up need written permission from the Reina Sofía, which programmes the building. Five minutes away, the Estanque Grande, with the Alfonso XII monument and its rowing boats, is where a family session goes: shade under the trees and room for children to run. The park closes when there is a weather alert for wind, so check the forecast the day before.

Plaza Mayor and the Arco de Cuchilleros

Arcaded on all four sides, which means usable shade at any hour of any day — the most useful property a location can have in a Madrid July. The arches frame on their own; the open middle of the square does not, and at midday in summer it is a griddle. Before nine it is close to empty. The steps down through the Arco de Cuchilleros lead towards the river.

Madrid Río and the Puente de Segovia

From the Madrid Río bank, the Palacio Real and the Almudena cathedral stack into a single facade. It faces south-west, so it is in silhouette at sunrise and lit at the end of the day. The stretch below the bridge is empty at seven and full of runners by nine. For families, the riverside park has wide paths and play areas, which is what keeps a three-year-old in the photographs.

Malasaña: Calle del Pez and Plaza del Dos de Mayo

Narrow enough that the walls bounce light back into a face instead of the sun hitting it directly, which in this city is the whole problem solved by architecture. The shopfronts give colour that is Madrid rather than generic Europe. Go two hours before sunset, Tuesday to Thursday: at weekends it is a party and there is no session to be had.

Barrio de las Letras

The streets around Calle de las Huertas, where lines by writers who lived in the quarter — Cervantes, Lope de Vega and Quevedo among them — are set into the paving in brass letters. Narrow and mostly in open shade, with the Plaza de Santa Ana at one end for a change of scale. A weekday morning is quiet; a Saturday night is not.

Routes that fit one session

The couple session includes two locations on foot, and these pairs are the ones that work:

• Evening: Sabatini, then Debod for the last forty minutes of sun.
• Morning: the Plaza Mayor before nine, then down through Cuchilleros to Madrid Río.
• Grey day: the Palacio de Cristal, then the Estanque Grande.

A family session is one location, chosen for shade and space to run: the Retiro or Madrid Río in the morning. Children and a nine o'clock sunset in July do not mix.

Heat, crowds and permits

July and August are the months to refuse outdoor work: 40 degrees is common and the only honest slot is before eight in the morning. That slot is excellent — in August the city is genuinely empty and the Plaza Mayor has four people in it. April and May are beautiful and busy. September stays hot until the first week of October.

A camera on a strap needs no permit anywhere in Madrid, the Retiro included. A tripod, a reflector on a stand or an assistant holding a light counts as a commercial set-up and needs a permit from the Ayuntamiento, which takes about ten working days and is routinely granted. We work handheld, so for a couple or family session none of it arises. The wider picture is in where you cannot photograph in Spain.

What a session costs with Albor

Prices are the floor, for a weekday outside August; the pricing page explains what moves them.

• [Couple session in Madrid](/services/couple/madrid): from €200, 90 minutes, 40 retouched photographs, two locations on foot.
• [Family session in Madrid](/services/family/madrid): from €220, 75 minutes, 40 photographs, one location chosen for shade and space.

When to book, month by month, is in the Spanish photography calendar. The rest of the city is on the Madrid page, and a date can be held here.