Couple photoshoot in Bilbao

A couple session is a walk, and Bilbao offers two that have little in common. In the city it is the Casco Viejo and the river: narrow colour-washed streets, the market building on the water, the Zubizuri footbridge and the path out towards the Guggenheim. Downriver, where the estuary opens to the sea, it is Getxo: the old port at Algorta, a cluster of houses stacked on the slope above the water, and the Vizcaya Bridge, the iron transporter bridge of 1893 whose hanging gondola still crosses to Portugalete, a World Heritage Site since 2006. The metro links the two. Couples who freeze in front of a camera tend to relax more in Getxo, which has fewer people and more horizon; couples who want the city in the picture pick the old town. Either way the session is on foot, and the sky only decides whether someone carries an umbrella.

When to book in Bilbao

May, June and September give the best odds of a dry walk and, now and then, a clear evening when the titanium turns copper for a few minutes. Most of the year, though, the light is the same soft grey from late morning until evening, so the hour can follow your plans: after lunch, after work, before dinner in the Casco Viejo. Avoid the old town at the main pintxo hours, when the Siete Calles are packed, and avoid the Aste Nagusia week in August altogether unless the crowd is the point. In Getxo, wind off the sea is the thing to dress for, even in summer, and the seafront is quietest early on a weekday. Winter sessions work, as long as one of you is willing to take a coat off for a few frames.