Couple photoshoot in Mallorca

The picture most couples bring to Mallorca is a turquoise cove at sunset, and the two halves of it do not go together: the colour only appears with the sun high, and by evening the water has gone grey-blue. A short couple photoshoot works better aimed at a place that comes alive in the light you actually have. For a morning, that is Palma. The lanes behind La Seu stay in shade until late, and the seafront path east to Portixol, an old fishing quarter of low houses a couple of kilometres along the bay, keeps the sea beside you the whole way. For an evening, it is the Tramuntana, where villages such as Deià catch the last hour on their stone. Choose one end of the day and one place, and the photographs look like the two of you rather than like the island’s postcard.

When to book in Mallorca

April is the month to argue for: the mountains are still green, the light is soft for longer and the island has a fraction of its summer crowd. May, June, September and October are close behind. In July and August, go early in Palma, before the sun is high over the old town and the streets fill, or late in the Tramuntana, in the two hours before sunset. Midday is the one hour that works badly almost everywhere, except in a cove, which is a different session. Wind matters in Palma more than people think: on a still morning the pool in front of La Seu doubles the cathedral, and a breeze takes that away, so we choose the time by the forecast as much as by the sun.