Proposal photographer in Madrid

Debod is the obvious Madrid answer and, for a photographer who has to stay hidden, an unusually good one. It is one of the busiest sunset spots in the city, so on a busy evening someone with a long lens on the far side of the pools is part of the furniture, and everyone on the terrace is looking at the sky rather than at you. The catch is the calendar. From December to February the sun sets between a quarter to six and seven, and the crowd is a third of the summer one. In June and July it sets after half past nine, the terrace is genuinely full, and the moment has to happen in the last forty minutes or not at all. The quiet alternative is the Retiro, where a handheld camera is all we carry and nobody asks.

When to book in Madrid

The best day is a weekday, because every place on this list is half as busy as at the weekend. The best hour depends on the stage. Debod and Sabatini are evening places, worth the last forty minutes before a sunset that falls between a quarter to six in December and ten to ten in late June. The Palacio de Cristal is a morning or a grey-day place, between ten and noon. The boats run from morning to a closing time that moves with the daylight, from about a quarter past five in winter to half past eight in summer, so a late boat proposal needs checking against the season. In July and August keep to the hour before sunset, or move to the morning; the afternoon heat shows on both of you.