Photographing Madrid: Debod, Retiro and the Old Centre

Templo de Debod — the sunset location, and only that

A genuine Egyptian temple, over two thousand years old, given to Spain by Egypt in 1968 and rebuilt stone by stone on a rise west of the centre. It sits behind shallow reflecting pools with the sun going down behind it over the Casa de Campo.

Two things make it work and one makes it hard.

It works because the temple faces the sunset directly — you get the silhouette, the colour and the reflection in one frame — and because the pools double whatever the sky is doing.

It is hard because everyone in Madrid knows this. On a clear evening the wall along the pools is three deep. The answer is either to arrive well before the light is good and hold your position, or to shoot from further back and use the crowd as foreground rather than pretending it is not there.

More on the spot: Templo de Debod at sunset.

Retiro and the Crystal Palace — a morning and midday location

The Palacio de Cristal is a glass and iron pavilion in the middle of the park, built for an exhibition in 1887 and now empty except for whatever art installation is inside. Its value to a photographer is simple: it is a building made of light. When the sun is high enough to come through the roof, the interior fills with soft, even, directionless light — the opposite of what the rest of the city offers at midday.

That makes Retiro the answer to the question every Madrid session runs into: what do we do between eleven and five. The rest of the park gives you tree-lined avenues, the rowing lake and a lot of shade.

More on the spot: the Crystal Palace.

Plaza Mayor and La Latina — before nine, or not at all

The arcaded square and the narrow streets running south of it are the oldest-feeling part of Madrid. They are also, from mid-morning, full.

Plaza Mayor is enclosed on all four sides, so the light on the floor is soft for most of the day — the problem is people, not sun. First thing in the morning the square is nearly empty and the arcades are doing something lovely with the low light coming in sideways.

La Latina below it is a warren of narrow streets — Cava Baja, the market at San Miguel — that stay in shade and work later into the day.

More on the spot: Plaza Mayor and the lanes of La Latina.

The ones that are worth twenty minutes

Gran Vía — the closest Madrid gets to a canyon of a street, with early-twentieth-century facades. Only viable very early; by ten it is one of the busiest streets in Spain.

Plaza de Oriente and the Royal Palace — scale and formality, a useful contrast if the rest of your session is in old lanes.

Malasaña and Chueca — colour, murals, café frontage. Good with people who would rather not stand in front of a monument.

What Madrid does that the coast does not

Two things worth knowing.

It sits at around 650 metres, and the air is dry. That gives the light a hardness you do not get on the coast — good for architecture and contrast, less forgiving for portraits in the middle of the day.

And it has real winters. December and January are cold and often clear, and the sun stays low all day, which means usable directional light from mid-afternoon. Madrid in winter is one of the better-value photography months in Spain: no heat, no crowds, and the light does half the work.

Summer is the opposite. July and August regularly pass 35°C and the city empties in August as everyone leaves for the coast. If you are here then, the day is a sunrise session and an evening session with a long gap in the middle.

A route that works

1. Early morning — Plaza Mayor and La Latina, before the square fills
2. Late morning — Retiro, the avenues and the lake
3. Midday — the Crystal Palace, when the light comes through the glass
4. Late afternoon — Malasaña, or Plaza de Oriente
5. Sunset — Templo de Debod

That is a full day and more than most people book. If you have two hours, take the first item and the last — they are the two Madrid does better than anywhere else.

If you would rather not plan it, the photographers covering Madrid build this route weekly and will fit it to your date and the sunset time.

Frequently asked questions

What time should I photograph the Templo de Debod?

Sunset, and only sunset — the temple faces the setting sun directly, so you get silhouette, colour and the reflection in the pools in one frame. Everyone in Madrid knows this, and on a clear evening the wall along the pools is three deep: either arrive well before the light is good and hold your position, or shoot from further back and use the crowd as foreground rather than pretending it is not there.

Where can you shoot in Madrid in the middle of the day?

The Crystal Palace in the Retiro. When the sun is high enough to come through the glass roof, the interior fills with soft, even, directionless light — the opposite of what the rest of the city offers at midday — and the park around it gives tree-lined avenues, the rowing lake and a lot of shade. La Latina's narrow streets below the Plaza Mayor also stay in shade and work later into the day.

If I only have two hours in Madrid, which locations should I choose?

Plaza Mayor and La Latina first thing in the morning, before the square fills, and the Templo de Debod at sunset — they are the two things Madrid does better than anywhere else. The full route in between (Retiro late morning, the Crystal Palace at midday, Malasaña or Plaza de Oriente in the late afternoon) is a whole day and more than most people book.