Cala Macarella and Macarelleta

Macarella is the cove on the front of every Menorca brochure: white sand at the foot of a limestone amphitheatre, pines growing out of the cliff, and water that goes from clear to deep turquoise within a few metres. Macarelleta, the smaller cove next door, is five minutes away over the headland on the Camí de Cavalls, the coastal path that circles the island.

The frame most people miss is from that path. Halfway across the headland you look down on the whole of Macarella — cliff, pines, sand and the colour of the water — with two small figures on the beach for scale. From the sand itself, the cliff makes a natural backdrop with no horizon and no other people in it if you work at the edges.

The water is at its most saturated in the middle of the day, when the sun is high enough to light the sand under it; that is hard light for faces, so the usual answer is a wide shot at noon and portraits in the last two hours, when the cliff throws shade over the beach and the light softens.

Access is the thing to plan. In the summer season the road down to Macarella is closed to private cars and you reach it by bus from Ciutadella, by bike or on foot — check the current rule and the timetable before booking a slot, because the last bus back is early. There is no shade on the path, one beach bar in season and nothing at all out of it.