Real Alcázar — the Patio de las Doncellas on the first slot

The Alcázar is still a working royal palace, and the Patio de las Doncellas is its centre: a rectangular courtyard built for Pedro I in the 1360s, walled in carved plaster and tile, with sunken planting and a pool running the length of the axis. The pool was uncovered again in the 2000s, and it is what makes the courtyard photograph the way it does.

Stand at the short end and the arcade, the plasterwork and the sky all repeat in the water. The rooms off the courtyard — the Ambassadors' Hall under its gilded dome — are darker and slower to work in, but their tiled dados give a graphic backdrop at any hour. Outside, the gardens run for hectares: the Galería de Grutesco, the Mercury pond, hedged walks and orange trees.

The courtyard is open to the sky, so midday lays a hard diagonal across it and blows out the plaster. Book the first entry of the day for soft light in the courtyard and gardens that are still empty. Late slots work outdoors, where the low sun comes through the arcades, but by then the interiors are dim.

Tickets are timed and sell out days ahead in spring and autumn — check availability before you fix a date. A visitor ticket covers personal photos; a paid session inside the monument needs its own permission, so check the current rules before promising a client an Alcázar shoot.