How to Shoot at Muralla Roja

July 16, 2026

La Muralla Roja is Ricardo Bofill’s pink labyrinth above the sea in Calpe, Spain. Built in 1973, photographed a few million times since, and still one of the most striking places in Europe to point a camera at two people. If it looks familiar, you have seen its geometry echoed in Squid Game.

Adriana and Ondrej framed in a pink archway above the Mediterranean at Muralla Roja, Calpe

Here is the thing nobody tells you before they book flights: you cannot just walk in. It is a private residential building, and the courtyards, stairways and rooftops belong to the people who live there.

Looking up through the blue courtyard geometry of La Muralla Roja

Adriana and Ondrej leaning over a blue parapet against the sky at Muralla Roja

How you actually shoot there

There are two honest routes. The first is staying in the building: some apartments are rented out, and guests can move around the complex. The second is arranging a shoot through the building’s administration, which handles permissions for photography. Rules and prices change, so write to them early rather than assuming.

Ondrej and Adriana in a quiet pink corner of La Muralla Roja, Calpe

I have been inside Muralla Roja twice, once with a camera and a couple and once on holiday with my family, and the arrangement step is the difference between a relaxed morning and an awkward conversation with a resident in a bathrobe.

Adriana juggling an apple in a red polka dot blouse against the deep blue walls of Muralla Roja

Adriana tossing an apple against the blue walls of La Muralla Roja

When the light is good

The building is a sundial. Light drops into different courtyards at different hours, and the pink and blue walls do their own colour grading all day. Early is the move: quieter stairways, softer light, and the patience of the people who live there intact.

Ondrej climbing a staircase at Muralla Roja under a sunset sky in Calpe

Hard light zigzagging down a staircase at La Muralla Roja

Adriana dancing in a patch of light on a dark pink staircase at Muralla Roja

Adriana and Ondrej in a doorway of warm evening light at Muralla Roja

What to wear

Solids. The walls are the pattern. White, cream, black and muted tones photograph beautifully against the pink; anything busy fights the architecture and loses.

Portrait of Adriana and Ondrej in red and blue against the pink walls of Muralla Roja

Adriana and Ondrej looking up at the architecture of La Muralla Roja

Red against blue on the stair blocks of La Muralla Roja

Adriana and Ondrej beside the rooftop pool at La Muralla Roja, Calpe

The second trip

Later that year my wife turned 40. After the morning I spent inside the labyrinth with Adriana and Ondrej, there was only one place on earth I wanted to take my family for a celebration like that: Muralla Roja.

The kids claimed the staircases and the rooftop pool, and the building passed the sternest test I can offer: it is as good for a family birthday as it is for a couple in wedding clothes.

Two of the kids sitting in patches of sunlight on the red staircases of Muralla Roja

Therese and our son walking down the steps of La Muralla Roja on her 40th birthday trip

Three kids at the rooftop pool of Muralla Roja with the Mediterranean behind

The rooftop maze of La Muralla Roja above the sea, one small figure among the pink walls

The proof

Adriana and Ondrej flew in for a session there and the result is this story. If Muralla Roja is on your list, whether it is a pre-wedding shoot, a honeymoon session or just the two of you and the geometry, say hello and I will handle the rest.