Lavender Fields in Brihuega, Spain

I used to think that to see lavender fields you had to go all the way to the region of Provence in France. This spring I found out that I had beautiful fields close to home so I marked down on my calendar "visit lavender fields in July". Why July? Because it's when this flower is in full bloom.

Just one hour from Madrid you can find a little town called Brihuega in the region of Guadalajara. During this month the Lavender Festival takes place. This means that there are 31 days of activities that go from concerts to a unique race around the fields.

UPDATE JUNE 2022 

After two years without celebrations due to Covid-19, the Lavender Festival is back! It will take place on July 16 2022. 

Visiting the Lavender Fields and the charming town of Brihuega, Spain

Brihuega is a beautiful town. Even if it wasn't for the lavender fields, it's worth visiting. It has a lovely old town and many balconies and streets have lavender ornaments. Worth seeing are:

• The Royal Cloth Factory of King Charles III. You can't visit the factory but you can see its beautiful French style romantic gardens. The name comes from the unusual round building -it looks like a bullfighting ring- in which cloth was made for military uniforms. Entrance to the gardens is 2€
• the many well preserved churches
• Peña castle built not for a king, but for archbishops who happened to be in the area 
• The fountain of the 12 spouts
• the tourist information office which used to be a Royal prison
• Piedra Bermeja castle built by the moors and later expanded by the Christians

We just wandered around the streets and found the cutest spots.

After visiting the village we took the car to find the fields. You can imagine the excitement when we saw a sea of purple hills from the road. It looked so beautiful!

The best time to photograph the fields it's either very early in the morning or just before sunset. Unless you want to get there around 7 or 8 am, I suggest  you choose the latter. Yes, there will be more people but there are so many fields and so big that you can get your perfect shot without anyone on it. The pictures below show you how different photos are depending on the hour.

This is what the lavender fields look like around 7 pm. These photos are a result of a lot of trial and error. I suggest you work with light, take pics from all possible angles until you find what works best. At this time hard shadows still appear on the face.

These are the fields before sunset (from 9:20 to 9:40pm). Nothing beats the golden light of sunset, right? Backlit photos will look amazing at this time. Another option is finding a spot lit by that last ray of light and placing your subject there.

Tips for Visiting the Lavender Fields in Brihuega, Spain

• Watch for the bees! These busy insects will be at work while you visit the fields. The later you go, the least you will find.
• You can take a 1 hour tour for 3€ or get amazing views from hot air balloons.
• Entrance to the fields is free (at least to the ones we visited), owners just ask you to respect the plants in exchange. Previous to our trip I had read online that owners charge 2€, I guess it depends on the field.
• You can find GPS coordinates to the fields here.
• Where to eat: we had booked a table in advance at Princesa Elima Restaurant. Both service and food were really good.
• Parking in the village is hard because there's a lot of people to see the lavender festival, be patient. There are parking areas close to the lavender fields.

You can still see these beautiful fields in full bloom but hurry up, harvest starts in August.

Planning a trip to Brihuega in 2022? Check out the Festival's official website for more info. 

Best Colors to Wear When Visiting the Lavender Fields

The tourism board of Brihuega advises you to wear white as the color that goes best with lavender. However, there are in my opinion other colors that go just as well. I considered wearing this white dress but in the end I opted for this marigold one instead because it creates a very interesting contrast with lavender, especially at golden hour. Lilac would work really well too since you'd be matching the surroundings.

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