Last verified: October 13, 2026. This solar eclipse in Spain guide takes its times from the municipal table of Spain’s Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), read town by town on October 13, 2026. The weather comes from AEMET’s 1981 to 2010 normals and Jay Anderson’s Eclipsophile. The accommodation figures come from my own Booking.com sample, run the same evening. I repeat the sample and the checks every month until August 2027 and update this date when anything moves.
The solar eclipse in Spain on Monday, August 2, 2027 turns the Strait of Gibraltar dark for up to 4 minutes 49 seconds. It starts at 10:45 in the morning. On land in Europe, totality touches only southern Spain and Gibraltar, and it falls on Spain’s busiest holiday coast in the first week of August.
The maps are everywhere. What they don’t tell you is which town gets the most minutes and which coast has the clearest sky. Nor do they say where you can still get a bed, or how you get home afterwards. So I read IGN’s table for 34 places and pulled the weather records. Then I priced two nights in 12 towns on the eclipse dates against the same Sunday-to-Tuesday stay in September.
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This guide gives you the answers in booking order, with my picks for the nine best towns. If the eclipse is one stop on a longer trip, my complete Spain travel planning guide covers the rest of the route.
Key Takeaways
- The total solar eclipse in Spain is on Monday, August 2, 2027, between 10:45 and 10:53 official time (IGN).
- Longest totality: Ceuta 4 min 49 s, Tarifa 4 min 38 s. Cádiz gets 2 min 55 s, Málaga city 1 min 49 s.
- Seville, Granada and Madrid see a partial eclipse only.
- Best weather: Cádiz, with sun-visible days 88% of the time against 74% at Tarifa (Eclipsophile).
- Cheapest two nights in Tarifa: €7,000 for the eclipse, €140 in September (my sample, October 13, 2026).
Table of Contents
When and Where Is the Solar Eclipse in Spain?
In 2027, the eclipse begins over the Atlantic at 09:30 official peninsular time. It reaches the Canaries at about 09:33 and the Cádiz coast at 09:40 (IGN, total solar eclipse of August 2, 2027). Of the towns I checked, Conil goes dark first, at 10:45:01. Over the next eight minutes it sweeps east along the Strait and the Costa del Sol, then leaves Melilla at 10:52:49.
The band of totality covers Ceuta and Melilla, almost all of Cádiz province, much of Málaga province, and the southern edges of Granada and Almería. That’s 115 Andalusian municipalities, plus Ceuta and Melilla. On August 2, 2026, exactly a year out, Andalusia tested access, parking, viewing areas and health cover (El Independiente, July 2026).
Everywhere else in Spain, Canaries included, the Moon covers at least 70% of the Sun. The event is the second of three. Spain had a total eclipse on August 12, 2026 and gets an annular “ring of fire” on January 26, 2028. After that, IGN says the next total solar eclipse in Spain is in 2053.
In 2027, the solar eclipse in Spain happens in mid-morning, with the Sun 37° to 41° above the horizon. That’s far easier to watch than the 2026 eclipse, which sat low over the horizon at sunset. A government commission has run the three eclipses since a Royal Decree of July 29, 2025. It covers traffic, security, health and tourism (Ministerio de Ciencia, July 2025).
What Are the 9 Best Towns for the Solar Eclipse in Spain?
On IGN’s municipal table, Tarifa gets 4 minutes 38 seconds of totality, the longest of any town on the Spanish mainland. Ceuta, across the Strait, gets 4 minutes 49 seconds, the longest anywhere in Spain. The closer you are to the centre line through the Strait, the longer the dark lasts.
Here are my nine picks, ranked by minutes of totality and checked against the weather and the beds. Every time below is official peninsular time (CEST), read from IGN’s table on October 13, 2026.
| # | Town | Totality starts | Totality lasts | Why go |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ceuta | 10:45:23 | 4 min 49 s | Longest in Spain, still normal hotel prices |
| 2 | Tarifa | 10:45:11 | 4 min 38 s | Longest on the mainland, Africa on the horizon |
| 3 | Algeciras | 10:45:29 | 4 min 27 s | Rail terminus and ferry port, a practical base |
| 4 | Barbate | 10:45:03 | 4 min 16 s | Atlantic beach town, more than 4 minutes |
| 5 | Vejer de la Frontera | 10:45:06 | 4 min 05 s | Hilltop white town, wide views |
| 6 | Conil de la Frontera | 10:45:01 | 4 min 01 s | Earliest totality I found, most properties left on this coast |
| 7 | Estepona | 10:46:21 | 3 min 37 s | Best Costa del Sol duration |
| 8 | Marbella | 10:46:51 | 3 min 17 s | Resort comfort, good weather odds |
| 9 | Cádiz | 10:45:26 | 2 min 55 s | Shorter, but the best weather record |
Melilla gets 4 minutes 34 seconds and would make the list if it were easier to reach. The duration drops quickly towards the edges of the band. Jerez de la Frontera gets only 1 minute 22 seconds and Ronda 1 minute 19. Sanlúcar de Barrameda, on the band’s northern edge, misses totality altogether according to IGN.
Is 4:38 really better than 2:55? Anyone who has stood under a total eclipse will tell you every second counts. Still, minutes aren’t the only test. On the Cádiz coast the Sun is 37° to 38° high, a comfortable angle over any beach. For a longer drive through the region, my Andalusia road trip through the white villages links several of these towns.
What Are the Chances of Clear Skies on August 2?
Good, but the longest coast is not the clearest one. In satellite surveys, the city of Cádiz had sun-visible days 88% of the time. Barbate, Atlanterra and Tarifa averaged a less promising 74% (Eclipsophile, Jay Anderson, updated August 2025). The difference is the wind.
The culprit is the levante, the easterly that funnels through the Strait in summer. Anderson describes it as persistent, sometimes blowing for days or weeks, and it builds a stationary banner of cloud on the Rock of Gibraltar. He also notes that Marbella and the Alborán coast fare particularly well. Saharan dust is the other risk, a milky haze that can dim the whole sky.
So here’s the trade-off. Tarifa gives you 4 minutes 38 seconds with roughly one chance in four of cloud. Cádiz gives you 2 minutes 55 with better odds. The Costa del Sol sits in between. Whichever you pick, keep the morning flexible and watch the AEMET forecast from about July 30. AEMET forecasts the wind several days out, and a car lets you move.
Heat is the other planning fact. Totality comes at 10:45, hours before the worst of it.
The average August high is 35.5°C at Seville airport and 36.5°C at Córdoba, against 30.8°C at Málaga and 33.5°C at Jerez (AEMET, climate normals, 1981 to 2010). Each of those stations sees 17 to 20 clear days in the month. Bring water and shade for the walk back. Then plan the afternoon the way locals do, as I explain in how Spain handles the afternoon heat.
Where Should You Base Yourself for the Solar Eclipse in Spain?
Sleep inside the band if you can still find a bed. If not, base yourself in Seville or Jerez and travel in that morning. Seville gets a partial eclipse with a magnitude of 0.98, meaning the Moon covers 98% of the Sun’s diameter, and Jerez is inside the band (IGN).
98% sounds close enough. It isn’t. A sliver of Sun is still far brighter than the corona. The sky stays light, the corona never appears, and your glasses stay on the whole time. Totality is a different event, not a stronger version of the partial one. That’s why I’d never plan a solar eclipse in Spain around Seville or Granada alone.
Which base, then? My first choice is the Cádiz coast inside the band. Conil, Vejer and Barbate give four minutes or more, and Cádiz city has the best weather record. Search cancellable stays in Conil for August 1 to 3, 2027 first. It had the most properties left of the Cádiz coast towns I sampled, 41 of them.
On the Costa del Sol, Estepona and Marbella combine more than three minutes with resort infrastructure and good weather odds. Ceuta has the longest totality in Spain and was still at normal prices, with Spanish rules and the euro.
If you stay outside the band, the drive is what counts. I timed each base to the nearest towns in the band on Google Maps on October 13, 2026. That was ordinary Tuesday traffic, so allow much longer on eclipse morning.
| Base | Eclipse at the base (IGN) | Drive to the band | Train or bus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seville | Partial, magnitude 0.98 | Jerez 1 h 06, Cádiz 1 h 19, Conil 1 h 40, Tarifa 2 h 24 | Jerez 51 min to 1 h 02, Cádiz 1 h 42 (Renfe) |
| Granada | Partial, magnitude 0.99 | Motril 57 min | Motril 1 h 05 (ALSA bus) |
| Córdoba | Partial, magnitude 0.96 | Jerez 2 h 20 | Jerez 2 h 02 to 2 h 08 (Renfe AVE, then a regional train) |
| Málaga | Total, 1 min 49 s | Estepona 1 h 06 by the AP-7 toll road | Estepona 2 h 02 (bus) |
Seville works best by train. Jerez is 51 minutes away on the fastest Renfe service, and Cádiz 1 hour 42. My guide to where to stay in Seville covers the neighbourhoods closest to Santa Justa station.
If you want something memorable rather than practical, the paradores in the band will go fast. During the 2026 eclipse in northern Spain, the Paradores network ran at 95.7% occupancy with 25 hotels completely full (Travel Extra, September 2026). See the paradores worth booking for how to reserve one.
Is It Too Late to Book, and What Will It Cost?
It isn’t too late to book a bed for the solar eclipse in Spain, but the cheap end inside the band has gone. On October 13, 2026, I searched Booking.com for two adults on August 1 to 3, 2027 and on September 5 to 7, 2027, in 12 towns. In Tarifa, the cheapest two nights for the eclipse cost €7,000, against €140 in September.
That’s a 50-fold markup on the cheapest bed in town. Only six Tarifa properties appeared for the eclipse dates against 52 for September. Barbate came in at 29 times its September price, Cádiz at 19 times, and Conil 13 times and Vejer 12. The Costa del Sol was gentler: Málaga 8 times, Estepona 5 and Marbella 3.
Two results surprised me. Ceuta, with the longest totality in Spain, had 24 properties for the eclipse nights, the cheapest at €50 for two nights against €43 in September. Seville was unchanged at €107 for both dates, although 76% of its stays already showed as unavailable for the eclipse nights. Neither city has priced the eclipse in yet, at least on Booking.
Is the rush real, or just a few greedy listings? The demand is already visible elsewhere. easyJet reported British bookings to destinations in the totality band up 70%, to Spanish destinations up 69% and to Gibraltar up 29% (Euronews, August 2026). The same report found 87% of Seville stays already gone for three nights from August 1.
Treat the headline prices as asking prices. Euronews found a villa in El Palmar listed at €33,129 for one night. Tarifa listings topped €11,000. It also reported that some Cádiz hotels had temporarily closed bookings for the dates (Euronews, August 2026).
My advice: book a cancellable rate now, wherever you’d be happy to stand, and check again in spring when the hotels reopen sales. My guide to choosing a base in Spain explains which booking types let you cancel late.
Getting There and Back on Eclipse Day
Arrive the day before and leave after lunch, or the next morning. Ahead of the 2026 eclipse, the DGT, Spain’s traffic authority, forecast 400,000 to 1.5 million extra trips. It expected traffic up 30% to 100% inside the 2026 band, and it asked drivers to stagger their return (Infobae, August 2026).
That 2026 eclipse happened at sunset on a Wednesday. The solar eclipse in Spain in 2027 happens at 10:45 on a Monday in August. The coast will already be at its summer peak. Every car that drove down for the morning will want to leave at the same time. The DGT also bans stopping on the hard shoulder or the carriageway to watch, so pick your spot before the day.
By car. A car gives you the freedom to chase a clear sky, and it’s the only way to reach most beaches. Rental fleets at Málaga airport are finite in August, so compare and book early with Discover Cars at Málaga airport. Before you book, my guide to renting a car in Spain explains the excess and the card hold. For the parts of the trip where you won’t need one, see trains and buses across Spain.
By air. Málaga airport handled 3,050,841 passengers in August 2026, an average of 98,414 a day (Aena, September 2026). Jerez and Seville are quieter gateways to the Cádiz coast.
By ferry. Ceuta is a short crossing from Algeciras. Algeciras and Tarifa are also Spain’s main ferry ports for Morocco and busy all summer, so book the ferry when you book the bed. Ceuta itself is Spain, but if you’re arriving from outside the EU, check Spain’s entry rules for your passport before you fly.
Watching the Eclipse Safely
Watch the solar eclipse in Spain only through eclipse glasses that carry the CE mark and certify ISO 12312-2:2015. Spain’s consumer authority classes them as category II personal protective equipment (Ministerio de Consumo, August 2026). Sunglasses, X-ray film and 3D glasses don’t protect your eyes.
Keep the glasses on for the whole partial phase, which lasts more than two hours. Take them off only once totality has started, and put them back on at the first bead of sunlight (NASA, eclipse safety, 2026). In Seville or Madrid, where the eclipse stays partial, the glasses never come off.
Spain’s 2026 experience was reassuring. Two days after that eclipse, Andalusian hospitals had seen 44 urgent eye consultations, none serious and none needing admission (Diario de León, agencies, August 2026). The Valencian Community counted 147 and the Basque Country 129, described as mild.
Phones and cameras need a solar filter over the lens during the partial phase. Pack a hat, water and sun cream as well, as in my list of what to pack for a Spanish summer.
What If You’re Outside the Path of Totality?
You’ll still see a deep partial eclipse almost anywhere in Spain. On IGN’s table, the eclipse magnitude is 0.99 in Granada, 0.98 in Seville and Huelva, 0.96 in Córdoba, 0.88 in Madrid and 0.84 in Barcelona. At its greatest, the Moon covers that share of the Sun’s diameter.
In Granada, maximum eclipse is at 10:50, which is morning visiting time at the Alhambra. My Granada guide covers how to book a morning slot. It’s a remarkable sight, though still a partial one. From Granada the nearest band is the coast at Almuñécar or Motril, where totality lasts 1 minute 42 to 1 minute 49 seconds. If you’re within two hours of the band, I’d drive.
For a beach base, the Atlantic beaches of the Costa de la Luz are inside the band, from Conil down to Bolonia. My guide to the best beaches in Spain covers them in more detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the solar eclipse in Spain?
The total solar eclipse in Spain is on Monday, August 2, 2027. The partial phase starts around 09:40 official peninsular time, and totality crosses southern Spain, Ceuta and Melilla between 10:45 and 10:53. It ends around noon. The next total eclipse visible from Spain after this one is in 2053, according to IGN.
Where is the best place to see the eclipse in Spain?
For duration, Tarifa at 4 minutes 38 seconds on the mainland, or Ceuta at 4 minutes 49 seconds, both IGN figures. For weather odds, Cádiz city recorded sun-visible days 88% of the time against 74% for the Tarifa coast, according to Eclipsophile. The Costa del Sol around Estepona and Marbella is a good compromise.
Will Seville see the total eclipse?
No. Seville gets a partial eclipse with a magnitude of 0.98, so the Moon covers 98% of the Sun’s diameter but the sky never goes dark. The nearest large town in the band is Jerez de la Frontera, on the railway to Cádiz, which gets 1 minute 22 seconds. The coast beyond Jerez gets much longer.
How long will totality last in Spain?
Up to 4 minutes 49 seconds in Ceuta and 4 minutes 38 seconds in Tarifa, according to IGN’s municipal table. Algeciras gets 4 minutes 27 seconds, Marbella 3 minutes 17, Cádiz 2 minutes 55 and Málaga city 1 minute 49. The figure falls quickly towards the edges of the band.
Is it too late to book accommodation?
No, but the cheap end has gone inside the band. On October 13, 2026, the cheapest two nights in Tarifa on Booking.com cost €7,000 for the eclipse, against €140 in September. Ceuta and Seville were still at normal prices. Book a cancellable rate now and re-check in spring.
What eclipse glasses are safe in Spain?
Glasses with the CE mark certified to ISO 12312-2:2015, which Spain’s consumer authority classes as category II personal protective equipment. Sunglasses are never safe. In 2026, Andalusian hospitals saw 44 urgent eye consultations after the eclipse, none of them serious.
The Solar Eclipse in Spain, in Short
Pick a town in the band, ideally between Conil and Tarifa or on the Costa del Sol near Estepona. Book a cancellable bed now, arrive the day before, and keep the morning of August 2 flexible in case the levante brings cloud. Then wait until after lunch to drive home. Get those right, and the solar eclipse in Spain gives you three or four minutes you won’t forget.
If you’re making a week of it, early August is hot but the Atlantic beaches are at their best. For the season as a whole, see the best time to visit Spain. I’ll keep re-checking this page every month, and the date at the top says when I last did.
