Totality · 12 August 2026

This eclipse took place on 12 August 2026. The seats stay in the programme as a record of how the vantage problem played out — there is nothing left to book.

Why the seat matters

Ten degrees of altitude is the entire problem. A hill, a treeline or a bank of coastal haze in the west-north-west does not dim this eclipse — it removes it. Add August cloud climatology that varies from 17% inland to 28% on the coast, and the seat decision is worth more than any equipment decision you will ever make.

Season

One afternoon

Best months

This is a single afternoon. There is no second attempt.

Cadence

A specific, predictable event.

Base

Burgos

Dataset note. Contact times and totality durations here are modelled approximations of the published circumstances, rounded for the simulator. Verify against an authoritative ephemeris before planning real travel.

Every seat, ranked

Seat fit is the simulator’s own score — darkness, open horizon, historical clear-sky odds, altitude and reachability, weighted for what this show cares about. It ranks seats against each other; it is not a forecast for any night. Tap a seat for the full card.

1. 01

   Páramo de Masa

   Front row · 42.525°N 3.687°W 73 Bortle4Clear75%Blocked4%

   Seat fit 73/100 — Strong seat. Weakest link: altitude.

   A flat, empty limestone plateau near the centreline: four percent obstruction and a road you can drive along to dodge cloud. The chaser's seat.

   Elevation

   1,050 m

   Bortle class

   4

   Sky blocked

   4%

   Historically clear

   75%

   Getting there

   40 min drive + 5 min hike

   Facing

   286°

   Facilities

   lay-bys on N-623, fuel 15 min, no shade

   Totality

   1 min 39 s modelled

   See the sky from this seat → Map
2. 02

   Los Monegros · Sástago

   Mezzanine · 41.321°N 0.348°W 69 Bortle4Clear83%Blocked5%

   Seat fit 69/100 — Strong seat. Weakest link: altitude.

   The lowest cloud odds on the whole path and a horizon like a ruler. It is also a semi-desert in August with no shade and 38 °C at first contact.

   Elevation

   320 m

   Bortle class

   4

   Sky blocked

   5%

   Historically clear

   83%

   Getting there

   1 h drive + 8 min hike

   Facing

   285°

   Facilities

   track parking, no water, no shade

   Totality

   1 min 35 s modelled

   See the sky from this seat → Map
3. 03

   Cervera de Pisuerga Ridge

   Front row · 42.869°N 4.498°W 68 Bortle3Clear78%Blocked7%

   Seat fit 68/100 — Strong seat. Weakest link: altitude.

   High ground with a clean WNW skyline — the single thing this eclipse demands. Twenty-five minutes uphill and no way to move if a cell builds.

   Elevation

   1,180 m

   Bortle class

   3

   Sky blocked

   7%

   Historically clear

   78%

   Getting there

   1 h 35 min drive + 25 min hike

   Facing

   285°

   Facilities

   village 10 min, no facilities on ridge

   Totality

   1 min 44 s modelled

   See the sky from this seat → Map
4. 04

   Moncayo · Agramonte

   Front row · 41.808°N 1.794°W 65 Bortle3Clear81%Blocked12%

   Seat fit 65/100 — Strong seat. Weakest link: altitude.

   The driest air on the path and a mountain to put in the frame — but the massif itself is west of you, and that is the direction the sun sets into.

   Elevation

   1,130 m

   Bortle class

   3

   Sky blocked

   12%

   Historically clear

   81%

   Getting there

   1 h 15 min drive + 20 min hike

   Facing

   283°

   Facilities

   park road, refuge, toilets

   Totality

   1 min 31 s modelled

   See the sky from this seat → Map
5. 05

   Alto Tajo · Orea

   Mezzanine · 40.545°N 1.735°W 64 Bortle2Clear79%Blocked9%

   Seat fit 64/100 — Strong seat. Weakest link: reachability.

   Spain's darkest inland sky and real altitude, which matters when totality happens ten degrees above the horizon. Two hours from anywhere.

   Elevation

   1,470 m

   Bortle class

   2

   Sky blocked

   9%

   Historically clear

   79%

   Getting there

   2 h 10 min drive + 10 min hike

   Facing

   284°

   Facilities

   village 15 min, no fuel after Molina

   Totality

   1 min 24 s modelled

   See the sky from this seat → Map
6. 06

   Peñíscola Sea Wall

   Mezzanine · 40.359°N 0.406°E 61 Bortle5Clear72%Blocked3%

   Seat fit 61/100 — Strong seat. Weakest link: altitude.

   A three-percent horizon and a castle for scale, all reachable in flip-flops. The catch is the sun sets inland over the Maestrat hills, not the sea.

   Elevation

   12 m

   Bortle class

   5

   Sky blocked

   3%

   Historically clear

   72%

   Getting there

   55 min drive

   Facing

   288°

   Facilities

   town, hotels, restaurants, toilets

   Totality

   1 min 16 s modelled

   See the sky from this seat → Map
7. 07

   Cap de Formentor (path edge)

   Balcony · 39.958°N 3.211°E 48 Bortle4Clear76%Blocked6%

   Seat fit 48/100 — Workable compromise. Altitude is what you are paying.

   Right on the southern limit: a few seconds of totality, a broken diamond ring, and a shadow that runs along the ridge in front of you. Spectacular and fragile.

   Elevation

   210 m

   Bortle class

   4

   Sky blocked

   6%

   Historically clear

   76%

   Getting there

   1 h 10 min drive + 5 min hike

   Facing

   290°

   Facilities

   lighthouse car park, cafe, toilets, road closes to cars in peak season

   Totality

   0 min 24 s modelled

   Edge-of-path seat — totality duration collapses to seconds and a small positioning error loses it entirely.

   See the sky from this seat → Map
8. 08

   Madrid · Cerro del Tío Pío

   Balcony · 40.397°N 3.656°W 24 Bortle8Clear80%Blocked15%

   Seat fit 24/100 — A seat you take for convenience, not for the show.

   The cheapest seat in the house and the only one that is not the show: 92% partial, no corona, no darkness. Convenience is the entire product here.

   Elevation

   680 m

   Bortle class

   8

   Sky blocked

   15%

   Historically clear

   80%

   Getting there

   no drive + 4 min hike

   Facing

   286°

   Facilities

   city park, metro, everything

   Totality

   Outside the path

   Outside the path of totality. A 92% partial eclipse looks almost nothing like totality — this seat is in the dataset to make that difference visible.

   See the sky from this seat → Map

What is actually happening

The Moon's umbra crosses Greenland and Iceland and makes landfall in Spain with the Sun only about ten degrees above the horizon. A low Sun means the shadow arrives almost sideways: you can watch it race across the landscape rather than fall on you. Totality lasts under two minutes anywhere in Spain, and at the path edges it collapses to seconds with a broken diamond ring and Baily's beads along the lunar limb.

Other shows

• Aurora BorealisLofoten Islands, Norway
• Aurora AustralisTasmania, Australia
• Moonrise EclipseHigh Atlas, Morocco
• The Perseid MaximumColorado Plateau, USA
• The Galactic CoreAtacama Desert, Chile
• The Glowing TideJervis Bay, Australia
• Silver CloudsNorthumberland & the Scottish Borders
• The MoonbowVictoria Falls, Zambia & Zimbabwe
• The Long TailLa Palma, Canary Islands
• Fire on the HorizonMount Etna, Sicily
• Lenticular AlpenglowAoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand
• The AnvilSonoran Desert, Arizona
• The MurmurationSomerset Levels, England