For the "Plan Ahead" folks..solar eclipse 2026

August in drought ravaged Spain is a pretty good bet. Our friends are currently in Niagara falls. Trying to chase a solar eclipse in Canada in April is generally a bad bet.

There's also this question going re: locations in Spain for said event:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain/total-solar-eclipse-in-spain-2026

It is a once in a lifetime experience for sure.

Well, eclipses happen every 18 months or so, so they aren't once in a lifetime if you are willing to travel to them.
I decided not to join the estimated 500,000 people that headed to the St Lawrence Seaway an hour or so away. The path was close enough I just sat in my back yard. I was okay seeing a 99% eclipse. It was pretty cool.
Pretty sure I saw one in Victoria BC as a school girl in the 60s. We had to find Polaroid sunglasses and either break them to get the 2 lenses, or use 2 glasses to layer the lenses to black out the light...then close the other eye and 'don't look'. Talk about risk to the retinas.

From the Department of Great Minds Think Alike...

Total Solar Eclipse, August 2026: Greatest eclipse location - just off the west end of Iceland, and a narrow swath across Northern Spain.
Map of totality here.
I shudder at the cost of things in Iceland even on a good day (my wife says: "Only if we can see the northern lights"...me: "Not in August we can't"). With everyone crowding into the far western beaches? I think I'll pass.

Total Solar Eclipse, August 2027: Greatest eclipse location - Egypt.
Map of totality here.
Egypt, in August? You're kidding, right?

Total Solar Eclipse, July 2028: Greatest eclipse location - The northwest coast of Australia.
Map of totality here.
OK, now you're talking! Winter in northern (tropical) Australia, the (relatively) cool season, no fires out there, and near enough to both the Top End and also Perth/Ningaloo to get some quality SCUBA diving in...
Wife gives the thumbs up! OK, penciling it in on the calendar, and saving up (a LOT of) frequent flyer points. Just over 4 years to plan, that should give us enough time to put together something interesting. Giddyup!

Just watched today's event and saw totality from my back yard. If it's a once-in-a-lifetime event, I guess I'm all set -- and it was pretty cheap!
(it was very, very cool)

I watched the Eclipse in France in 1999. It was quite something. We just drove a bit south from Belgium (where my parents live) in to Northern France, and parked ourselves there. So much traffic that day that the autoroutes stopped charging tolls in order to keep traffic moving.

Northern Spain in 2026 sounds interesting.

Finding events and sharing with others who are on the same quest can be one of the more interesting and often rewarding reasons to travel.

I can cook a darn nice steak coated in black pepper on the grill in my back yard (cheap and way cool), but sitting in Paris with Steak au Poivre and a few good, or even new, friends is much more preferable (a life time experience).

Having seen a second eclipse, terrain and (even cirrus) cloudiness matter. Without trees nearby a person can see the shadow approaching across the landscape, and even a few cirrus clouds catch the light, preventing the seeing-stars darkness. So Egypt sounds pretty good.

Editing to add: If Iceland is cloud-free there's the chance of seeing the aurora and the solar eclipse at the same moment, although likely not in the same direction. Time to start hyping this possibility.

Not only will a total solar eclipse be visible in Egypt - it will be in Luxor! What an incredible experience to see an eclipse surrounded by the temples of Karnak - worth the august heat!

I feel very lucky.
Stepped out of work for 30 minutes. The eclipse was great, but the total darkness of totality was fabulous!
My brain still can't figure out what happened.

Never seen one. Would really like to at some point. I always seem to be in the wrong place, or weather prevents it. In 2017 I never got eclipse glasses, so while the eclipse was there, I couldn't look at it. 2028 looks like south island of New Zealand too? That would be awesome.

How about seeing a solar eclipse in Hawaii? I did that along with my children on the Big Island of Hawaii, Hilo in 1991. Was so cool and the law firm I was working at made a party out of the occasion. Fun times

Thankfully, full solar eclipses are not a "once in a lifetime" event, but they are a GREAT reason to travel to an off-the-breaten-path location somewhere in the world!

With the accuracy of the maps for all upcoming eclipses, you can plan ahead as this thread suggests, and make this or any future one a really great starting point for an adventure. At just a few minutes of totality, and a few hours of overall activity, it leaves you with a lot of other time to check out the area you chose.

I seriously consider the back-to-back Spain eclipses as good travel options. The second one is more limited in options in Spain, but even a 90% or so eclipse is a nice "bonus" if not building around just the eclipse itself.

Recording for others' future use:

Automatic features on cameras won't capture an eclipse, it will badly overexpose. Since the lighting is always the same, a person can effectively use these presets on an SLR camera:

ISO = 200
f-stop = 4.0
shutter = 1/30 sec

Make sure you put your longest lens on beforehand, and be sure you know how to manually focus since the auto-focus may malfunction. At 1/30 of a second a tripod is optional.

RE: Photos

I had a 2nd set of the eclipse glasses and held them in front of my camera lens and let the automation do its thing.

I had a 2nd set of the eclipse glasses and held them in front of my camera lens

I was talking about using a regular camera to photograph totality. I thought about photographing the stages of the eclipse using some kind of filter, but didn't.

It also includes the interior of Spain (Valladolid, Burgos, Soria, Zaragoza, etc.) and parts of the Balearic islands like La Palma.

According to an article, northern Spain has more chance of clouds. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2024/04/13/18-places-to-see-the-next-total-solar-eclipse-in-850-days/?sh=2f477285681c)

I'm an American but I live in Barcelona, which will not be covered by the umbra.

I'll be heading to inland Spain. I'd love some eclipse tips :)

If you come to inland Spain, book early, there not too many hotels as it is rural but beautiful!

Also, I don't recommend Zaragoza, it gets too hot in August there. You could really make a nice vacation out of it.