Total solar eclipse, 2 August 2027
The one to plan for. The shadow comes ashore at the Strait of Gibraltar and crosses North Africa and the Middle East, and the trip is affordable if you choose the right rung.
Where to go
Saudi Arabia
The shadow crosses the Hijaz in the early afternoon, and Mecca is inside it. Medina is not.
- Mecca — Totality over the holiest city in Islam, in the gap between two Hajj seasons.
Gibraltar
4m29s of totality on British soil, and the second steepest premium we have measured; only Luxor's is steeper.
- Gibraltar — The Rock, the bus that runs today, and a bed at ×20.9 the ordinary price.
Spain
The shadow comes ashore over the Costa de la Luz. The duration climbs the whole way south, and Cádiz is at the wrong end of it.
- Cádiz — The famous name on this coast, with the shortest totality and the fourth steepest premium we have measured, after Luxor, Gibraltar and Siwa Oasis.
Egypt
On the Red Sea, Marsa Alam's eclipse week costs ×6.0 an ordinary week, and Luxor's ×73.0: Luxor is the cautionary tale.
- Marsa Alam — Sleep inside the path, move nowhere on the day. The entry rung.
- Luxor — The longest totality in Egypt, and the price wall in front of it. A warning, not a recommendation.
Morocco
The medina towns behind the strait, where the eclipse week costs ×1.2 to ×1.3 an ordinary week.
- Chefchaouen — The blue medina, 4m13s of totality, and the thinnest transport record on this path.
- Tétouan — The longest totality of the three Morocco towns, and a climate two reanalyses disagreed on.
Before you pick a place
It is the same eclipse from every one of these places. What changes is what a bed costs on those nights, and that is the one comparison worth making first — every place we have priced, cheapest first. The place the headlines send you to is the one to avoid.