13:08Marsa Alam, 2 August 2027
Midday, and the sky goes out.
5 min 28 s of night over the Red Sea coast, with dusk glowing all around the horizon. Rooms cost about six times as much that week.
Our verdict Book first
How much does it cost to see the 2027 eclipse from Marsa Alam?
Four nights for two in Marsa Alam during the eclipse cost €391 on Booking.com, the average of the ten cheapest rooms, read on . The same search a week later: €65. Eclipse Premium ×6.0: rooms cost 6.0 times as much that week.
Room only. Flights depend on your city: see the fares we read.
It is the cheapest of the three Egyptian places we priced, and only three of the ten cheapest rooms cost under €130.
Disc areas are to scale.
Key figures
- 13:08
- darkness for 5 min 28 s; deepest 13:11, with the Sun 81° above the horizon
- Local time (UTC+3). Open calculation checked against NASA
- 8–14%
- cloud cover in early August, depending on the dataset
- ERA5 and NASA POWER, 2001 to 2024
- 36 °C
- average daily high from 28 July to 7 August
- NASA POWER, 2001 to 2024
- Marsa Alam airport (RMF), inside the path
- The fallback is Hurghada (HRG), 285 km away by road
- Our calculation for the path, Rome2rio for the road, read 10 October 2026
Should you book Marsa Alam?
Yes, if €391 for four nights fits: cheap rooms are few, so book the room before anything else. If not, Tangier costs €121 for the same nights.
Three steps, in order
- Book the room firstThree of the ten cheapest cost under €130.
- A transfer, not a carAirport to hotel by taxi or hotel shuttle; we have not priced either yet. No bus is confirmed to run on the day. Then watch from the hotel beach at 13:08.
- Plan for 36 °CAverage daily high in early August.
If the price is already too high
Tangier costs €121 for two for the same nights, read on 24 September 2026, with a bus service we confirmed and 4 min 51 s of totality.
If you have a car
Totality is not the same all along this coast. The open calculation gives 5 min 28 s at Marsa Alam and 6 min 14 s at Wadi el-Gemal, the coastal national park to the south: about 45 seconds more. A car lets you drive there for the eclipse and back; we have not priced the drive or the park.
On the day, 2 August 2027
| Option | Price | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Local buses | No timetable | OpenStreetMap shows four bus stations within 40 km; we have not confirmed any bus runs |
| Watching the eclipse | Free | From your hotel beach; we found no paid viewing event |
OpenStreetMap read ; events searched .
The eclipse, minute by minute
- 11:46 first bite
- 13:08 darkness
- 14:31 over
The afternoon in seven skies
11:460 % hidden
12:1929 % hidden
12:5277 % hidden
13:11total
13:2584 % hidden
13:5833 % hidden
14:310 % hidden
Observer's timetable
The contacts at Marsa Alam, local time (UTC+3), to the second.
| Contact | Local time | Sun altitude | Sun bearing |
|---|---|---|---|
| First contactthe Moon starts to cover the Sun | 11:45:53 | 74° | 114° |
| Second contacttotality begins | 13:08:03 | 81° | 215° |
| Maximumthe deepest moment | 13:10:47 | 81° | 219° |
| Third contacttotality ends | 13:13:31 | 80° | 222° |
| Fourth contactthe Moon leaves the Sun | 14:31:06 | 65° | 258° |
- Totality
- 5 min 28 s
- Place in the band
- About halfway between the centre line and the edge of the band
- Best point nearby
- Wadi el-Gemal, 94 km in a straight line: 6 min 14 s, 45 s more
Our calculation on NASA's eclipse elements. Bearing in degrees from north.
Sun and Moon positions from our calculation on NASA's eclipse elements. The sky colour is an illustration.
Inside the shadow, not at its centre
Marsa Alam sits about halfway between the centre line and the edge of the band. Totality is longer closer to the centre line.
- Marsa Alamthe town5 min 28 s
- Wadi el-Gemalthe coastal national park to the south6 min 14 s
- LuxorNile valley, inland6 min 21 s
- Hurghadaoutside the bandpartial only
The whole path of the shadow
Why not Luxor?
Luxor gets 52 s more darkness. On four nights, its rooms cost €3,283 more: about €63 a second.
| Measure | Marsa Alam | Luxor |
|---|---|---|
| Room, ten cheapest on average | €391 (better) | €3,674 |
| Totality | 5 min 28 s | 6 min 21 s (better) |
| Cloud at the hours of totality, ERA5 average | 9% | 4% (better) |
| Daily high in early August | 36 °C (better) | 42 °C |
Amber and bold: the better of the two.
Our verdict is Book first for Marsa Alam and Skip for Luxor. Cloud at eclipse time is low in both.
Rooms: Booking.com, read 20 September 2026. Cloud: ERA5, hours of totality. Heat: NASA POWER, 2001 to 2024.
Questions people ask about Marsa Alam
Are there direct flights to Marsa Alam from Europe?
Yes. Marsa Alam's own airport, RMF, lies inside the path, and Wikipedia lists direct flights there from 10 European countries (read 10 October 2026, all seasons). On one Saturday of August 2026, Egypt Today counted flights from eight European countries. Timetables for August 2027 are not published: airlines get their slots at the IATA slot conference of 17 to 19 November 2026.
How hot is Marsa Alam in early August?
The average daily high from 28 July to 7 August is 36 °C, and 0.4% of those days passed 40 °C between 2001 and 2024, according to NASA POWER. Totality starts at 13:08 local time, in the early afternoon, so plan for shade and water.
Is it better to watch from the reef or the desert?
On a hotel beach by the reef, totality lasts 5 min 28 s; at Wadi el-Gemal, the coastal national park to the south, it lasts 6 min 14 s, with the Sun 81° high. Watch the partial phases only through ISO 12312-2 eclipse glasses (NASA, AAS); sunglasses are not enough. Only totality itself is safe to see without them.
How much is a hotel in Marsa Alam during the eclipse?
On 20 September 2026 the ten cheapest rooms for two on Booking.com, for four nights from 31 July to 4 August 2027, averaged €391 (€61 to €899). The week after, 7 to 11 August, averaged €65: the eclipse week costs 6.0 times as much.
Do I need a visa for Egypt?
Yes. For passports from France, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, the Egypt e-Visa Portal (Ministry of Interior) lists a single-entry e-Visa at 30 USD, read 22 September 2026; a stay of up to 30 days is stated for France, United Kingdom and Canada. Multiple entries cost 65 USD. Passport validity: 6 months, stated for France, United Kingdom and Canada. Passports from Morocco: visa required through an Egyptian consulate; Morocco is not on the e-Visa eligibility list.
Sources and method
Each source, the query and the day it was read
| What | Source and query | Read on |
|---|---|---|
| Rooms | Booking.com, 2 adults, 31 July to 4 August 2027 and 7 to 11 August 2027, average of the ten cheapest | |
| Direct flights | Wikipedia, the page of each airport (RMF, HRG, LXR, CAI), lists copied under CC BY-SA 4.0; for one Saturday of August 2026, Egypt Today, 8 August 2026 | |
| Roads and buses | Rome2rio, checkmybus, marsaalam.com, as of 8 May 2026 | |
| Entry | Egypt e-Visa Portal (Ministry of Interior), one cell per passport | |
| Local transport | OpenStreetMap, stops within 40 km | |
| Cloud cover | ERA5 and NASA POWER, 28 July to 7 August, 2001 to 2024 | |
| Heat | NASA POWER, daily maximum temperature, same window | |
| Totality | Open calculation checked against NASA, within 0.2 s | Calculated |