20-08-2026
6 min
News
Alicante
Mallorca
Valencia
Ibiza
On 12 August, Spain looked up at the sky.
On beaches, at viewpoints, in villages, on roads and terraces, something unusual happened in the middle of summer: for a few minutes, almost everything else stopped mattering. Some people had spent months planning the trip, others had studied exactly where the Sun would set, while many simply left home with a pair of eclipse glasses in their pocket.
And then the light began to change.
The 2026 solar eclipse in Spain was one of the most eagerly awaited astronomical events of the year. On 12 August 2026, the Moon's shadow crossed the country from west to east, allowing a total solar eclipse to be seen across much of northern mainland Spain, the east and the Balearic Islands. In the rest of Spain, it was visible as a major partial eclipse.
At Wiber, we had spent months talking about where to experience it, how to reach a clear horizon and which destinations could turn the eclipse into part of a journey.
Now that it has happened, the question has changed.
What was the 2026 eclipse really like?
The answer goes far beyond how long it lasted or what time it happened.
The path of totality crossed Spain from west to east, passing through cities such as A Coruña, Oviedo, León, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Valencia and Palma. Across much of the northern half of mainland Spain, the Moon completely covered the solar disc.
The spectacle began well before totality.
In A Coruña, for example, the eclipse began at around 19:31 and reached its maximum at 20:28. From there, the lunar shadow continued moving eastwards as the Sun gradually sank towards the horizon.
And that was one of the great peculiarities of the 12 August 2026 eclipse.
Spain was almost at the end of the lunar shadow's path, so totality arrived when the Sun was already extremely low in the sky. Spain's National Geographic Institute (IGN) had warned that this would make the western horizon a decisive factor in observing the phenomenon.
Simply being inside the correct band was not enough.
A mountain, a building, a row of trees or simply facing the wrong way could hide the Sun at the most eagerly awaited moment.
The result was very different from the classic image of an eclipse with the Sun high in the sky.
Here, the eclipse and sunset happened almost at the same time.
For a few moments, the day seemed to end early. Then the light returned and, only a few minutes later, the real sunset arrived.
Perhaps that was one of the reasons why the 2026 eclipse looked so extraordinary from Spain: we did not simply watch the Sun disappear.
We watched it disappear while it was already saying goodbye to the day.
Being there told another.
A total eclipse changes elements of the landscape that we normally barely notice: the intensity of the light, shadows, temperature, sounds and even our perception of the horizon.
Within the path of totality, the Moon completely covered the visible surface of the Sun.
It did not happen all at once.
During the partial phase, an increasingly smaller portion of the solar disc remained visible. The light gradually lost intensity until, in the final moments before totality, the change became far more noticeable.
Then the shadow arrived.
For around a minute in many parts of Spain, the landscape's main source of light disappeared.
That created a sensation that was extremely difficult to reproduce in photographs: it was not exactly night, but it no longer resembled a normal August evening either.
One of the most spectacular images of the 2026 total solar eclipse in Spain was the black circle of the Moon surrounded by a whitish structure.
It was the solar corona.
The corona is the outer atmosphere of the Sun. Normally, we cannot see it because it is hidden by the brightness of the solar surface, but during totality the Moon blocks that intensely bright disc and allows the corona to become visible.
NASA explains that during a total eclipse, large structures within the corona that normally remain invisible to us can be seen surrounding the silhouette of the Moon.
And that is one of the most beautiful paradoxes of an eclipse:
to see a part of the Sun that is always there, we had to stop seeing the Sun itself.
Before totality, many people noticed something that was difficult to put into words.
The landscape was still perfectly visible, yet the colours no longer seemed quite the same.
The light during an intense partial eclipse is unlike the light beneath a cloud or at sunset. The amount of sunlight decreases extraordinarily quickly, altering the way we perceive our surroundings.
Shadows can also take on unusual shapes during the partial phase.
The tiny gaps between tree leaves, for example, act like miniature pinhole cameras, projecting hundreds of images of the partially eclipsed Sun onto the ground.
That is why some of the most interesting photos of the 2026 solar eclipse were not pointing towards the sky at all.
They were on the ground.
During totality, one of the most remarkable effects of an eclipse can occur: the so-called 360-degree sunset.
While an observer is standing inside the Moon's shadow, regions tens or hundreds of kilometres away are still receiving sunlight.
That light is scattered through the atmosphere around the horizon and can create reddish and orange tones in several directions.
In Spain, there was another ingredient: we were already genuinely close to sunset.
One twilight inside another.
Yes.
The sudden reduction in solar radiation can cause a noticeable drop in temperature during an eclipse.
Measurements collected after the event showed small temperature drops at different locations close to the centre of the path of totality.
But those who were there will probably remember the sensation more than the exact figure.
After an August afternoon, feeling the light fade while the air itself seemed to change reinforced the impression that something unusual was happening.
Eclipses can also temporarily affect the behaviour of some species.
The rapid fall in light levels can trigger responses similar to nightfall: birds reducing their activity, nocturnal insects beginning to emerge or animals seeking shelter.
For a few moments, the eclipse was not only a human spectacle.
The entire landscape received the same signal: the day seemed to have ended.
One of the most interesting things about the 2026 solar eclipse in Spain was that it was not experienced in the same way everywhere.
The shadow crossed the country from west to east, turning each region into a different experience.
In some places, totality was the undisputed star of the show.
Elsewhere, the Sun did not disappear completely, but the changing light still made 12 August a very unusual summer evening.
And that was part of the journey too.
Wiber is present in Mallorca, Ibiza, Valencia, Alicante, Málaga and Seville, six destinations from which it was possible to experience six different versions of the same eclipse.
Mallorca was one of the eclipse's great stages.
The path of totality reached the Balearic Islands almost at the end of its journey across Spain, with the Sun already extremely low on the horizon.
On a map, being inside the path of totality seemed enough.
On the ground, it was not.
In Mallorca, finding a clear western horizon was essential.
A small rise, a building or a mountain could hide the Sun during the final minutes of the event.
That is why experiencing the eclipse in Mallorca also involved a little searching.
Back roads, headlands, viewpoints and stretches of coastline became places from which people pursued something very simple: an unobstructed horizon.
And when totality arrived, the Mediterranean became part of the spectacle.
This is how the 2026 eclipse looked from Mallorca, with the Sun almost touching the horizon.
Valencia lay inside the path of totality.
Once again, the unusual part was the timing.
The city was already moving towards sunset when the Moon completely covered the Sun.
For a few seconds, the coast, the beaches and the Mediterranean horizon were illuminated by a kind of light that resembled neither night nor a normal sunset.
It was an interruption. A brief pause in the middle of a summer evening.
And when the light returned, the real sunset was still to come.
For a few moments, a Valencian August evening stopped looking like an August evening.
Photo: Zachariah Chou/ Wikipedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0 If there is one place where watching the Sun disappear feels almost like part of the destination's identity, it is Ibiza.
On 12 August, however, sunset followed a very different script.
Ibiza lay very close to the edge of the path of totality and experienced an extraordinarily high degree of solar coverage.
This made it possible to follow the partial phase very clearly as the Sun descended towards the Mediterranean.
And it is a reminder of something we sometimes forget when talking about eclipses: the spectacle does not begin with totality.
Long before that moment, the light, the shape of shadows and our perception of the landscape are already changing.
On an island accustomed to turning every sunset into an event, the evening of 12 August was especially difficult to repeat.
Ibiza is used to spectacular sunsets. This one had the Moon as its guest.
Further south, the experience changed.
Alicante lay outside the path of totality, so the eclipse there was partial.
But partial does not mean unimpressive.
A very large portion of the solar disc was hidden behind the Moon and the daylight noticeably faded as the eclipse progressed.
That created an interesting experience.
While a thin portion of the Sun was still visible from Alicante, hundreds of kilometres further north some cities were entering totality for a few seconds.
It was exactly the same eclipse.
But depending on where you were, the sky told a different story.
The Alicante coast also experienced an evening unlike any other 12 August.
That was perhaps the most interesting thing about following the phenomenon from different parts of Spain.
In Mallorca, finding a completely unobstructed horizon mattered.
In Valencia, it was about experiencing totality on the edge of sunset.
In Ibiza, watching the eclipse merge with one of the Mediterranean's most famous sunsets.
In Alicante, discovering just how dramatically the landscape can change even without reaching totality.
And in Málaga and Seville, watching the eclipse knowing that southern Spain will take centre stage very soon.
The sky was the same.
The experience depended on where you were.
If you are planning a trip to any of these destinations, you can read our guide to the different types of car you can hire or discover which car to hire for a beach, mountain or city trip.
The eclipse passed very quickly.
But it left behind some much stranger data than you might expect.
When the Moon began covering the Sun, Spain's photovoltaic electricity generation fell rapidly.
Around the central phase of the eclipse, solar generation fell almost to zero, whereas at the same time the previous day it had still been contributing thousands of megawatts.
In other words, from the point of view of a solar panel, sunset came early that day.
Spain's electricity system had prepared in advance, and other generation sources compensated for the drop without causing any significant incidents.
This is where something even more curious happened.
Electricity generation was not the only thing that fell during the eclipse.
Demand dropped too.
Millions of people had temporarily stopped whatever they were doing.
We were outside, looking at the sky, travelling less or simply abandoning our normal routines for a few minutes.
And that collective behaviour appeared in the electricity consumption charts.
It is rare to be able to identify so clearly the exact moment when millions of people decide to do almost exactly the same thing.
The eclipse also left a digital footprint.
During the main minutes of the event, normal internet connections from Spain decreased.
Global traffic barely changed. Spanish traffic did.
But there was another side to the story. While conventional internet browsing decreased, mobile data traffic increased. The explanation feels distinctly human: for a few seconds, we stopped looking at our screens.
And then we used those same screens to show everyone what we had just seen.
Astronomers were not the only ones who had spent months preparing. Telecommunications companies had too. Operators reinforced network capacity in places where large concentrations of eclipse watchers were expected.
This reveals another side of the eclipse that photographs barely show. For a few hours, small villages, viewpoints and rural areas received an extraordinary number of visitors.
The Moon's shadow also temporarily changed Spain's population map.
For months, we had seen astronomical maps showing a band crossing Spain.
On 12 August, another map appeared. The traffic map.
Thousands of people travelled towards areas where totality could be seen, increasing traffic before the event.
Then something rather logical happened: during the eclipse itself, traffic decreased.
Everyone was standing still and looking upwards. And when it ended, the journey home began.
Totality lasted little more than a minute in many places. Getting home took rather longer.
Before 12 August, searches focused on maps, eclipse glasses, timings and the best places from which to watch it.
Afterwards, a very different query appeared: “eye pain”.
Searches relating to eye discomfort increased after the event as people became concerned that they may have looked at the Sun incorrectly.
It is a small detail among everything that happened that day.
But it is also a useful lesson for 2027: the eclipse lasts a few minutes.
Eye safety needs to last throughout.
For more than a century, seeing a total eclipse from the Iberian Peninsula was extraordinarily rare.
Now, things are completely different.
Spain has entered an exceptional sequence of solar events:
12 August 2026: total eclipse.
2 August 2027: another total eclipse.
26 January 2028: annular eclipse.
So the 2026 eclipse was historic.
But it was not the end.
It was the beginning.
Here is the good news.
We will not have to wait another century.
We will not even have to wait two years.
The next solar eclipse in Spain will take place on 2 August 2027, and it will once again be total from part of the country.
This time, the shadow will move to a completely different setting.
The path of totality will cross the southernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula, entering through Cádiz and passing across parts of Andalusia before continuing towards North Africa. It will also be total from Ceuta and Melilla.
And there is one fundamental difference compared with the 2026 eclipse.
It will happen in the morning.
The maximum phase in Spain will occur at approximately 10:50, with the Sun considerably higher above the horizon.
That will make finding a clear observation point far less challenging than in 2026, when the eclipse happened almost at sunset.
For Wiber, there is also an obvious connection.
Málaga will be one of our destinations from which to experience Spain's next great eclipse.
So while Mallorca and Valencia were two of the main protagonists in 2026, the map will change again barely a year later.
This time, we will need to look south.
Then another extraordinary event will follow: the annular eclipse on 26 January 2028.
Three years.
Three eclipses.
Three completely different ways to discover Spain by looking upwards.
Perhaps, years from now, we will remember the 2026 solar eclipse through that perfect photograph of the Sun transformed into a black circle.
But those who were there will probably remember other things.
The road full of cars searching for a clear horizon.
Eclipse glasses being passed from hand to hand.
An entire beach looking towards exactly the same point.
The silence just before totality.
The temperature changing.
Phones rising into the air when the light returned.
And that strange feeling that, for a few seconds, millions of people were doing exactly the same thing: looking upwards.
That is what the 2026 solar eclipse in Spain was like.
An astronomical event that lasted only a few minutes yet managed to transform journeys, cities, roads and landscapes across the country.
We had spent months preparing for the eclipse with our travellers.
Now we know what it was like. And we are already looking towards the next one.
See you under the shadow in 2027.
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