Two days ago I wrote about Wednesday's eclipse across northern Spain, where hotels in the path cost 3.4 times what they cost a week later. That one is essentially over as a booking question: the rooms have gone.
So let's talk about the next one, because it is the big one, and because there is still a year to do something about it.
The eclipse of the century
On 2 August 2027 the Moon's shadow crosses southern Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and beyond. Near Luxor totality lasts 6 minutes 22 seconds — the longest total eclipse visible from land since 1991, and the longest until 2114.
Six minutes of darkness over the temples of ancient Thebes, in a month when Egyptian skies are about as reliable as skies get. That is why every eclipse chaser on Earth has had this date circled for years, and I would very much like to be standing there myself.
What a year of warning looks like
I searched the path this morning — eclipse night against the same night a week later, live rates, cheapest bookable room per hotel, median per city. Almost a year out.
- Tarifa — £8326 the night before the eclipse, £1249 the night after, against £233 a week later — unchanged on last week
- Luxor — £2944 the night before the eclipse, £2901 the night after, against £79 a week later — down 2% on last week
- Gibraltar — £1036 the night after, against £175 a week later
- Cádiz — £2953 the night before the eclipse, £4085 the night after, against £162 a week later — unchanged on last week
- Málaga — £1020 the night before the eclipse, £655 the night after, against £151 a week later — up 45% on last week
- Tangier — £72 the night before the eclipse, £72 the night after, against £120 a week later — down 58% on last week
- Seville, just outside the path — £270 the night before the eclipse, £207 the night after, against £86 a week later — up 14% on last week
- Antequera (small town, outside the path) — £768 the night before the eclipse, £101 the night after, against £86 a week later — down 17% on last week
Last updated: 19 October.
Seville, just outside the path, is the control. It carries a premium of its own now, from people who plan to stay outside and travel in, but a small one. The gap between it and the cities in the path is the eclipse, priced a year in advance.
Luxor's number deserves a moment. A multiple like that is not a surge, it is a different market: the rooms still listed are the ones nobody has snapped up at any price, in a town whose capacity tour operators booked long ago. A year out, Luxor is already priced for the eclipse.
Where to stay, honestly
If Luxor is beyond reach — and at those prices, for most of us it is — the eclipse is 15,000km long and Luxor is one point on it. The rest of the path is where the value is:
- Spain's south coast — Cádiz, Tarifa, Málaga, plus Gibraltar. Roughly two minutes of totality against Luxor's six, at a fifteenth of the price, and an easy flight from Britain. This is where I would look first.
- Tangier — one of the cheapest places in the path we track, especially the night after (see the table). Ferry from Tarifa, totality over Morocco, and a city worth the trip on its own.
- Just outside, and travel in. Seville is 90 minutes from the coast and costs a fraction of a room in the path (compare the table). You lose the convenience; on a night this significant, check the roads and the last train before you decide — a 99% eclipse from a hotel window is not the same event.
- Watch the whole path, not the famous point. The band crosses North Africa and the Middle East; capacity in the less-celebrated places is what stays affordable longest.
We'll keep watching this one — and so can you
This piece is not a snapshot. We now record these cities' prices every week until eclipse night, so the numbers above update themselves as the year runs down. Come back and watch the market move; that is rather the point of recording prices instead of guessing.
And if you would rather the prices came to you: each of the eclipse pages has a watch button. Leave an email and we notify you if the price drops — one message, no account, unsubscribe in a click, and we record the price on the day you sign up so the alert can tell you honestly what changed.
- Luxor, 2 August 2027 — 6m22s of totality
- Cádiz · Málaga · Tangier
A year is a long time in hotel pricing. Some of these will fall as new stock opens; most will climb as the date approaches. We will be able to show you which — with receipts.
Nick, founder