Total Solar Eclipse (2026)
Total Solar Eclipse (2026)
I’ve wanted to see a total solar eclipse for almost a decade. I remember seeing videos of the 2017 total solar eclipse across the US and ever since then, it's been high on my bucket list. Whilst planning my travels in 2024, I considered combining the eclipse across North America with my trip across South America, however I decided that going to the states and trying to navigate seeing the eclipse on my own would be too stressful and less enjoyable than just waiting a couple more years and going to Spain, and luckily, my boyfriend was equally as set on seeing the eclipse in Spain.
Despite the eclipse going across a large portion of Spain, we carried out a lot of research into where along the path of totality would have the best view. Since the eclipse was fairly late in the day, the sun would be low so we needed somewhere without many buildings or hills in the way, low chances of clouds, and ideally somewhere not very crowded. Our research returned a location between Palancia and Burgos, i.e. in the middle of nowhere. Therefore, we decided to spend the Tuesday and Wednesday in a motel just south of Burgos, but the rest of the week in my favourite region of Spain: Galicia. This region is nowhere near as touristic as the southern coast and features lower temperatures, much greener landscapes, delicious food and a wonderful language (a mix between Castilian Spanish and Portuguese).
Saturday (T-4)
Although we were visiting Spain, we flew into Porto, where some of my family is based, and despite the most horrendous flight I've ever experienced (we're talking the engine cutting, the plane dropping, and everyone on the edge of their seats), we somehow made it to Portugal. My boyfriend and I had never been to Porto together so we first headed to my favourite patisserie in the city: Manteigaria. These are by far my favourite pasteis de nata and I always make sure to stop by whenever I'm in the city. We then walked to the riverside, where we enjoyed a light lunch, before my dad and uncle picked us up.
Since various family members were in Porto (or nearby) that weekend, my parents decided to visit too and rented a house in the Douro Valley, specifically in a village named Raiva. There were ten of us in total (eleven if you include the dog), so there was a lot going on. We walked Chilli (the dog) along the Douro river, before enjoying my favourite meal, a Portuguese stew comprising pasta, chunks of beef, chorizo, and vegetables (macarrão com carne guisada), which was wonderful. We then spent the evening playing table football and board games until we were exhausted and ready for bed.
Sunday (T-3)
The following morning, my parents dropped my boyfriend and I off in Porto to pick up our car rental, which we'd use to get around Spain. We stopped for breakfast en route, which comprised a ham and cheese sandwich and coffee, before picking up the car.
We were staying by the Galician coast for the first part of our trip, however we could only check into the hotel from 3pm, so we decided to spend a couple of hours in Pontevedra before heading to the coast. Pontevedra is less than two hours from Porto and is a lovely city in Spain featuring Trasmallo, a Bib Gourmand restaurant which we were excited to try. The restaurant filled up quickly and we enjoyed a selection of dishes, including anchovies on puff pastry with cream cheese and pickled onion, fried monkfish, mussels, Galician oysters, black squid croquettes, and of course, the local Albariño wine. It was absolutely delicious and the waitress was lovely, giving us plenty of recommendations and even complimenting my Spanish! We then walked around the city, with gelato in hand, and despite being in Spain in August, the temperature was ideal.
After exploring Pontevedra, we drove to "Entre Os Rios", a historic stone mill house located on a winery. The hotel was one of the cutest places I've ever stayed at, and we had a whole building to ourselves featuring a jacuzzi and balcony. I was extremely excited to stay in this Airbnb and we spent the evening exploring the surroundings, playing cards, and enjoying dinner and wine on the balcony. We tried to make the most of the jacuzzi too, however neither my boyfriend nor I enjoy being hot, so this was short-lived.
Monday (T-2)
After enjoying a lie-in, we enjoyed a Spanish breakfast al fresco, which was included as part of our hotel stay and was a delightful way to start the day. We then aimed to go to Cabio beach, as I'd seen many glowing reviews and it was only a 15-minute drive from us, however we accidentally ended up at Lombiña beach, which was a lovely, sandy beach down the road. As the morning went on, the beach became busier, and by lunchtime it had filled up with locals. Nonetheless, we'd had a very enjoyable morning relaxing on the beach.
We had lunch at Azul Beach Bar, where we tucked in to an ensaladilla (Russian salad), pimientos de Padrón (Padrón peppers), secreto de cerdo (pork) and a jug of sangria, which was all delicious (and far too much for two!). That said, I'd definitely recommend booking lunch in advance for any beach bars as we struggled to get a table initially. After lunch, we meandered over to Cabio beach (where we'd aimed for in the morning), which much to our surprise was actually a nude beach with only four others. It was very serene, although there were many yachts anchored nearby and also busied up as the afternoon went on.
We'd aimed to go straight for dinner in a nearby town as we didn't have the energy to go home and then drive back out, however local restaurants only served food from 8:30pm, so instead we bought some picky bits from a supermarket and headed back to the hotel, where we played cards and ate dinner on the balcony, accompanied by some komokabras wine produced on the estate!
Tuesday (T-1)
We woke up bright and early to pack our bags and enjoy some breakfast outdoors, before checking out and heading towards Burgos. Although the total solar eclipse was only the following evening, we were over five hours away and were nervous that the roads would be very busy on the day of the eclipse, so decided to head to our eclipse spot in advance in order to scope it out and reduce our stress on the day. Unfortunately, this meant driving to inland Spain, where the climate would be much hotter and drier. Furthermore, despite booking our accommodation months in advance, there were very few hotels with availability near our desired location so we were staying in a 3-star motel just south of Burgos, which I wasn't excited for at all.
The drive to the motel took five and a half hours, and was much better than I anticipated. We stopped a few times, including for lunch at an asador (a.k.a a grill house), which we arrived at just in time, as immediately afterwards huge queues formed and people had to wait for tables to slowly become free. Here we enjoyed arroz de morcilla (rice combined into black pudding) and croquetas de jamón (my absolute favourite Spanish dish)!
If we weren't dubious about the motel beforehand, we certainly were once we arrived, as we had to wait for 20 minutes to be checked in (I know what you're thinking, there must have been a big queue of people to check in ahead of us, but no - the receptionist was just taking his sweet time enjoying his mid-afternoon snack, including a nice dessert and coffee to finish it off, while we waited in the empty reception). We had to ask other staff members twice to be attended and when the receptionist finally decided to check us in, he was in no hurry. We then read that in order to obtain a TV remote, we'd have to leave a cash deposit, which shattered any remaining confidence I had left of the place. Nonetheless, the room was clean and we were anticipating clear views of the total solar eclipse, so we were counting our blessings.
There was absolutely nothing to do around us, so we played some cards at the motel and then decided to drive to our eclipse spot to scope it out. We quickly realised that in order to approach our spot, we'd have to drive 30 minutes down narrow dirt roads, which would likely be quite stressful if the roads were busy the following evening, however during our adventure we stumbled upon a tiny town in the middle of nowhere with a church on top of a hill.
From this church, we could see the sun perfectly and the single bar in the town was fairly busy with locals of all ages enjoying their drinks around the town square and chatting. It was such a wonderful atmosphere, with fairy lights dotted around the square, and where everyone greeted each other and there were various friendship groups and families all hanging out together before dinner. It was also insanely cheap; we ordered a delicious platter of patatas bravas, two glasses of wine and two beers for under 10€ in total! Unexpectedly, our evening in this village ended up being one of my highlights of the trip and I'd highly recommend visiting Cubillo del Campo if in the area! In fact, I was keen to come back the following evening to watch the total solar eclipse from the church!
Wednesday (Eclipse Day!)
The day I'd been waiting almost a decade for was finally upon us and of course, I struggled to sleep with all the anticipation. I eventually managed to doze off at around 7am and ended up having a lie-in until 10am, which actually worked quite nicely as the vast majority of the day would just be spent waiting for the total solar eclipse in the evening.
We had breakfast at the motel, comprising toast with butter and jam for me, and pan con tomate (toast with olive oil and crushed tomatoes) for my boyfriend, both of which were fine. We also ordered a fresh orange juice, which was delicious, as is expected in Spain. We then drove back out towards the original spot that we'd researched months in advance, which took us along the outskirts of Burgos, then through some small towns and dirt tracks, and eventually to some wind turbines. We were surrounded by fields of sunflowers, a couple of rabbits, and little else.
We spent most of the early afternoon debating whether we'd rather see the eclipse in the tiny town with the locals, or in the middle of nowhere with just the two of us. Eventually, we decided on the latter, and the only thing to do until the evening was wait. Therefore, we headed back towards the motel, stopping at Asador Brazuka for some lunch. The meal was fine, although the whole jug of wine just for me which was included as part of the set menu for 15€ was a nice surprise! We then stopped at a supermarket to buy various picky bits for our dinner in the countryside and then relaxed in the motel for a few hours.
The eclipse was due to start at 7:33pm and end at 9:20pm, with the maximum totality occurring at 8:29pm and lasting just over one minute. Therefore, at 5:00pm we started to get ready and headed towards our eclipse spot nice and early in order to secure the spot and avoid any stress. We bought some ice, wine and water en route, since it was very warm and we'd be in the middle of nowhere for hours on end. There were several wind turbines to choose from at our destination and we had first dibs, so chose the second one along, which had plenty of shade.
In the distance, we saw various cars congregating in one spot, and I was nervous that the same thing would happen around us, but throughout the evening only three different couples passed through, and they each ended up driving further along so we remained completely alone by our turbine! We played cards and enjoyed our assortment of snacks throughout the evening, including a selection of cheeses and cold meats, artisanal bread, wine, beer, water, nuts, cereal bars, crisps, oreos, tinned peaches, figs, tomato spread, croissants, and pain au chocolates. We'd also bought the eclipse glasses over a year in advance, and had a spare pair just in case anything happened to the other two pairs - it's safe to say that we were well-equipped for the evening and had done everything in our power to bear witness to this total solar eclipse!
At 7:33pm, the eclipse officially started and it was insane to see - through the glasses, it looked like a teeny bite had been taken out of the sun, and this portion became larger and larger until about 50 minutes later when there was only a tiny sliver of the sun left and the remainder was obscured by the moon. At this point, the breeze had picked up and it had become slightly darker, however I can't emphasise enough the difference between even the tiniest sliver of the sun showing and the moon completely obscuring the sun. At the point of totality, it became much darker and cooler, and we could finally take off the eclipse glasses and look at the ring of fire for a whole minute and 40 seconds, which was absolutely incredible. We heard a group in the distance cheering, and I was in complete awe; the experience was surreal and I became emotional in a way that was reminiscent of seeing a leopard in Kenya or the northern lights in Iceland and being so awestruck and grateful for being able to experience such an incredible feat of nature.
Before we knew it, a tiny sliver of sun appeared on the other side, which brightened up the skies significantly, and over the following 50 minutes, more and more of the sun reappeared. This coincided with sunset, so we were left with a huge, bright red sun with teeny bite taken out of it, which was amazing to see. It was a truly magical experience and another bucket list item completed. I had heard beforehand that seeing even a 99% eclipse compared to a 100% eclipse is a completely different experience and, having seen both, I cannot express how huge the difference is - I would very strongly recommend seeing a total solar eclipse as close to the path of totality as you can possible manage if you ever get the chance! One thing of note is that you are only meant to look continuously through the eclipse glasses for three minutes at a time, which we only learnt after the fact and we most definitely had not adhered to.
That same evening was also the peak of the Perseids, meaning over 100 shooting stars an hour would be visible, however we'd had enough emotion for one day and had already seen them previously so went to bed instead.
Thursday (T+1)
Now that we'd seen the total solar eclipse in all its glory, we could finally return to the beauty that is Galicia. Rather than staying by the coast again, we decided to explore Ribeira Sacra, a mountainous area featuring a river and canyon, which was our final destination of the trip.
We checked out of the motel and headed straight towards Ribeira Sacra as the drive was four and a half hours. We stopped for coffee and pastries in Sahagun, and before we knew it we were driving along windy, mountain roads, including over the Sil Canyon, which was gorge-ous (get it?) and a very enjoyable drive. We arrived to Ribeira Sacra around 1:30pm, however since we could only check in at 4pm, we headed straight to a nearby beach, Playa Fluvial de A Cova. It was a bit of a nightmare to park here as it was very crowded, the roads were narrow, and cars were arriving from both directions, but we got very lucky as whilst we were in a bit of a standstill, a car parked directly behind us happened to leave, so we slotted right in. That said, the beach was hot (36°C) with very little shade, it was quite crowded, and the restaurant was fully booked. Luckily, we had a bunch of snacks in the car, so we enjoyed pan con tomate, mackerel, nuts, and crisps for our lunch. The river was very cold, but since we were very hot and sweaty on the beach, the cool water was very welcomed. There were also pedalos and paddle boards on offer, but it was far too warm for me to even consider that.
Before long, we headed to the Airbnb, which was an apartment overlooking the Minho river located a one-minute walk from a pier. The hosts had left us bread, milk, coffee and snacks, which was very generous of them, and the apartment was wonderful and very modern, with river views. We showered and napped, before heading to the nearby town of Chantada for an aperitif and tapas. We started at a bar called Mar y Bellota, where we tried some local Albariño wine, which came accompanied by some cheese, parma ham and bread, which was a very welcome surprise. We then stumbled upon a restaurant called Acouga, which was quite small and had plenty of space. Here, we started with toast with anchovies and honey, which was honestly incredible; it was perhaps the best thing we ate on the entire trip, which is saying something! We then enjoyed a creamy tortilla, tacos, bresaola, and more wine. It was all delicious and once again, the waitress was very sweet and even complimented my Spanish! It was a very relaxing evening, and we had an early night.
Friday (T+2)
We awoke to much cooler and cloudier weather, so after enjoying some breakfast in the Airbnb, we aimed to go on a little riverside walk. Unfortunately, the bugs had other ideas for us - we couldn’t walk for two seconds without swatting away insects, which wasn’t a pleasant experience, so we ended up playing cards and reading our books for most of the morning. We tried to organise some local experiences too, such as a cheese tasting at a local dairy farm (Aires Moniz) or wine tasting, however everything was booked up, which was unfortunate.
We had a lunch reservation at a restaurant in town called A Faragulla, however it only opened at 1:30pm, meaning we had quite a bit of time to kill until then. We did a small food shop to tide us over for the rest of the trip and then just ambled around the town until the restaurant opened. We enjoyed croquettes, a delicious tomato salad, roast lamb, bread and butter from a local dairy farm, and local wines. The food was wonderful and the service was great too - I would highly recommend if you are in the area!
We then headed back home and walked down to the pier, where we could swim and sunbathe. There was a small restaurant attached, where we ordered some drinks, and it was a very pleasant experience which I enjoyed a lot. That said, the wine here was the most expensive we’d encountered until now, at 4€ a pop, and I found one of the waiters slightly rude, although I don't think it was personal. Regardless, we spent the entire afternoon there and as we left, we asked the older waitress (a.k.a. the abuela) if we could come back the following morning for a swim, and she told us that we could come for a swim even before they opened.
Saturday (T+3)
We’d planned to spend our last full day of the trip swimming and chilling on the pier right by the Airbnb, however the universe had other plans for us. It all started off well, as we had breakfast at home and then headed down to the pier and rented a couple of paddle boards since it wasn’t too hot yet. We headed up and down the river, which was a lot of fun, and since we were the first to arrive (at around 10am), we nabbed the best spot on the pier. We had a delightful morning and had planned to have some lunch in the restaurant, but it was fully booked, so we instead enjoyed some picky bits and kept on chilling. Just after 2pm, we decided to treat ourselves to a bit of wine, but there was a huge commotion between the three waiters (including both the young man and the abuela), as apparently we couldn’t be there as there were too many people, even though the young man had told us the previous day that we could use the sun loungers as long as we bought something, and the abuela told us that we could arrive whenever. A minute later, I was being kissed on both cheeks and being told I should enjoy the wine because they then felt bad for me, and it was just so incredibly bizarre. They’d made such a huge deal about nothing and we were told we had to leave at 2:30pm by one person, and 3pm by another, so we decided to leave as soon as possible and went home to shower and play cards until dinner.
Our bedroom overlooked the pier and we saw that ironically, our sun loungers had remained free for another hour, which was an hour in which we’d have been spending money on drinks at the restaurant, but alas. Instead, we headed out to the town for some drinks and tapas at a bar called Parada. Each drink that was ordered arrived with some complimentary snacks, ranging from crisps to half a tortilla, which I loved. Whilst ordering various tapas, the waiter stopped us as he thought it would be too much, and he was correct as the portions were enormous! We enjoyed a tortilla, squid, raxo (pork bites) and patatas bravas, all of which was very filling and cheap - I would highly recommend! We then grabbed some dulce de leche gelato from Xeou, which was delightful, before heading back home for bed. Although our experience on the pier had been suboptimal, our evening in the town had more than made up for it!
Sunday (T+4)
Our final day was spent driving a couple of hours back to Porto, where our flight was departing from. My boyfriend had never tried a classic Northern Portuguese dish of leitão (suckling pig), so we were keen to have some for lunch before heading back to London. Unfortunately, we’d forgotten about the time difference between Spain and Portugal, so we arrived to the restaurant, Rei do Leitão, just gone 11am… Fortunately, they reserved a table for us at that point and when we returned an hour and a half later, we thanked the heavens above that they’d done so as it was absolutely packed! Although the food was delicious, they were quite cheeky in charging us for various plates they’d put on our table and giving us a whole bottle of wine rather than a glass.
We had some time to kill before our flight so we drove to Viana do Castelo and visited a picturesque church at the top of a mountain named Santuário do Sagrado Coração de Jesus. We enjoyed an ice cream with a view before heading to the airport. Although our return flight was infinitely better than our outbound flight, the airline did force us to check our hand luggage in, and since we never check any luggage in, on arrival we went straight through customs before realising that we’d left our luggage behind! It wasn’t our finest moment, but the airport staff managed to sort it out for us and it was a memorable end to our trip!
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