Which countries will see the 2027 total eclipse? Ten countries and Gibraltar, with durations

Totality on 2 August 2027 crosses ten countries and Gibraltar: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan (through the Halaib Triangle), Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia. According to NASA, the Moon’s shadow touches the Earth at 08:26 UTC in the Atlantic and leaves it at 11:48 UTC in the Indian Ocean: just over three hours to cover about 13,900 km. The longest totality, 6 min 23 s, falls in Egypt.

Country by country

One city per country, with its legal time that day. In Spain, the duration is the one from the IGN (Spain’s National Geographic Institute); elsewhere, it comes from our engine.

The shadow travels from west to east and the local clock jumps with it. In Tangier totality begins before nine in the morning because Morocco is on GMT; in Somalia, at around two in the afternoon. And as the shadow moves east the Sun climbs: 38° over the Strait of Gibraltar, almost overhead over the Nile Valley.

The Halaib Triangle is administered by Egypt and claimed by Sudan, which is why it is on the list; our calculation gives it totality. English Wikipedia adds some islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory at the end of the track.

Several large cities miss out by a small margin: Tripoli reaches 99.9% of the Sun covered, Algiers 99.8%, the city of Tunis 97.1%, Aden 96.1% and Cairo 94.7%. Without 100% there is no corona and no darkness.

The route, from end to end

The shadow comes in over the Atlantic and reaches the Gulf of Cádiz and the Strait at around 10:45 mainland Spanish time (CEST, UTC+2). It crosses northern Morocco, continues through Algeria and central Tunisia, passes Benghazi and enters Egypt, where the longest minutes are: NASA puts the maximum duration, 6 min 23 s, in the desert west of Sohag. Then it crosses the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia, runs down through Yemen, crosses the Gulf of Aden to the north-eastern tip of Somalia and disappears into the Indian Ocean. You can follow it minute by minute in the shadow’s journey and see all of it on the map.

What Spain’s foreign ministry says about each country

Before you look at tickets, check the travel advice. This is what Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEC) advises its citizens for each country, as it stood at the time of writing:

This advice changes, so read it again before you book. If you are not Spanish, check your own government’s advice as well; for UK travellers, that is the FCDO’s foreign travel advice. There is more detail on Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt here:

• Morocco: Tangier and the coast near Tetouan, a ferry ride from Spain. See watch the eclipse in Tangier and our Morocco page.
• Tunisia: Sfax and the south of the country, with the lowest average cloud cover in the western part of the path. See the eclipse in Tunisia and our French-language page, l’éclipse en Tunisie (in French).
• Egypt: the longest totality, in Luxor and the Nile Valley. See the eclipse in Egypt and our Egypt page.

Sources: list of countries: Solar eclipse of August 2, 2027 — Wikipedia (including the islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory) and the eclipseando engine for Gibraltar and Halaib; times when the shadow touches the Earth and maximum duration: Path of the Total Solar Eclipse of 2027 Aug 02 — NASA (F. Espenak); length of the track: calculated by eclipseando from that central line; durations, times and altitudes outside Spain: eclipseando engine (skyfield + DE440s); duration for Ceuta: IGN — eclipses.ign.es (in Spanish); legal time in each country: IANA time zone database (tzdata); travel advice from Spain’s foreign ministry (MAEC, in Spanish) for Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia; Foreign travel advice — GOV.UK (the UK government’s advice by country).