Ceuta will have 4 min 48 s of totality, the longest in Spain. Melilla will have 4 min 34 s, the third longest, behind Tarifa. Both durations are from the IGN (Spain’s National Geographic Institute), and both cities, Spain’s two cities on the North African coast, keep mainland Spanish time (CEST, UTC+2). In Ceuta the Sun is completely covered from 10:45:13 to 10:50:01; in Melilla, from 10:48:04 to 10:52:38 (IGN times). You can reach both by sea and by air, and it’s best to make the crossing the day before.
The times, from start to finish
| City | Starts | Totality (IGN) | Maximum | Ends | Duration (IGN) | Sun at maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceuta | 09:41:02 | 10:45:13-10:50:01 | 10:47:44 | 12:01:09 | 4 min 48 s | 38.4° |
| Melilla | 09:42:27 | 10:48:04-10:52:38 | 10:50:30 | 12:05:19 | 4 min 34 s | 41.0° |
Start, maximum and end come from our calculation. Our totality times run a few seconds behind the IGN’s, so the window without glasses is the more cautious of the two: glasses come off at the later start and go back on at the earlier end. In Ceuta that runs from 10:45:19 to 10:50:01, and in Melilla from 10:48:12 to 10:52:38. How to recognise those two moments is in when to take off eclipse glasses in totality. Everything else about each city is on its page.
How to get there
- To Ceuta by sea from Algeciras: the train from Madrid reaches Algeciras on the Bobadilla-Algeciras line, and ferries leave the port for Ceuta and Tangier.
- To Ceuta by air: Ceuta heliport is in the port, between the west quay and the fishing harbour, and according to Aena (the operator of Spain’s airports) it has scheduled flights to Málaga and Algeciras.
- To Melilla by sea: the port of Melilla has passenger lines to Málaga, Almería and Motril.
- To Melilla by plane: Aena publishes the destinations from Melilla airport; they include Madrid, Málaga, Seville, Almería, Granada, Barcelona and Palma. Check the August ones before counting on them.
Shipping lines, airlines and timetables change, so check them before you buy. To avoid missing totality in a boarding queue, cross the day before. The land routes to the ports are in getting there; bear in mind that 2 August is a working Monday in the middle of summer. You can also see totality from a boat halfway across, if the timetable works out; we explain how in watch the eclipse from a boat. And if you’re looking for a bed, start with what to check before you book.
Morocco, next door, is two hours behind
Ceuta and Melilla are on UTC+2, like the mainland. Morocco will be on GMT (UTC+0) that day, two hours behind, and the border is a stone’s throw from both cities. The shadow crosses both shores in the same minutes, but the clocks don’t match.
In Tetouan, our calculation gives 4 min 52 s of totality, from 08:45:10 to 08:50:02 Moroccan time. Nador has 4 min 17 s, from 08:48:21 to 08:52:38, also Moroccan time. If you spend the day across the border, change your watch; what you need to know to cross into Morocco is in watch the eclipse in Tangier.
The morning clouds
The risk on this coast in August is stratus, low clouds that form over the sea and are thickest first thing in the morning. Jay Anderson, the meteorologist behind Eclipsophile, looks at it on his eclipse page:
- On the coast of Al Hoceima and Melilla, stratus is an almost daily visitor, although it clears a little earlier.
- In Melilla, measured sunshine averages 61% of the maximum possible, well below the 75 to 80% of many other places in the path.
- Ceuta suffers less from those clouds trapped against the coast than places further south, between Tetouan and El Jebha, a stretch of coast that Anderson advises avoiding on eclipse day.
- In the Strait, those low clouds are usually about a kilometre thick, and they break up quickly in the morning sun.
The real forecast comes in the days before; we follow it on the eclipse weather page (in Spanish).
You need glasses with an EN ISO 12312-2 filter for all the partial phases, in Ceuta and Melilla too, even though they have two of the three longest totalities in Spain. How to check yours is in our guide to certified glasses.
Sources: totality durations and times for Ceuta and Melilla: IGN — eclipses.ign.es (in Spanish); start, maximum, end, the Sun’s altitude and our totality times: eclipseando’s engine (skyfield + DE440s); Tetouan and Nador: eclipseando’s engine; legal time in Spain and Morocco: IANA time zone database (tzdata); Línea Bobadilla-Algeciras — Wikipedia (in Spanish: train to Algeciras and ferries to Ceuta and Tangier); Puerto de Melilla — Wikipedia (in Spanish: lines to Málaga, Almería and Motril); Ceuta Heliport, presentation — Aena (location and scheduled flights to Málaga and Algeciras); Melilla Airport, airlines and destinations — Aena (destinations); Total Solar Eclipse 2027 — Eclipsophile (morning clouds in Ceuta, Melilla and the Strait).
If you would like something to keep from the eclipse, the shop prints T-shirts, mugs and posters with the name of your town, the time of its maximum and its seconds of totality. See the merchandise →
Remember: never look at the Sun without proper eye protection (filters made to EN ISO 12312-2). The official reference for safe viewing in Spain is the IGN (in Spanish): eclipses.ign.es.