On the evening of August 12, 2026, a total solar eclipse will pass across Spain. This is the perfect opportunity to experience this spectacle live on the Way of St. James. You can already be sure that it will be particularly busy in the region and especially in the pilgrims’ hostels. Early planning is therefore helpful here.
The solar eclipse will take place at 18:28 and its core shadow will just miss Santiago de Compostela. So at the cathedral it will only be a partial solar eclipse, but at the northern end of the runway from Santiago airport the sun will be completely eclipsed, i.e. a total solar eclipse will take place.
So if you are at least 10 km north-east of Santiago, you will be in the core shadow and can experience the total solar eclipse. This is not the case after arriving in Santiago, but at most the evening before.
However, the core shadow is around 140 km wide, so you can also experience the total solar eclipse further north and east, several days away from the pilgrimage destination of Santiago.
You can experience the total solar eclipse on the following routes on August 12, 2026 at around 6:28 pm:
Camino Frances
The total solar eclipse on the Camino Frances can be seen at any place after Cizur Menor (which is approx. 4.5 km behind Pamplona and marked with the green pin) and before the airport of Santiago (approx. 10 km before Santiago and marked with a red pin).
This whole section of the Camino Frances, where the total solar eclipse can be seen, is marked with the green line.
- Camino del Norte / Coastal path
- from Larrabezu (approx. 10 km before the center of Bilbao)
- to the airport of Santiago (approx. 10 km before Santiago)
- Camino Primitivo:
- from the start in Villaviviosa
- to the airport of Santiago (approx. 10 km before Santiago)
- Camino Olvidado
- from the start in Bilbao
- to the airport of Santiago (approx. 10 km before Santiago)
- Camino Inglés
- from the start in A Coruña or Ferrol
- to the village of A Lameira (approx. 10 km before Santiago)
