Total Solar Eclipse 12 August 2026
Totality times, durations and Sun elevation for every major town in the path — western Iceland and northern Spain.
On Wednesday 12 August 2026 the Moon’s shadow crosses the Arctic, eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain, clipping a corner of northeast Portugal before ending at sunset over Mallorca. It is the first total solar eclipse over mainland Europe since August 1999, and the next to cross most of the continent is not until 2075. The band of totality is roughly 290 km wide; the longest totality anywhere is 2 minutes 18 seconds, out at sea west of Iceland.
Two countries, two completely different experiences. In Iceland totality falls in the late afternoon with the Sun about 25° above the horizon — comfortably clear of rooftops, but under Iceland’s notoriously changeable Atlantic cloud. In Spain it comes in the early evening with the Sun low over the western horizon, close to setting, which makes an unobstructed western view essential — but inland Spain has far better odds of a clear sky.
Iceland stays on GMT all year, so these are local times. The partial phases run roughly 16:47 to 18:47, and the Sun does not set until almost 22:00.
The shadow reaches Spain about 35 minutes after leaving Iceland, with the Sun low in the west. A tiny area around Rio de Onor in northeast Portugal also falls inside the band.
On Reykjavík, published figures disagree — 59 seconds, “about a minute”, and 1 minute 5 seconds all appear in reputable sources. They are all defensible: the capital sits close to the southern edge of the path, so the duration falls away sharply as you move east across the city. Anywhere in the centre gets roughly a minute; driving out onto the Reykjanes Peninsula toward Keflavík adds about forty seconds. If the exact figure matters to you, check your specific address rather than the city.
Madrid city centre and Barcelona are outside the path and see a deep partial only, as does the whole of the UK, Ireland, France and Germany. Northern suburbs of Madrid do enter totality. Across much of Europe and northwest Africa the Sun sets while still partly eclipsed, which is worth seeing in its own right.
For Iceland this is the first total eclipse since 1954, and Reykjavík’s first since 1433 — 593 years. The next one to touch Iceland is in 2196. Spain, by contrast, is about to have three solar eclipses in three years: this one, a total eclipse on 2 August 2027, and an annular “ring of fire” on 26 January 2028.