Sotogrande & San Roque Total Eclipse
Marina, golf and quiet beaches at the east end of the Campo de Gibraltar.
The municipality of San Roque stretches from a hilltop old town overlooking the Bay of Gibraltar to the Mediterranean shore at Sotogrande, with its marina, golf courses and long quiet beaches. Inland, the white villages of Castellar and Jimena de la Frontera sit in the cork oak hills. All of it is inside the path of totality on Monday 2 August 2027. It does not all see the same eclipse.
At Sotogrande the Sun is fully covered for 4 minutes 5 seconds, from 10:45:54 to 10:50:00 local time (CEST, UTC+2). That ranks 14th of the 43 places in Spain in our dataset. The central line runs 65 km to the south, out at sea, and the northern edge of the path is 54 km away. In the old town of San Roque, closer to the bay and the central line, totality lasts 4m 17s, from 10:45:39 to 10:49:57. Castellar gets 3m 59s, and Jimena, further inland and nearer the northern edge, about three and a half minutes.
Twelve seconds separate the old town of San Roque from the beach at Sotogrande. That is real, but it should not decide your plan. What matters more here is that San Roque is the junction where the A-7 meets the road to La Línea and the road into the hills. If you sleep anywhere in this area, you can watch the eclipse without going near that junction on the morning.
The eclipse from Sotogrande & San Roque, minute by minute
All times are CEST (UTC+2) on Monday 2 August 2027.
- 09:41 First contact The Moon takes its first bite out of the Sun’s edge. Nothing is visible without eclipse glasses. Put them on now.
- 10:45:54 Totality begins: second contact The last sliver breaks into Baily’s beads, then the diamond ring. When the ring goes out, glasses off.
- 10:47:57 Mid-eclipse Deepest darkness. The corona surrounds a black Sun 38° above the horizon; look for planets and the horizon glow.
- 10:50:00 Totality ends: third contact A second diamond ring flares on the opposite limb. Glasses back on the instant it appears.
- 12:01 Fourth contact The Moon leaves the Sun’s disc and the eclipse is over.
| Eclipse type | Total |
|---|---|
| Duration of totality | 4m 05s |
| Maximum obscuration | 100% |
| Eclipse magnitude | 1.016 |
| Sun’s altitude at maximum | 38° |
| Sun’s azimuth at maximum | 96° |
| Mid-eclipse (UTC) | 08:47:57 |
Sotogrande & San Roque in numbers
Every contact to the second, where the town sits in the path, and how often early August has been clear here.
| Partial eclipse begins | 09:41:18 |
|---|---|
| Totality begins | 10:45:54 |
| Mid-eclipse | 10:47:57 |
| Totality ends | 10:50:00 |
| Duration of totality | 4m 05s |
| Partial eclipse ends | 12:01:15 |
| Distance to the central line | 65 km |
| Distance to the nearest edge (northern limit) | 54 km |
| Rank by duration | 14th of 43 places in Spain in our dataset |
Chance of a clear sky
Period: 26 July to 9 August of every year from 2001 to 2024. The bars show the daily mean cloud cover on 2 August of each year: the taller the bar, the more cloud. On 18 of those 24 days the sky was almost clear.
under 20% 20 to 50% 50% or more
Source: NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg satellite data), daily mean cloud amount for the 1° grid cell (about 100 km) around Sotogrande & San Roque. It is an average over the whole day and a large area, so it cannot see a sea fog on one beach or the cloud at the hour of the eclipse. It is climatology, not a forecast.
Sotogrande & San Roque on the eclipse map
The gold band is the path of totality. Click anywhere to test a spot of your own; a few kilometres genuinely matters.
Where to watch, from the coast to the hills
The Sun will be in the east, a little to the south, at an azimuth of about 96° and 38° above the horizon. Nowhere in this area does the terrain reach that high in that direction: the surrounding hills sit far below the Sun. Choose on space, shade and how easily you can leave.
Sotogrande beach and the marina
The Sotogrande coast faces the Mediterranean directly, with the Sun right in front of you over the sea. The beaches are long and the marina area has cafes and services. It is the easy choice if you are staying in Sotogrande. The catch is beach parking, which fills on any August morning, and the fact that reaching it from elsewhere means using the A-7. Totality here is 4m 05s.
Torreguadiaro and Guadalquitón beach
Torreguadiaro, by the mouth of the Guadiaro river, has a beach and a small harbour. To the south, towards Alcaidesa, Guadalquitón beach is a natural stretch with dunes and no buildings, and a clean eastern horizon. There are few services and no shade. It suits a group that arrives early with water, parasols and patience. Crowd risk is lower than at the resort beaches.
San Roque old town: the Plaza de Armas
The Plaza de Armas, next to the church of Santa María la Coronada and the old Governors’ palace, is the heart of the old town. The streets along the edge of the hill look over the bay to the Rock. For the eclipse, find a spot with an open view east: the two and three-storey buildings around the square will not hide a Sun at 38° unless you stand right against their western walls. There is tree shade and there are bars nearby, which helps on a long morning. The old town has narrow streets and very little parking, so walk up or come very early. Totality here is 4m 17s, the longest in the area.
Castellar Viejo
Castellar de la Frontera keeps an entire inhabited village inside the walls of its medieval castle, on a hill above the Guadarranque reservoir. Totality lasts 3m 59s, eighteen seconds less than in San Roque, in exchange for a setting like nowhere else on the coast. Look east from the walls, over the hills of Los Alcornocales. The road up is narrow and the space inside the walls is very limited. Go up early, or do not go.
Jimena de la Frontera
Further north, Jimena has a castle above the village and is a gateway to Los Alcornocales Natural Park. Its totality is shorter, about three and a half minutes, because it lies much closer to the northern edge of the path. It makes sense if you are already staying there, or if you want a quiet village eclipse away from the coast. Do not drive up from the coast for it: you would lose around 45 seconds compared with San Roque.
A note on the bay shore
The bay side of the municipality, around Guadarranque and Puente Mayorga, is a large industrial area with a refinery. It is no obstacle to seeing the eclipse, but it is a poor backdrop and the access roads are industrial. For totality with a view, the Sotogrande coast or the old town are better.
Eclipse-day traffic: the San Roque junction
San Roque is a hub. Here the A-7 meets the CA-34, which runs down to La Línea and the Gibraltar border, and the A-405, which climbs to Castellar and Jimena. Further east, from around Guadiaro, the tolled AP-7 heads for Estepona and Málaga, with the free A-7 running closer to the coast. From Jerez and Seville, the A-381 comes down to Los Barrios and joins the A-7.
In August this stretch is already busy with beach traffic and the Operación Paso del Estrecho, the summer flow of cars to the Algeciras ferries. On eclipse day it gains something else. Along the Costa del Sol, totality gets shorter as you go east: 3m 37s in Estepona, 3m 17s in Marbella, 1m 50s in Málaga. Many people staying there will drive west for more time, and Sotogrande is the first place they reach with more than four minutes.
- Do not leave the journey for the morning. If you are sleeping in San Roque, Sotogrande or Castellar, stay where you are. The differences between them are seconds.
- If you drive in that day, be parked by about 08:30. The partial phase starts at 09:41:18 in Sotogrande.
- Do not leave at 10:50. The A-7 becomes a funnel as soon as totality ends. The partial phase runs until 12:01:15. Eat locally and head home in the afternoon.
- Avoid the CA-34 unless you are going to La Línea. The Gibraltar border queue often backs up along it.
Check the A-7, AP-7 and A-405 on the DGT live traffic map before you set out.
Getting there
- By air. Gibraltar is the closest airport, about 15 minutes from San Roque if the border is flowing. Málaga has far more flights and is a little over an hour away on the AP-7 in normal traffic. Jerez and Seville suit arrivals from the west.
- By car. The A-7 or AP-7 from Málaga and the Costa del Sol. From Seville and Jerez, the A-381 to Los Barrios and then the A-7. Castellar and Jimena are reached on the A-405. Spain drives on the right, and a car is close to essential in Sotogrande.
- By train. The line from Algeciras inland to Ronda and Bobadilla stops at San Roque-La Línea station and at Jimena. It is slow and very beautiful, winding through the cork oak forest.
- By bus. Local buses link San Roque with Algeciras, La Línea, Los Barrios and Sotogrande, and there are long-distance services to Málaga, Cádiz and Seville.
- By sea. Ferries to Ceuta and Tanger Med leave from Algeciras, about 20 minutes away by road.
Where to stay, by area
Accommodation here ranges from marina apartments to village guesthouses. Rank it by what matters most on eclipse day: being able to watch without getting in the car.
Sotogrande and Torreguadiaro
Apartments, villas and hotels spread across a large residential area by the sea. You can watch from the beach with 4m 05s of totality and never touch the car that morning. For everything else you need one. Search Sotogrande for 1 to 3 August 2027.
San Roque old town and Alcaidesa
A handful of places to stay in the old town and nearby districts, plus apartments at Alcaidesa, between San Roque and La Línea. The old town is the most central base for moving around the area, and it has the longest totality here, 4m 17s. The supply is small and goes early. Search San Roque for 1 to 3 August 2027.
Castellar, Jimena and the countryside
Rural houses and small guesthouses in the hills. Castellar gets 3m 59s and Jimena about three and a half minutes. This is the option when the coast is full and you want calm. The price is a little less totality, winding hill roads and more heat: inland valleys are much hotter than the coast in August. Search Jimena and Castellar for 1 to 3 August 2027.
Backup base west: Algeciras
The biggest choice of rooms in the area, about 20 minutes away, with 4m 26s of totality. If you sleep there, watch there, and do not cross the bay that morning. See our Algeciras guide. Search Algeciras for 1 to 3 August 2027.
Backup base east: Estepona
If everything around the bay is taken, Estepona on the Málaga coast is still inside the path with 3m 37s. Watch from its own beaches rather than joining the westbound traffic on the morning. Search Estepona for 1 to 3 August 2027.
These are plain search links, not affiliate links. We do not copy prices, since they change daily and eclipse-week availability will move quickly. Where you can, book a rate with free cancellation.
Weather: one number, two kinds of morning
In our satellite data Sotogrande falls in the same kind of Strait climate as Tarifa and Algeciras: 66% of days between 26 July and 9 August, 2001 to 2024, had a daily mean cloud cover under 20%. 9% were half cloudy or worse, and the typical day had 11% cloud. On 2 August itself, 18 of the 24 years were almost clear. So roughly two mornings in three should be close to clear, and a properly cloudy day is unusual.
The figure is an average over a 1° grid cell, about 100 km across, and over the whole day. It cannot tell the coast from the hills. On the ground there are often two kinds of morning in this municipality. The Sotogrande coast faces the open Mediterranean, and under a westerly poniente the air there is usually clean. The old town of San Roque, on its hill above the bay, can sit under the low cloud that a levante sometimes pushes into the bay. If you see low cloud over the bay on eclipse morning, heading down to the eastern coast is the shortest fix.
For context, the grid cell around Cádiz and Conil scores 54%, and Luxor in Egypt 86%. More detail and the regional comparison are on our weather page. Check the AEMET forecast for San Roque, Castellar and Jimena in the days before.
Beyond the eclipse
- San Roque old town. The town was founded in 1706 by people who left Gibraltar after it was taken in 1704, and its motto still says that the city of Gibraltar resides in San Roque. The Plaza de Armas and the church of Santa María la Coronada are the heart of it.
- Carteia. The remains of a Roman city on the shore of the bay, within the municipality.
- Castellar Viejo. A lived-in village inside a castle, with views over the reservoir and the hills.
- Los Alcornocales. Trails through cork oak forest, starting from Castellar or Jimena. In August the fire risk is high and access can be closed, so check first.
- Sotogrande. The marina, polo and golf, if that is your holiday.
Across the bay are Gibraltar and La Línea. For the whole region, see our southern Spain guide and the eclipse day planner.
Sotogrande & San Roque eclipse questions
How long is totality in Sotogrande?
4 minutes 5 seconds, from 10:45:54 to 10:50:00 local time (CEST, UTC+2) on Monday 2 August 2027. The partial phases run from 09:41:18 to 12:01:15.
Is San Roque better than Sotogrande for the eclipse?
San Roque old town gets 4m 17s, twelve seconds more than Sotogrande’s 4m 05s, because it is closer to the central line. Sotogrande has the sea view to the east. Both are fine; watch from wherever you are sleeping.
Are Castellar and Jimena inside the path of totality?
Yes. Castellar gets 3m 59s. Jimena, nearer the northern edge of the path, gets about three and a half minutes. Both are good if you stay there; neither is worth driving up to from the coast.
Should I drive from Marbella to Sotogrande for the eclipse?
Marbella gets 3m 17s and Sotogrande 4m 05s, so the gain is 48 seconds. Many people will have the same idea. If you go, travel the day before or very early, and do not leave at 10:50.
What are the chances of a clear sky around Sotogrande?
In satellite data for 26 July to 9 August, 2001 to 2024, 66% of days were almost clear and 9% were half cloudy or worse. On 2 August, 18 of 24 years were almost clear.
Sources
- Our sources and methodology: how the times, durations and cloud figures on this page are made.
- NASA eclipse map for 2 August 2027 (Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC).
- Xavier Jubier’s interactive map, with lunar limb corrections.
- NASA POWER, the source of the cloud climatology.
- Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), the official Spanish eclipse page, with times for every municipality.
- AEMET municipal forecast, the official Spanish weather service.
- DGT live traffic, for road conditions on the morning.
Compare with nearby options
La Línea de la Concepción
The Spanish town at the foot of the Rock, with east-facing beaches.
Full guide → Total: 4m 27s Southern SpainGibraltar
The Rock, a British territory inside the path, with nearly four and a half minutes.
Full guide → Total: 4m 26s Southern SpainAlgeciras
The ferry port of the Strait, with a big hotel stock and well over four minutes.
Full guide →