Wilderness Travel has announced its program for the “2026 Total Solar Eclipse.” The 2026 solar program will take guests to the Iberian Peninsula, directly in the path of totality, to a hilltop viewing location in Lerma, Spain. This location was chosen in collaboration with eclipse meteorologist Jay Anderson because of its weather potential and views across the flat Meseta Norte. Besides views of the eclipse, guests can expect to enjoy culture, history, food, wine and insightful programming on eclipses and cosmic wonders, curated by lecturer Dr. Alex Filippenko, professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley.
As Dr. Filippenko explains in a piece written for Wilderness Travel, "Earth is the only planet in our solar system that has [solar eclipses], and there is no good reason why we should. It is down to the lucky coincidence that the sun is 390 times larger than the moon and 390 times farther away from Earth that we can experience the total eclipse. This is what causes the sun and moon to appear essentially the same in size, for the briefest moment in time, from our position on Earth. We call this the solar eclipse, the moment when the sun appears concealed by the moon. If that wasn’t interesting enough, because the moon is slowly receding from Earth, total solar eclipses are becoming even more rare. In half a billion years, they won’t be possible at all.
In 2026, most of the world will not experience the eclipse given the arc of the eclipse path which extends far North in the Northern Hemisphere, passing principally over Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean and Northern Spain.
On the day, Wilderness Travel guests can expect to enjoy crafting their eclipse viewers and exploring the community of Lerma before heading to the private eclipse-viewing site at a hilltop winery set at a formal ducal palace built for King Felipe III—located virtually on the centerline. Because the total eclipse will occur low on the horizon just one hour shy of sunset, guests can look forward to several effects being different from when totality is high overhead. Intensified atmospheric scattering should greatly enhance the colors of the eclipse and the surrounding horizon. The sun, which will appear magnified by the “moon illusion,” will cast elongated shadow bands upon the landscape. As totality creeps closer, guests can anticipate Bailey’s beads revealing themselves with much greater complexity than normal.
In addition to the once-in-a-lifetime chance to view this perfect eclipse, throughout the rest of the itinerary guests will enjoy food, wine, local history, culture and architecture in addition to programming curated by Dr. Filippenko on eclipses and other astronomical phenomena. Guests will extend their trip with one of six extension choices, including:
- Hiking Portugal’s Azores Islands
- Trekking the best portions of Camino de Santiago
- Hiking through the Spanish Pyrenees
- Hiking from France to Spain through Basque Country
- Hiking Portugal’s Isle of Madeira
- Walking along the coast of Northern Spain
The latest in a long line of solar eclipse journeys, Wilderness Travel has been curating solar experiences for its guests for over 20 years.
For more information, visit www.wildernesstravel.com.
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