Spain will experience three solar eclipses in three years, and A Coruña will set the standard for port cities.
A total solar eclipse occurs approximately every 18 months somewhere on the planet. However, for any specific geographic location on Earth, this phenomenon is extremely rare and takes between 300 and 400 years to repeat itself in the same place.
Article from CruisesNews magazine no. 77 – June 2026
Spain is going to experience an extraordinary situation, as in our country we will be able to see three eclipses in three years.
The first of these will be on August 12th and the area of total eclipse will enter the peninsula from the northwest and will cover a large part of northern Spain, including A Coruña, León, Burgos, Soria, Castellón de la Plana and Mallorca already in the Mediterranean.
The next one will be on August 2, 2027, and will be visible from Chipiona and Malaga southwards, which includes Cadiz, Tarifa, Ceuta and Melilla, for example.
And finally, a third total solar eclipse, this time an "annular" eclipse—meaning that we will see a ring of fire as the sun sets—will take place on January 26, 2028, and will be visible from much of Spain. This time, it will begin to be visible from all of southern Portugal and Spain as far south as Motril, and will move northeast, passing through Seville, Cordoba, Albacete, Valencia, Barcelona, and Mallorca, among many other cities.
Events that attract visitors and business
Solar eclipses are a spectacle not only for the local population who can enjoy them, but they also attract tourists from different parts of the world, eager to have an experience that they may never be able to have in their city of residence.
This power to attract attention has not gone unnoticed by the cruise industry, which is always attentive to major international events in order to incorporate them into its routes.
Because the cruise industry plans its ships' routes years in advance, it's quite easy to adapt itineraries so that passengers can enjoy the phenomenon. And it's not just that regular passengers will have an extra experience; the very fact that the cruise will pass through the eclipse attracts travelers who might never have considered taking a cruise. It's a win-win situation.
A Coruña, a key player in the 2026 eclipse.
There's no doubt that for cruise ports, an eclipse passing overhead or nearby is very significant. A Coruña is a port that has established itself in recent years as the leading port in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, with more than 160 cruise ship calls each year and around 450,000 passengers.
It is therefore one of the regular ports of call for cruise ships crossing the Bay of Biscay towards the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The eclipse on August 12th will pass over the Galician city, setting an unprecedented record for the city: nine cruise ships in two days.
Shipping companies have created routes to sail within the path of totality at the right time, allowing passengers to enjoy the astronomical event without the obstacles, noise, and other distractions typical of any city. Therefore, the ships will dock in A Coruña either before sailing towards the eclipse zone or after passing through it.
On August 11, A Coruña will receive visits from four cruise ships: Iona, Liberty of the Seas, Crystal Serenity, and Ambience. The following day, five more will arrive: Queen Anne, Celebrity Apex, Celebrity Equinox, Borealis, and Explora III.
It is estimated that a total of 25,000 people, including passengers and crew, will visit A Coruña over the two days, generating an economic impact on the city of more than €2 million. Over 200 people will be working on the operation, including port services personnel, security staff, tour guides, transportation workers, shipping agents, and others.
As we mentioned, beyond cruise ship passengers, the event will attract visitors from all over to the city, so the City Council, the Galician Regional Government, and the Government Delegation are preparing plans for the expected influx of people. Hotels and restaurants are already practically fully booked for August 12th.
Undoubtedly, other ports such as Malaga, Cadiz, Ceuta and Melilla will take good note of A Coruña's experience to apply it in their cities in 2027, and the same goes for the ports that will experience the annular eclipse of 2028.
The icing on the cake for a port that is heading towards half a million visitors.
The port of A Coruña has achieved extraordinary growth in cruise traffic in recent years, which has led it to position itself as a leader in this sector throughout the Cantabrian-Atlantic coast, from Lisbon (excluding Lisbon) to French Brittany.
As can be seen in the table, growth has been very significant since 2022, with four consecutive record years in passenger arrivals.
A slight decrease is expected by 2026, to around 168 port calls, although more than 190 are projected for 2027. In other words, A Coruña has consolidated a range of between 160 and 190 port calls annually.
The 465,199 passengers expected in 2025, along with approximately 200,000 crew members, bring the total number of people arriving in A Coruña to 665,000. The annual economic impact is estimated to exceed €40 million, including direct spending by passengers and crew, as well as the overall effect on the tourism sector, port companies, transportation, security, supplies, healthcare services, and so on.
The impact is not limited to the city, but extends to the metropolitan area, due to the various excursions planned for cruise passengers to Betanzos, Mariñán, Pontedeume or even Lugo, in addition to Santiago de Compostela.
A Coruña is a cruise-friendly city. Surveys reveal that over 80% of A Coruña residents support cruise ships. Regarding cruise passengers' perspectives, over 80% report being very satisfied with A Coruña, both for what the city offers and the efficient port operations.
Electrification of its docks
Recently the Port Authority of A Coruña published in the BOE the public information announcement of the project, prior to the granting of the concession for the construction and management of the service.
The specialized company Regenera will invest more than 10 million euros in installing the electrical supply system for cruise ships, which will allow the vessels to turn off their engines during stops in the port of A Coruña, thus avoiding emissions into the atmosphere.
The OPS system will be installed at both the Transatlantic Pier and the Calvo Sotelo South Pier, which is used for multiple port calls. It is expected to be operational by the end of 2027. The concession has a term of 32 years.
With the launch of this service, the port of A Coruña will be one of the first in Spain to offer electricity to cruise ships.
The improvements to the Transatlantic Dock are now practically complete, adapting its structure and fenders to the current size of the fleet, with an investment of €1.3 million. These works already included the installation of the channel through which the OPS infrastructure will run.
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