Many curious people have travelled hundreds of kilometres to see today the total eclipse of the Sun in Rio de Onor, in the municipality of Bragança, a rare phenomenon that has not happened for more than 100 years in Portugal.
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12/08/2026
by
Lusa
ANDllira Pereira traveled more than 500 kilometers to Rio de Onor. He came from Santarém with a “high” expectation to watch “something so special and unique”.
He was able to book a stay at the village campsite, but was willing to sleep in the car, if there was no parking space, just to be able to watch the rare phenomenon.
“I was capable of this and much more (...) It's almost something that goes back to our imagination as a child and imagines the stars moving ahead of each other, but is it possible? Just the fact of imagining is already scary and then there is this dichotomy, the attraction to the mystery and what it causes us ", told.
Also Andreia Lopes has traveled hundreds of kilometers to Rio de Onor to see the full coverage of the Moon by the Sun and will travel many others on the same day to return home in Sintra, Lisbon district.
“ This margin of something that happens from century and a half to century and a half happens in my life experience, being alone 500 kilometers and not coming?", questioned rhetorically.
You don't want to create expectations, but you know it'll be a unique and unforgettable moment.
“Never, in no moment of life, even if I live many years, I will never forget the visual image, and I will try to integrate over these years that I have the event of this nature, because there is a physical part (...) but there is something far superior to what is taught us in school”, he stressed.
Some have chosen eclipse day to celebrate a special date – the 42 years of marriage. Laura and Vítor came from Vila Nova de Famalicão, in the district of Braga, to mark the anniversary and even promised “kiss” at the most awaited moment, which will happen at 7:30 p.m., when the Moon fully covers the Sun.
As he approached the moment, at 5:00 he admitted to being anxious.
“It’s a phenomenon that happens only every 100 years, more or less, we were on vacation, we decided to come for a walk, we came to see, we gathered the two things and celebrated the day”, she told Lusa Laura Silva.
The total eclipse of the Sun can only be seen in the villages of Rio de Onor and Guadramil, in the municipality of Bragança.
Due to the maximum risk of fire, the road linking Bragança to these villages has been closed to traffic since 3:00 p.m. and, therefore, the phenomenon can only be seen to 100% by residents and tourists staying in these locations.
The campsite is completely exhausted and local accommodation houses have also been crowded since the beginning of the year.
In the remaining national territory, the eclipse will be partial, varying the percentage of sun concealment between 92% and 99% on the continent and between 74% and 77% in the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira.
In addition to Portugal, where observation sessions are planned throughout the country, this eclipse will be visible if the conditions of observation of the sky allow it, in a strip across the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland and Spain.
The next total eclipse of the Sun in Portugal will be only in 2144.