April 8 is shaping up to be a busy day for US airlines, as travelers chase the total solar eclipse sweeping across the nation from Texas to Maine—a rare event that won’t be visible from the contiguous US again until 2044.
09.03.2024 - 13:57 / forbes.com
“All hotels for the eclipse sold out months ago—you’re too late.” It’s a common refrain from people who booked their rooms months ago and want to feel good about that, but it’s inaccurate.
Snagging a last-minute stay within the path of totality for April 8’s total solar eclipse (stretching from Texas to Maine in the U.S.) might seem daunting, but there are still plenty of options. While prime locations close to the path's centerline are generally booked or have an astronomically high price, with a little inside knowledge and your resourcefulness, you can still easily find a haven for this celestial spectacle.
Here are 11 ways to uncover hidden gems, explore alternative lodging options and book your eclipse hotel so you can witness nature’s grandest experience:
This is one of the most urban eclipse paths for years. It’s estimated that about 10 million of the roughly 40 million people who will witness this eclipse from inside the path of totality will do so from just 10 cities. Big cities like Dallas, Austin, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Rochester are among them. A quick search reveals reasonable prices for city center hotels in Indianapolis ($1,000 for two nights), Rochester ($800), and Dallas ($800).
Hotels in Downtown are in demand. So head away from them—if the path of totality allows—and stay in the suburbs. Stay in an airport hotel for $500 or a Super 8 beside an Interstate for $300. You can always drive to an observing event or a beauty spot on eclipse day. A quick search reveals the Dallas-Fort Worth region has many affordable hotels and motels for as little as $300 away from the centers.
The Eclipse Company has launched a beautiful, user-friendly eclipse map. It’s the only online map that integrates details about cloud cover, light pollution, eclipse duration and phenomena alongside information about viewing locations from local parks and events. You can choose any location and instantly search on Booking.com for April 7-9. It’s hugely time-saving—and you might just find a bargain.
Expedia has launched its clumsily named Hotels in Solar Eclipse April 8 2024, an online search hub that maps available hotels in the path of totality. It’s one of the easiest ways to check prices—and it finds bargains—but you do have to be careful because it identifies hotels right on the line of the path of totality. Cross-reference the address of any hotel that appeals with the Interactive Google Map to make sure you know what you are booking.
The magical thing about a total solar eclipse is that it happens at all, not how long it lasts. When you’ve accepted that, the possibilities of the 115-mile wide path become obvious. The highest prices and the lowest availability are at locations on, or very close
April 8 is shaping up to be a busy day for US airlines, as travelers chase the total solar eclipse sweeping across the nation from Texas to Maine—a rare event that won’t be visible from the contiguous US again until 2044.
As Americans prepare to witness the total solar eclipse on April 8, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a warning that the event could impact air travel at airports located in the path of totality.
Frontier Airlines is poised for a busy summer ahead, introducing flights between Puerto Rico and two prominent airports in the New York City area — and one for the first time.
With accommodation inside the 115-mile-long path of totality surging in price and cloud scientists suggesting that Texas has the highest chance of a clear view for April 8’s total solar eclipse, planning an eclipse trip is getting tricky. The answer has been there since the start—go to an eclipse festival. If you’re OK with staying in an RV or camping, then it’s a no-brainer.
A million Americans remember where they were on August 21, 2017. For most of the enlightened who made a trip into the path of totality that day—the first to go coast to coast in the U.S. For 99 years—it was their first glimpse of totality, the eclipsed sun’s glistening corona on display for a couple of minutes of darkness during the middle of the day.
One of the largest living history museums in the U.S. will transport eclipse chasers back to the 19th century on April 8 in a once-in-a-century event.
Next month’s total solar eclipse, which will pass directly over a wide swath of North America, is drawing an awful lot of interest from folks who are willing to travel to see it in all its glory. In order to do so, they need to place themselves somewhere along its path of totality—geographic locations from which the sun will appear to be entirely obstructed by the moon’s shadow passing between the Earth and its nearest star.
A total solar eclipse is not just for science geeks. Memories of April 8’s brief moments of totality—reserved only for those inside the 115-mile-wide path across North America—will live forever in the mind of anyone who experiences it, whatever the level of their scientific knowledge.
The total solar eclipse on April 8 is the event of spring, but with the chances of a clear sky about 50/50 it pays to make a plan to do something that goes on for longer than the few hours of celestial splendor.
On April 8, parts of Indiana will experience its first total solar eclipse since August 7, 1869, and its last until September 14, 2099. Up to 600,000 eclipse chasers could arrive on April 8, many of them heading to cities like Indianapolis, Bloomington, Muncie, Richmond & Wayne County and Terre Haute.
For a newly minted Texan such as myself, viewing the solar eclipse in San Antonio last October was spectacular. We took a short drive to the award-winning Confluence Park, a bucolic ecosystem that features a rainwater catchment along the San Antonio River, a green roof for passive heating/cooling and a constellation of walking paths that connect to the San Antonio Missions UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A total solar eclipse, one of astronomy’s most magnificent events, will grace portions of the United States on Monday, April 8, 2024. It will be the last total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States until 2044. The eclipse is will enter the country in Texas and travel through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine along with small parts of Tennessee and Michigan.