2026 Star Party - A tail of two Locations
Roboscopes have been organizing a Star Parties in Spain for a few years now and this will be our 4th annual event, 2026 will be a little different however, as we have an eclipse in the mix in August which is one of the most stable weather periods in an already very sunny country
So, we decided to bring our usual star party forward a few weeks and combine the two. This allows people a choice to attend either or both treating the Eclipse as a grand finale to what we hope has already been an awesome event
6-11th August StarParty - Malagón, Spain
Accommodation
Olivar de Albarizas
A high quality air-conditioned country house that's 170km South of Madrid and nestled in 12,000 sq-meters of olive trees. It's remote enough to have dark skies whilst It's still accessible to small interesting towns with lots to do locally. There is also fishing, walking and hiking
The accommodation has:
- 5 twin rooms1 quad room
- 6 bathrooms
- Mutliple seating areas
- Full outdoor facilities
- Plenty of room for telescopes
- The host has allowed us access to her land on top of the hill if required
As usual I will have a myriad of cables and electrical distribution with me but its always best to have EU adapaters with you just in case
Google Map - How to get there
Places to visit and things to do
Local towns are
Fernán Caballero - 3km
Malagón - 10km away
Ciudad Real - 20km away
200 metres from the Gasset reservoir in the foothills of the Montes de Toledo, a small slice of a slower pace and nature if only for a few days
Pricing
5 Twin Rooms at €700 each (all twin rooms now booked)
1x Quad room at €900
Food, drinks, cooking & housekeeping
One of the Roboscopes staff will go shopping on the way there and get some essentials, generally after that we simply one of us will (me usually) shopping and split the bill between all of us, cooking is done on a fair basis and as its Spain over the years it's become more of an alfresco affair and the men do a lot of the cooking
Housekeeping, we all pitch in and work together :)
Bookings are on a first come, first served basis, with a 50% non-refundable deposit unless you can find someone to take your place
Some general blurb!
Obviously, travel expenses and astronomy equipment are not provided or included in the price,
Madrid will be the best airport if you come by plane, a few of us are already booked onto the Plymouth-Santander ferry, if you want to join us please message me for the ferry details as the more, the merrier.
Last but not least we are a laid back organization and this is done for fun as much as anything else, if you want a hyper organized trip with a complex and rigid itinerary then this is not what your signing up for.
However, if you want a fun trip with like-minded people including decent accommodation, things to do, food, drink and interesting conversation then this may well be right up your street :)
11-13th August Eclipse - Santo Domingo de Silos,
Location & Hotel
We have booked 2 nights in Hotel Tres Coronas de Silos, it's a stunning medieval hotel that's situated on the line of totality. Its southeast of Burgos & North of Madrid
Santo Domingo de Silos is a small historic town that's still quite dark, so day/night astronomy is possible. We have found a location very close by, where we can do both the eclipse and some nighttime astronomy for those so inclined to spend the whole night up. The town has an ample parking including electric vehicle charging, although it's a short walk from the car park into the town centre and the hotel
The first night, we have booked into the hotel as a group for the evening meal using their *À la carte menu. I will add some images of the menu below so you can choose what you would like to order beforehand and inform us, as this would help the hotel immensely with it being a large booking. We have already eaten there when scouting out locations and you will be impressed :)
The following evening after the eclipse we have decided to keep things flexible as some members may want to also do deep sky imaging etc. So we can either go out as a group and try a different restaurant, stay as we are in the hotel restaurant, or venture off individually if that's your preference :)
* This meal is not included in the price
Things to do Locally
The town is in a historically rich and diverse part of Spain, there is plenty to do and see locally as well as further afield, making this trip more than eclipse so ideal for couples and families alike
Links
Hotel
The Good The Bad & The Ugly
Local Monastery
Gorge Walk
Google Map - How to get there
The Eclipse
To be fair none of us at Roboscopes despite our age are old at heart so we thought we could hold the actual event on Sad hill, which overlooks sad hill cemetery made famous by classic spaghetti western “The good the bad and the ugly” it's an atmospheric location with low horizons and beautiful backdrop. For the more adventurous/silly amongst us, you could even do a themed eclipse, so get your ponchos ready, although please don’t all dress as Clint 🙂
Between us, we will be able to lay on transport to the site & I have a VW Transporter, so can carry a lot of people & equipment. I will be bringing Lithium Power tanks & power distribution equipment so we will be able to help facilitate many people's needs but we do suggest members wherever possible cater for their own power requirements as the hill has zero power itself obviously!
The views to the South and West are nothing short of Spectacular so sky gods willing, we are in one of the best locations in Spain for the Eclipse as the further West you go the more unpredicable the skies generally become.
The Roboscopes team have spent a lot of time and energy checking out locations, including driving to and staying in the local area beforehand preparing for this trip, we do hope you all enjoy & benefit from all our initial spade work to make this a memorable event :)
Pricing
We have 7 Twin rooms & 2 apartments available
Twin Room €650 (3 twin rooms now booked)
2x Twin Apartment €900 ( 1 apartment now booked)
The apartment can sleep 3 with a supplemental fold out bed €75
Bookings are on a first come, first served basis, with a 50% non-refundable deposit unless you can find someone to take your place
If you need any information in the meantime please get in touch
Steve & the team
General Blurb
Same as the other side really, which saves me writing it twice :)
