Total eclipse of the wallet: Prices to witness solar eclipse soar, hotels charge 10 times regular rates

If you think seeing a total eclipse of the sun will be a cheap thrill, you’re mistaken.

On Monday April 8, the US will experience its first total eclipse since 2017 — and the cost to witness it is already soaring.

The “zone of totality,” where you can see the sun vanish completely, goes from Mexico’s Pacific coast on a north-easterly path through Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine before passing through Canada’s maritime provinces.

And on that path, your money can already vanish.

The whole cycle of the eclipse takes two and a half hours, but totality, when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, turning day into night, lasts just under four minutes.

In Killeen, Texas, Fairfield Inn by Marriott is offering rooms for $809 on April 8. One week later, the same accommodation runs $103.

On the upside, those who splurge for eclipse pricing will not be lonely in Killeen.

It is located in Bell County, where the population of 400,000 is expected to double and one of the judges there, David Blackburn, has already issued a local disaster declaration. The county’s schools will be closed on April 8, and residents are asked to stock up on food and gasoline.

Further northeast, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, has a one-bedroom Airbnb at $1,350.

In Terre Haute, Indiana, best known for the federal execution chamber, the Holiday Inn Express normally comes in at $135 a night but is booked out on Sunday night before the eclipse and comes in at $459 for those who stay to party.

In Cleveland, Ohio, virtually every hotel is sold out Sunday night, but Airbnbs are available. A one bedroom apartment downtown is priced at $3,500 for just one night.

Further northeast again, in Burlington, Vermont, rooms at the South Side Inn are usually around $120.

But during days surrounding the big event, they’re a stunning $1,585 per night. Two weeks later, it’s less than one-tenth the price at $120.

That high tariff encourages would-be guests to angle for the good rate. “A couple claimed they were coming to town for their daughter’s wedding that weekend,” South Side owner Greg Nixon told The Post.

“They wanted a room [at the standard price]. We told them that we couldn’t do it. I felt terrible. But, on the way out, the man said, ‘Actually, there is no wedding.’ He was lying. He totally had me.”

The sneaky couple might have done better to contact First Unitarian Universal Society, a church in Burlington.

“Congregants are renting out whatever accommodations they have,” Reverend Karen G. Johnston told The Post. “Whatever gets paid will be a donation to the church. A fold-out sofa went for $100.”

Airfares are also up. Flying from New York to Cleveland for a one-night chance to see the eclipse runs $946 on United; the same flights the next week come in at $520.

Meanwhile Delta is charging $749 for a flight from Austin, TX, to Detroit, Michigan, that is designed for in-air eclipsing, though the airline claims no responsibility for weather or take-off delay. “For flights likely to operate within the path of totality, we’re seeing fares [up to] four times higher than other parts of the day on April 8, in some cases,” Sean Cudahy, aviation reporter at the Points Guy, told The Post.

Serious eclipse hunters can’t take chances on missing the action due to human or natural occurrences. Joe Rao, a former meteorologist on 1010 WINS radio, has seen 13 eclipses. He will not miss this one.

“I have hotel reservations in Texas, Plattsburgh, Syracuse and Arkansas; plus we have relatives near Cincinnati,” Rao told The Post. “One day before, I’ll figure out the best place, go there and cancel the others.”

As for the flights, Rao is confident that last-minute deals will avail themselves. “I’ll do what I have to do,” he said.

Then there are those who will not have to worry about 11th hour air accommodations because they fly private. “I have a group that will be chasing the eclipse on one of our jets,” Michael Giordano, a partner at Cirrus Aviation Services, told The Post.

“At the last minute, they will go to wherever is best that day, watch from the tarmac, get back on the plane and fly home.”

Eclipse chaser David Makepeace, a media producer, says hotels are “gouging” and he is heading to Mazatlan, Mexico, leading a group who will see the natural wonder from the beach.

“We were originally going to South Texas, but it wound up being $900 per night to stay at roadside motels,” Makepeace told The Post.

Instead it is $1,850, all-inclusive for seven nights in Mexico — although Mazatlan is in Sinaloa drug-cartel country. “I think the risk is minimal. I don’t think it benefits the cartels to involve us.”

Makepeace claims to have blown some $250,000 on seeing 26 eclipses, including trips to Antartica, the Libyan desert and an atoll off Australia which cost $24,000 for a group, arriving on a chartered oil-rig service ship.

Asked what makes the cost worthwhile, Makepeace said, “The hair on the back of your neck will stand up and chills will run down your spine while seeing a total eclipse. You cannot prepare yourself physically and emotionally for what you will see. It’s a big, existential moment.”

And the price of eclipse glasses to watch is far cheaper: as little as $2.50 a pair.