How Far Is Makkah from Madinah, and How Long Does It Take? By Bus, Haramain High-Speed Train and Plane

The answer to how far is Makkah from Madinah depends on the route you take: the road between the two cities is about 450 kilometres, while the straight-line distance is about 340 kilometres. Umrah travellers cover this distance in five to six hours by bus and in close to two and a half hours on the Haramain high-speed train; since Makkah has no airport, the plane option exists only via Jeddah. In this article we give the distance and journey times between Makkah and Madinah separately for bus, train and plane, and explain where the railway stations are, the history of the Hijrah route, the miqat on the way, the distances to Jeddah and how Umrah programmes plan the transfer between the two cities.

How Far Is Makkah from Madinah? The Short Answer

Makkah and Madinah lie in the Hijaz region in the west of Saudi Arabia, about 340 kilometres apart on a north–south line; for travellers, however, what matters is the road distance, and that varies between 420 and 450 kilometres depending on the route. The motorway running north from Makkah, parallel to the Red Sea, reaches Madinah; Umrah buses cover it in five to six hours including a stop, private cars in four and a half to five hours. The Haramain high-speed train, opened in 2018, links the two cities with a 450-kilometre line and brings the journey down to between two hours twenty minutes and two and a half hours. Those who want to fly first go to Jeddah, because Makkah has no airport; the Jeddah–Madinah flight takes about an hour. The location of Makkah and travel from Türkiye are covered in our article on where the Kaaba is, and the miqat points and the geography of Umrah in our article on where Umrah is performed.

How Many Hours Is Makkah to Madinah by Bus?

The great majority of Umrah groups travel between Makkah and Madinah by bus. The road is a fully dual-carriageway, asphalt motorway; buses make one or two stops at the rest areas along the way, and the total time mostly stays between five and six hours. Traffic at the city exits, waiting at checkpoints in busy periods such as Hajj and Ramadan, and the length of the stops determine the time; traffic is lighter on a night journey, but travellers arrive tired for the dawn prayer. The advantages of the bus are that the suitcases travel in the same vehicle, the group stays together and it is possible to stop at the miqat for ihram. Umrah travellers going from Madinah to Makkah stop at the Dhul Hulayfah (Abyar Ali) miqat as soon as they leave the city, perform ghusl or ablution, enter ihram and continue on their way with the intention and the talbiyah; our article on the intention for ihram explains this step. No ihram is needed when going from Makkah to Madinah. The programme decides the timing of the journey: a bus that leaves after the dawn prayer reaches Madinah in time for the noon prayer; those leaving in the afternoon pray the evening prayer on the way or on arrival. In Ramadan, groups mostly set out early in the morning so as not to spend iftar on the road.

Makkah to Madinah on the Haramain High-Speed Train

The Haramain high-speed railway is a 450-kilometre electrified line linking Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City (Rabigh); it entered service in 2018 and, with trains reaching 300 kilometres per hour, has brought the journey between the two holy cities down to two and a half hours. There are five stations on the line: Makkah, Jeddah (Sulaymaniyah), Jeddah King Abdulaziz Airport, King Abdullah Economic City and Madinah. The trains are air-conditioned, the seats are numbered and there are separate compartments for luggage; tickets are bought online and at the stations, and in busy periods they should be bought early. Although the train is faster and more comfortable than the bus, the stations lie outside the Haram areas, so the time taken to get to the station and from the station to the hotel must be taken into account. Since the suitcases of Umrah pilgrims travelling in groups are mostly carried by bus, the train is preferred more by individual travellers, families and short programmes.

Where are the Haramain train stations?

The Makkah station is in the Rusayfah district of the city, a few kilometres from Masjid al-Haram; the Madinah station is in the west of the city, ten to fifteen minutes by taxi from the Prophet’s Mosque. Jeddah has two stations: the Sulaymaniyah station in the city centre and the station inside the airport. An Umrah traveller landing in Jeddah can go directly by train from the airport station to Makkah or to Madinah; this is a shorter option than the bus, especially for those who cannot find a flight to Madinah. The trains have two classes, economy and business; the number and weight of bags each passenger may take on board are limited, and a separate luggage rule applies to large suitcases. Because the rule on carrying Zamzam containers changes from time to time, the train company’s current rules should be checked when buying the ticket.

Can You Fly from Makkah to Madinah?

Makkah has no airport; the nearest airport to Makkah is Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz Airport, about 75 kilometres away. So a “flight from Makkah to Madinah” really means a road journey from Makkah to Jeddah followed by a flight of about an hour from Jeddah to Madinah’s Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz Airport; with airport procedures and transfers, the total time is no shorter than the bus journey. The plane makes more sense on programmes that land directly in Madinah from Türkiye or return to Türkiye from Madinah: the traveller lands in Jeddah, performs Umrah in Makkah, moves on to Madinah by bus or train and boards the return flight in Madinah, so that the same road is not travelled twice. There are direct flights to Madinah from Istanbul and some Anatolian cities in Türkiye; these flights are slightly shorter than the Jeddah flights, and in Madinah the Prophet’s Mosque is reached from the airport in half an hour. You can see which cities in Türkiye fly to which airports on our Umrah departure cities page.

How Many Days Is Makkah to Madinah on Foot? The Hijrah Route

The question “how many days is Makkah to Madinah on foot” has a historical answer: the Hijrah journey of the Prophet and Abu Bakr took about ten to twelve days, including the three days spent in the Cave of Thawr; the caravans avoided pursuit by following the coastal road and making detours from the short route. We have described the Cave of Thawr, the first stop of that journey, in our article on the Cave of Thawr. In the Ottoman period, too, camel caravans mostly took ten to twelve days between Makkah and Madinah. Today, for a person walking thirty to forty kilometres a day, the 450-kilometre road means twelve to fifteen days; but because of the desert climate and the problems of water and accommodation, this journey is not made on foot and the authorities do not allow it either. The modern examples said to have been made on foot are symbolic walks carried out before Ramadan or Hajj with support vehicles alongside.

How Is the Makkah – Madinah Transfer Planned in an Umrah Programme?

Umrah programmes are built in two orders: Madinah first, then Makkah, or Makkah first, then Madinah. Groups landing in Madinah stay a few days at the Prophet’s Mosque, then enter ihram at the Dhul Hulayfah miqat, travel by bus to Makkah and perform Umrah; this order is liked by first-time pilgrims because it limits the time spent in ihram to the bus journey. Groups landing in Jeddah enter ihram on the plane or in Jeddah, go straight to Makkah, complete Umrah and go to Madinah at the end of the programme; in this order the journey from Makkah to Madinah is made without ihram and is relaxed. How many days are spent in each city and how the total time is divided are explained in our article on how many days Umrah takes; the accommodation options on our Makkah hotels and Madinah hotels pages are ranked by walking distance to the Haram.

• Madinah first: rest in Madinah, visit to the Rawdah, then ihram at the miqat and Umrah in Makkah; return from Jeddah.
• Makkah first: landing in Jeddah, Umrah, then the Madinah visit; return from Madinah airport.
• Transfer day: buses leaving after the dawn prayer arrive in the afternoon; for train passengers, station transfers are added to the programme.

Things to Watch on the Journey

As much as the distance and the time, the journey itself is part of the Umrah programme; for most pilgrims these few hours between Madinah and Makkah, spent in ihram and approaching Makkah with the talbiyah, are the spiritually most intense part of the trip. A bus journey of five to six hours calls for preparation, especially for elderly travellers and those with children. Water and light snacks, a thin cardigan (the bus air conditioning is strong), medicines and documents should be in the hand bag; since passports and Umrah documents may be asked for at the checkpoints along the road, the group leader’s arrangements should be followed. Those travelling from Madinah to Makkah will enter ihram at the miqat, so the ihram set, belt and slippers go in the hand luggage, and unscented soap and wet wipes are kept ready. The travel dua is recited on setting out; from the miqat onwards the talbiyah is recited. Take a neck pillow if you want to sleep on the bus, and a Quran and dua book if you want to spend the journey in worship. Arrival in Makkah is usually not at the hotel but straight to Masjid al-Haram for Umrah, so staying in a state of ablution throughout the journey makes things easier. Depending on the arrival time of the bus, the group leader has the Umrah performed immediately or after a short rest; a pilgrim in ihram must observe the prohibitions of ihram while waiting at the hotel.

Important: The place where an Umrah traveller going from Madinah to Makkah enters ihram is the Dhul Hulayfah (Abyar Ali) miqat; passing the miqat without ihram requires a penalty (dam). If the bus passes without stopping at the miqat, having entered ihram at the hotel or in Madinah is sufficient; what matters is to cross the miqat line in ihram and with the intention made. No ihram is required when going from Makkah to Madinah.

Distances from Jeddah to Makkah and Madinah

Most people asking about the Makkah–Madinah distance also want to know how far Jeddah, where the flight from Türkiye lands, is from the two cities. Jeddah, the gateway of the Umrah journey, is about 75 kilometres from Makkah and about 420 kilometres from Madinah. From Jeddah airport Makkah is reached in an hour by bus and in half an hour on the Haramain train; Madinah takes four and a half to five hours by bus and about two hours by train. For Umrah travellers coming from Türkiye the shortest arrangement is to land in Jeddah, go to Makkah and return from Madinah airport after the Madinah visit; if a return to Jeddah is necessary, the train from Madinah to Jeddah is much shorter than the bus. Jeddah itself has places worth seeing, such as the old town (Al-Balad), the Red Sea corniche and the cemetery attributed to Eve, but most Umrah programmes do not stay in Jeddah and see the city only in passing from the airport.

The Historic Road: The Hejaz Railway and the Hajj Caravans

Throughout Islamic history the road between Makkah and Madinah was the last stage of the Hajj caravans. The Ottoman Hajj caravans setting out from Damascus reached Madinah in about forty days and Makkah in another ten to twelve days. The Hejaz Railway built by Abdülhamid II linked Damascus and Madinah in 1908 and reduced the Damascus–Madinah journey to a few days; but the First World War broke out before the line could be extended to Makkah, and the railway ceased to operate after 1918. The historic railway station in Madinah can be visited today as a museum; in our article on places to visit in Madinah we describe this station and other Ottoman traces. In the Ottoman period caravans stayed at the way stations on the road between Makkah and Madinah, and wells and forts protected the travellers. A century later, the Haramain high-speed train has restarted rail travel in the same landscape; this time not from Damascus but from Jeddah, yet again between the two holy cities. For places to see in Makkah, see our article on places to visit in Makkah.

Which Means of Transport Suits Whom?

All three options have their place; the right one is the one that fits the structure of the programme and the traveller’s situation. For Umrah travellers going as a group and wanting to move together with their luggage, the bus is the most practical option; the programme leader organises the stops, the miqat and the hotel check-in. On short programmes, for travellers with back and knee problems and on family trips, the train may be preferred because it cuts the five-hour bus journey to two and a half hours; but the station transfers must be added to the programme. The plane makes sense only between Jeddah and Madinah and is used on programmes that land directly in Madinah or return from it. Which arrangement suits you should be decided according to the length of the programme, the average age of the group and the return airport; on the programmes on our Umrah tours page, the way each tour makes the Makkah–Madinah transfer is stated separately.

1. Bus: groups, travel with luggage, easy stop at the miqat; 5–6 hours.
2. Haramain train: individual travellers, families, short programmes; 2.5 hours plus station transfers.
3. Plane: only Jeddah–Madinah; programmes landing directly in Madinah or returning from it.

Frequently Asked Questions