Umrah for families: a complete planning guide

The short answer. Two decisions carry a family Umrah: the room, which decides the price far more than anything else, and the hotel distance, which decides whether the trip is enjoyable. Go in a quiet month if you can, put everybody in fewer rooms, accept a slower pace, and agree before you land what happens if somebody is separated.

A family group is usually three generations with three different paces: a parent who cannot walk far, children who cannot sit still, and the adults in the middle who end up responsible for both. Planned well it is the best trip a family takes together. Planned as an individual trip multiplied by six, it is exhausting.

The room is the price

This surprises people every time. In the same hotel, on the same dates, the per-person price changes with how many share the room, and the difference is large.

A family of five in one room pays very differently from two couples in two doubles. This is where families make their real saving and it costs nothing but closeness. Ask for the price by room type, not one figure, and decide from there. Our published rates are set out that way in the Umrah cost guide.

The distance is the trip

The second decision, and the one that decides whether people enjoy it.

A family walks slower than one person. Add a grandparent and a small child and a five hundred metre walk at two in the morning becomes a different proposition. Ask for the hotel by name and look at it yourself.

If the choice is a closer hotel for fewer nights or a further one for longer, with children and an older parent we would take closer and fewer, every time.

When to go

• Ramadan is extraordinary and extremely crowded. With small children and a

grandparent, the crowds, not the fasting, are the difficulty.

• School holidays are the obvious window and are busy and dearer.
• A quiet month is the same place with room to move, and the hotel you want

becomes affordable.

If your children's schooling allows any flexibility at all, use it. It buys a closer hotel for the same money.

Children

Passports and documents for every child, with names matching across documents. A spelling that differs between a child's passport and the family's other papers will stop the file.

Their own small bag with water, a snack and something quiet.

Photograph each child every morning in what they are wearing. If anybody is separated this is worth more than any description.

A card in their pocket with the hotel name and address in Arabic and two adult numbers.

Agree the meeting point before you enter the Haram, every time, and note the gate number. Everything around the Haram looks alike at night.

Expect less of the day. One main thing, then rest. Children who are rested are a different family to travel with.

Grandparents

The distance decides it, and the pace. The detail is in Umrah for elderly pilgrims, and the single most useful thing is to tell the agency about mobility before the package is chosen rather than after.

What actually goes wrong on a family trip

Everybody tries to keep one pace. They cannot. Split for part of the day and meet again, rather than dragging the whole group at the speed of the slowest or the most impatient.

The first day is wasted. Flights land in the small hours. Decide in advance whether you sleep first. With children and a grandparent, sleep first.

One adult holds all the money and documents. Split them.

Nobody plans the food. Check what your package includes before you budget, because with a family the difference over a fortnight is substantial.

Gifts are bought in a rush at the end. Write the list at home with a number beside it. It is always the largest unplanned spend, and with a large family it is larger still.

Practical things worth doing

• Book the rooms next to each other, and ask for it in writing.
• One adult always with the children, agreed in advance, not improvised.
• Carry more water than feels necessary.
• Go out at the cooler hours.
• Keep one day with nothing planned.

Ask us with the ages

Send us your dates, the number of adults and children, the ages, and anything about a grandparent's mobility. We will come back with the room combinations and what each costs per person, the hotel distance, and whether moving your dates by a week would get you noticeably closer for the same money. Our departures are on the Umrah packages page.