Umrah transport in Saudi Arabia: a complete guide

The short answer. Umrah transport is simple compared with Hajj: an airport transfer at each end, the journey between Makkah and Madinah, and whatever local moving about you choose to do. The first and second are the ones packages differ on. Locally you will mostly walk, and you should budget for taxis more than you think, especially with an older parent.

Unlike Hajj, nothing about Umrah forces a package to include transport beyond getting you to the hotel. That makes it one of the lines worth settling in writing before you pay.

The journeys

Airport to hotel, on arrival. Often included, not always. After a flight that lands in the small hours this is the one you want arranged rather than negotiated.

Hotel to airport, on the way home. The same, and more often forgotten.

Makkah to Madinah. The big one. Train, coach or private car, and in many packages it is not included at all. It has its own page: how to travel from Makkah to Madinah.

Locally, in each city. Mostly walking, because the hotels worth staying in are near the Haram and the Masjid. Taxis for the rest.

Ziyarat transport, if you are doing Ziyarat: the Umrah Ziyarat guide.

Getting about locally

Walking is the default and it is why the hotel distance decides the trip. A close hotel removes most of the transport question entirely.

Taxis and ride apps are widely used and straightforward. Budget more than you expect: the commonest reason people spend on them is not distance, it is tiredness, and that is exactly when it is worth spending.

Agree the fare or use the app price rather than leaving it open, which saves an awkward conversation at the end.

With an older parent, plan to take taxis as a matter of course rather than as a failure. Families walk a tired parent home to save a small fare and lose the next day to it.

What to settle before you pay

• Is the arrival transfer included?
• Is the departure transfer included?
• Is the Makkah to Madinah journey included, and by what means?
• If the train is included, are the station transfers at both ends included

too? This is where "the train is included" quietly becomes two taxi fares.

• Is Ziyarat transport included, and in which city?
• What is excluded, in writing?

That last request settles all of them at once. What a package typically covers is in what is included in an Umrah package.

Luggage

Think about it once, before you travel, and it stops being a problem:

• Who carries the bags at the station or the terminal?
• Is there help at the hotel, and at what hours?
• Zamzam and gifts on the way home, against your airline's allowance. Know the

rule before you buy, not at check-in.

Timing, which matters more than the method

Do not travel between cities on the day you arrive in the country. Landing at three in the morning, performing Umrah and then taking a long journey the same day costs you the next two days.

Leave a margin around hotel check-in and check-out, or you will sit in a lobby for hours.

With children or a grandparent, pick the civil hour over the cheap one.

Ask us what is arranged

Our departures say which transfers are included and how the Makkah to Madinah journey is made, on the Umrah packages page. Send us your dates and who is travelling and we will tell you exactly what is covered, what is not, and what we would arrange differently for your group.