What is included in an Umrah package?

The short answer. Nearly every Umrah package includes the visa, the flights and the hotels in Makkah and Madinah. The five lines that vary, and that decide what a package really costs, are meals, airport transfers, the Makkah to Madinah journey, Ziyarat, and how many people are in the room at the price you were quoted. Ask for the excluded list in writing and all five are settled at once.

Umrah packages vary more than people expect, because unlike Hajj there is no fixed set of obligations that forces an organiser to include anything beyond getting you there and housing you.

What is in nearly every package

The Umrah visa. This is the part you cannot do yourself: a Pakistani passport holder cannot lodge an Umrah visa alone, it goes through an operator attested by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and Nusuk will not take an individual application. So the visa is not an extra, it is the reason the package exists.

Flights, usually on the group's dates.

The hotel in Makkah, where the distance to the Haram is most of what you are paying for.

The hotel in Madinah, and the number of nights there.

The five that vary

1. The room. Not strictly an inclusion, but the thing most often misunderstood. The price you were quoted is per person for a particular room type. Five sharing and two sharing are very different numbers in the same hotel. Always ask which room the price refers to. Our rates are published by room on the Umrah cost guide.

2. Meals. All, breakfast only, or none. Over a fortnight with a family this is a large difference.

3. Airport transfers, at both ends.

4. The Makkah to Madinah journey, which many packages leave out and most people assume is in. It has its own page: how to travel from Makkah to Madinah.

5. Ziyarat, and whether transport to the sites is included or only the idea of it.

What no Umrah package includes

• Gifts, which are almost always the largest unplanned spend.
• Taxis, especially with children or an older parent.
• Phone and data.
• Laundry.
• Anything bought at the airport, and excess baggage coming home.

How much to carry for those is in how much money should I take for Umrah.

The one request

"Please send me, in writing, what is not included, and the cancellation terms."

That single message settles everything above. An agency that answers it fully is one you can plan with. One that cannot is telling you something worth knowing before you pay.

Ours are written out per departure on the Umrah packages page.

Reading two quotes properly

• Hotel in Makkah, by name, and the distance
• Hotel in Madinah, and how many nights
• Which room the price is for
• Meals, which ones
• Airport transfers, both ends
• Makkah to Madinah, included and by what means
• Ziyarat, and transport to it
• What is excluded, in writing
• Cancellation terms, in writing

A cheaper package is cheaper somewhere on that list. Once you know where, you can decide whether it is the right trade for your family rather than guessing.

Ask us with your dates

Send us the dates, how many of you and the ages, and we will come back with what each of our departures includes and excludes in writing, and what we would change for the people travelling with you. If you are still choosing an agency, the checks are in how to verify an Umrah travel agency.