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City guide · Saudi Arabia
Mecca is closed to non-Muslims, and the prohibition covers the whole haram area rather than the Great Mosque alone, so that is the first thing to settle before planning anything else. For Muslims the city is the destination itself: the Masjid al-Haram with the Kaaba at its centre, the direction every prayer in the world faces. It lies in a narrow valley 277 m above sea level, 70 km inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, and its metropolitan population of 2.4 million more than triples during the Hajj. Over 19.3 million international visitors arrived in 2024.
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The Clock Tower Museum occupies the ninth floor of the Makkah Clock Tower, the central spire of the Abraj Al-Bait complex, which the operator also names as the King Abdulaziz Endowment for the Two Holy Mosques and describes as one…
Set your days, your pace and the hours you actually want to be out. The planner works around closing days and travel time, and leaves room to eat.
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