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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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Jabal al-Nour, the Mountain of Light, is a bare rock peak on the north-eastern side of Mecca, a little over five kilometres from Al-Masjid al-Haram.
Jabal Thawr is a bare rock mountain on the southern edge of Makkah, rising above the ground south of the Misfalah district, and people climb it for one thing: the cave near its top, Ghar Thawr.
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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