Put this leg in place
A Madinah to Makkah taxi can include a stop at the Dhul Hulayfah miqat mosque, known locally as Abyar Ali, as part of one booked journey. You add the mosque as a stop between your Madinah pickup and your Makkah hotel, say in the booking notes what the stop is for and how long you expect it to take, and the whole road journey is priced and confirmed as a single trip. Saudipedia places the miqat about 14 km from the Prophet’s Mosque, so for most hotels in central Madinah it is near the start of the drive rather than a detour.
This guide is for families who spend the first part of their trip in Madinah and then travel to Makkah by road for Umrah, and for relatives at home who book that journey. It covers what official sources say about the miqat mosque, how to add Abyar Ali on the way to Makkah as a stop, choosing a pickup time around hotel checkout and prayer, where people usually change, what to keep in the car, the vehicle and luggage question for a long drive, and what happens if plans change. It does not give religious rulings. For those, speak to a qualified scholar and read the official guidance in the Nusuk app.
What the Dhul Hulayfah miqat is, in plain terms
A miqat is one of the recognised points from which pilgrims heading to Makkah for Hajj or Umrah enter ihram. Saudipedia’s page on the mawaqit al-ihram lists Dhu al-Hulayfah as the miqat for the people of al-Madinah, and its dedicated article on Miqat Dhu al-Hulayfah describes it as the miqat for the people of Madinah and those travelling along their route.
The same article gives the practical picture a family needs:
- It overlooks the western side of the al-Aqiq valley in Madinah.
- It is also known as Abar Ali (also written Abyar Ali or Bir Ali) and as Masjid al-Shajarah, the Mosque of the Tree.
- It is about 14 km from the Prophet’s Mosque.
- The mosque can accommodate around seven thousand worshippers.
- The complex has designated areas for ihram, ablution and bathing, roughly 500 restrooms, parking and a market.
For transport, that tells you the site is built for pilgrims arriving by road, with places to wash and change, on the Madinah side of the journey. It does not tell you where a car may stop on the day, which entrance to use or how busy it will be. Those are managed on the day, and we do not promise them.
Which miqat applies to you, whether you should already be in ihram before you reach it, and what to do if a plan changes part-way are religious questions. Ask a scholar you trust, and read the current guidance in Nusuk, before you finalise the journey.
Planning your Madinah to Makkah taxi around the miqat
The key decision is not the car but the order of the day. A Madinah to Makkah taxi with a miqat stop has four parts, and each has a time pressure of its own.
- Leaving the hotel. Rooms must be vacated by the hotel’s check-out time, bags must come down, and the party must be ready in the lobby together.
- The miqat stop. People wash, change if they have not already done so, pray if it is time, and return to the car.
- The long road south. Most of the journey happens here, with those performing Umrah in ihram.
- Arrival in Makkah. Check-in, luggage and, for many, going to the Haram for Umrah.
Families tend to plan part four in detail and leave parts one and two to chance, yet a calm stop at the miqat sets the tone for the rest of the day.
Our guide to starting your Pilgrim Taxi plan in Madinah explains how a Madinah-first itinerary shapes the rest of the trip.
Distance and what the planner will show
We do not quote journey times, because they vary too much with traffic, season and the length of stops. We do have live distances from our own routing engine:
| Route | Road distance (about) |
|---|---|
| Madinah Airport to the Clock Tower area of Makkah | 460 km |
| Makkah to Madinah | 439 km |
| Madinah Airport to the Madinah Hilton | 20 km |
Road distances differ by direction and by starting point, because of one-way systems and junctions. For a pickup at your own Madinah hotel, with the miqat added as a stop, check the distance shown in the planner’s route summary before you pay, and correct it if the stop appears in the wrong order. Saudipedia’s 14 km figure is measured from the Prophet’s Mosque, not from your hotel door.
How to add the Dhul Hulayfah miqat stop to a booking
A Dhul Hulayfah miqat stop is added in the search, in journey order, between the pickup and the destination. The planner allows up to eight stops on one journey, so a single miqat stop is well within that.
Step by step
- Pickup. Type your Madinah hotel by its full name and branch. If two hotels share a brand name, check the pin carefully. Our article on when the hotel name and map pin disagree covers this.
- Stop. Add the miqat mosque. Type it as it is commonly written, for example “Miqat Dhul Hulayfah” or “Abyar Ali Mosque”, and check the result on the map. It should sit by the al-Aqiq valley, about 14 km from the Prophet’s Mosque, not somewhere in central Madinah.
- Destination. Your Makkah hotel, again by full name.
- Passengers and bags. Adults, children, infants, large bags and cabin bags. Search results only show vehicle classes that pass the capacity check for the whole party and its luggage.
- Booking notes. Explain the stop by its purpose and expected length. For example: “Stop at the Dhul Hulayfah miqat mosque (Abyar Ali) for washing, changing and prayer. We expect to need about 40 minutes. Two older passengers need a short walk only.”
- Check the route summary. Pickup, then miqat, then Makkah, in that order.
The note turns a pin on a map into a plan the driver can act on. Our guide to describing an extra stop by purpose and address gives more wording examples.
How long should the stop be?
We cannot tell you how long the miqat will take on your day, and we do not promise any length of stop. Estimate honestly and write it down, thinking about:
- how many people will wash or change at the mosque rather than at the hotel
- anyone slow on their feet or using a wheelchair
- whether a prayer time falls during the stop
- young children who will need changing or feeding
If the stop is long or the party is large, ask how it will be handled through the Pilgrim Taxi contact page before you pay. Do not assume the car can wait indefinitely.
Abyar Ali on the way to Makkah: change at the hotel or at the mosque?
Whether to prepare at the hotel or at Abyar Ali on the way to Makkah is a choice families make differently, and it has a transport side as well as a religious one. The religious side, including when intention is made and what is permitted before and after, is for your scholar. The transport side looks like this.
| Approach | What it means on the day | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wash and change at the hotel, stop at the miqat | Party leaves the hotel dressed for ihram; the stop is shorter | Older travellers, families with small children, anyone who prefers their own bathroom | Hotel checkout time; everyone must be ready at once |
| Wash and change at the miqat | Party leaves in ordinary clothes; the stop is longer | Those who prefer to follow the sequence at the miqat itself | Busy periods; bags with ihram clothing must be reachable |
| Mixed party | Some change at the hotel, some at the mosque | Large families with different needs | Clear agreement on where everyone meets afterwards |
Whichever you choose, the booking should match it: a longer stop in the notes if most people change at the miqat, more care over the hotel departure if they change at the hotel.
Anyone travelling with you who is not performing Umrah on this trip still counts as a passenger and needs to know the plan for the stop.
Choosing the pickup time from your Madinah hotel
The pickup time is the time the car collects you, in Saudi local time. It is not the time you want to reach the miqat or Makkah.
Work backwards from three fixed points
- Hotel check-out. Every hotel sets its own. Confirm it with your hotel, and ask about a late checkout if the party wants to rest before leaving.
- Prayer times. Families often prefer to pray at the Prophet’s Mosque before leaving, or to plan the miqat stop around a prayer. Check the prayer times for your date with your hotel or a reliable local source.
- Arrival in Makkah. Think about how tired the party will be, and whether the Makkah hotel will be ready for you.
Free waiting at the pickup
Free waiting counts from the booked pickup time, not from when the car arrives. By class, the free minutes and the rate after that are:
| Vehicle class | Free waiting | After that |
|---|---|---|
| Economy | 15 minutes | SAR 1.50 per minute |
| Business and Executive, VIP van (Staria), MPV or family van (H1) | 30 minutes | SAR 2.00 per minute |
| Minibus (Hiace or Coaster) and Coach | 30 minutes | SAR 2.50 per minute |
| Premium SUV (Tahoe or Yukon) | 45 minutes | SAR 2.50 per minute |
| Luxury (S-Class) | 60 minutes | SAR 4.00 per minute |
If checkout with a large family will be slow, extra waiting can be added at checkout in 15-minute steps up to two hours, priced at the class’s per-minute rate, and the driver’s instructions show the total. This covers the pickup, not the miqat stop, and waiting beyond what was booked is never guaranteed.
Choosing a vehicle for a long road journey in ihram
The capacity check stops you choosing a car that cannot take your party and bags, but comfort over this distance is a separate question. Live checks show that four adults with four large cases are offered only a Premium SUV (six seats, four large bags) or larger, and five adults with five cases only seven-seat vehicles such as the Hyundai H1 family van or GMC Yukon XL (seven seats, six large bags) or larger. After several days of Madinah shopping, luggage has often grown, so count bags the day before you book rather than relying on the flight allowance.
If you need child seats or a wheelchair, add them in the search so they are confirmed for the vehicle. An older parent in ihram may find a high step harder than usual, and a line in the booking notes helps.
What to keep in the car, not in the boot
Once the bags are loaded at the hotel, the boot is effectively closed until Makkah, so anything needed at the miqat or on the road goes in the cabin. Our article on deciding which bag stays with the traveller goes into this in detail. For this journey, a small bag per person usually holds:
- ihram clothing if changing at the miqat, a small towel and a bag for damp items
- sandals that slip on and off easily at the mosque
- medicines for the day, water and simple food
- passports, visas, a charged phone with the Nusuk app, and the Makkah hotel details written down
Keep these bags on the floor or on laps, not under suitcases, so nobody is opening the boot in a car park.
Worked example: the Hussain family leave Madinah
Farida Hussain and her husband Imran are travelling from Bradford with Imran’s parents, Yusuf and Rukhsana, and their two children, aged nine and six. They spend four nights in Madinah and then travel to Makkah by road for Umrah. Farida’s brother Saleem books the journey from home.
Party: four adults, two children. Bags: five large cases, six cabin bags. The capacity check offers seven-seat vehicles and larger. Saleem chooses a Hyundai H1 family van, which seats seven and takes six large bags.
The plan they agree:
- Everyone will wash and get ready at the hotel, then pray at the miqat, as their scholar suggested for their situation.
- The family want to pray Dhuhr at the Prophet’s Mosque before leaving, and Yusuf walks slowly, so the stop must not be rushed.
The booking Saleem makes:
- Pickup: their Madinah hotel, by full name, at a time after Dhuhr that he checks against the prayer times for their date.
- Stop: the Dhul Hulayfah miqat mosque, confirmed on the map.
- Destination: their Makkah hotel.
- Notes: “Stop at Miqat Dhul Hulayfah (Abyar Ali) for prayer and to settle into ihram. We expect about 35 minutes. One older passenger walks slowly.”
- Extra waiting at pickup: 15 minutes on top of the H1’s 30 free minutes, because six people checking out with five cases rarely leave on time.
Saleem confirms a late checkout with the hotel, sends the family a one-page note with the pickup time in Saudi time, the vehicle and the stop, pays, and waits for the status to read Confirmed. When the driver-assigned email arrives with the registration and meeting instructions, he forwards it to Imran. On the day the family come down twelve minutes after the booked time, well within their 45 minutes.
Booking rules that matter for this journey
- Notice. Online bookings need at least 48 hours’ notice before pickup.
- Payment and status. Pilgrim Taxi takes full payment online. Payment secures a provisional request, and the status should update within 1 to 12 hours. The journey is booked only when it reads Confirmed. Our guide to what each booking status means explains the wording.
- Minimum value. Each journey has a minimum booking value equivalent to £40.
- Changes. Only the pickup time can be changed online, through your account. An approved new time carries a £5 rescheduling fee, converted into the booking currency and added to the cash paid to the driver at pickup. The stop, destination, passengers and vehicle cannot be changed online; that needs the booking team, or a new booking plus a cancellation request.
- Cancellation. Bookings are subject to our cancellation terms (free cancellation with a full refund up to 48 hours before pickup; inside 48 hours the deposit element of the price is kept) if the customer cancels. If we or the transport partner cancel, or cannot supply the journey and no suitable alternative is accepted, you receive a full refund for the affected journey. The full cancellation and refund policy sets this out.
What if the plan changes on the day?
Someone is unwell on the morning of departure. Decide as a family, with a scholar where a religious question arises, whether to travel. On the transport side, a request for a new pickup time can be made in the account before the pickup time; it stays pending until approved.
The miqat stop takes longer than expected. Keep the driver informed by phone. Do not assume unlimited time at the stop, and do not promise the family that the car will wait however long it takes.
The Haramain train instead. Some families compare road and rail for this leg. The Haramain High Speed Railway’s own station list names Makkah, Jeddah, King Abdulaziz International Airport, King Abdullah Economic City and Madinah, and does not include a miqat station, so the ihram arrangements for a rail journey are a separate question for your scholar and Nusuk. A road journey is the option that lets you stop at Abyar Ali on the way to Makkah.
Checklist before you book the Madinah to Makkah road journey
- Confirm the Madinah hotel’s checkout time, and a late checkout if you want one.
- Agree as a family, with scholarly advice, where each person will wash and change.
- Check prayer times for the travel date with your hotel or a reliable local source.
- Count every large case and cabin bag on the day before booking.
- Choose a pickup time in Saudi time, working back from checkout and prayer.
- Add the Dhul Hulayfah miqat mosque as a stop and confirm it on the map.
- Write the stop’s purpose and expected length in the booking notes.
- Add child seats, a wheelchair or extra waiting at pickup if needed.
- Check the route summary: pickup, miqat, Makkah, in that order.
- Pay at least 48 hours ahead and wait for the status to read Confirmed.
- Pack a small cabin bag per person for the stop.
- Share a one-page summary with the travelling party; our one-page travel brief is a good template.
A Madinah to Makkah taxi with a miqat stop is one of the most meaningful journeys of the trip, and it rewards a little planning. When you are ready, open the Pilgrim Taxi ride finder, enter your Madinah hotel, add the Dhul Hulayfah miqat as a stop and your Makkah hotel as the destination, and check the route and vehicles shown for your family.