A 7 day Umrah itinerary usually needs four to six booked road journeys: the airport arrival, the move between Makkah and Madinah, the departure to the airport, and one or two short ziyarah trips if the family wants them. The fixed journeys, arrival, intercity and departure, can be booked as soon as flights and hotels are settled. The short visits can wait, but not beyond the 48 hours’ notice every online booking needs. Everything else in the week, including walking to the Haram, needs no car at all.
This guide is for the family organiser, often planning from abroad for parents or relatives, who has a week and wants to know which journeys to book, in what order, and which to leave open. It sets out a day-by-day framework for a one week Umrah plan, the decisions that change it, a table of every leg, a worked example, a checklist and short notes on stretching the same plan to 10 or 14 days. It covers transport only. The order and timing of acts of worship are for your group to settle with a qualified scholar, using the official guidance on Nusuk.
What a week actually contains
Seven days shrinks once you count the travel. The flight in, the flight out and the move between the two holy cities each take a large part of a day, leaving roughly four full days on the ground. So a sensible week has a simple shape:
- Day 1: arrive and transfer to the first city.
- Days 2 to 4: stay in the first city, with at most one outing.
- Day 5: move to the second city.
- Day 6: stay in the second city, with at most one outing.
- Day 7: transfer to the airport and fly home.
The rest of this article fills that shape in for the most common version, arriving at Jeddah, spending the first part of the week in Makkah and flying home from Madinah. If your flights are not booked yet, our guide to planning Umrah ground transport before choosing flights compares all five airport patterns side by side, and it is worth reading before you pay for tickets.
Three decisions that shape the whole week
Before you book a single journey, settle three things. Each one changes several legs at once.
Which airport do you arrive at, and which do you leave from?
Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport is the natural arrival point for Makkah. In our live route checks, Jeddah Airport to central Makkah measured about 94 to 97 km. Madinah’s airport is the natural departure point for Madinah: the drive from Madinah Airport to the Madinah Hilton measured about 20 km.
If you arrive at Jeddah and leave from Madinah, you have one long road journey in the middle of the week. If you arrive and leave from the same airport, a second long leg appears at one end. Makkah to Madinah is about 439 km by road, and Jeddah Airport to the Madinah Hilton measured about 397 km. We have not measured Madinah to Jeddah Airport, so check the planner for that direction.
Makkah first or Madinah first?
Most families who arrive at Jeddah go to Makkah first, because it is close. Families who land in Madinah usually start there. Our pages on beginning a Pilgrim Taxi plan in Jeddah and beginning in Madinah cover the arrival end in detail. This article follows the Makkah-first shape, then shows how the Madinah-first version differs.
Road or train for the intercity leg?
The Haramain High Speed Railway links Makkah and Madinah, with stations at Makkah, Jeddah, King Abdulaziz International Airport, King Abdullah Economic City and Madinah, according to the Haramain High Speed Railway. If you take the train, the intercity road leg becomes two short journeys: hotel to Makkah station, then Madinah station to hotel. Luggage rules, tickets and timetables are for the railway to confirm. If you go by road, it is one long journey, door to door, with the bags in the vehicle the whole way.
A 7 day Umrah itinerary, day by day
Here is the Makkah-first week, journey by journey. Distances come from our live route checks. We do not quote drive times, because they vary too much with traffic, the time of day and the season.
Day 1: Jeddah Airport to your Makkah hotel
This is the journey to book first. Enter the flight number at checkout, count every adult, child and infant, and count large bags and cabin bags separately. The search only shows vehicle classes that pass the capacity check for your party and luggage.
The pickup time matters more than people expect. Free waiting counts from the booked pickup time, not from when the plane lands or when the car arrives. Each class has its own allowance: 15 minutes for Economy, 30 minutes for Business & Executive, the Staria VIP van and the H1 family van, 30 minutes for minibuses and coaches, 45 minutes for a Premium SUV and 60 minutes for Luxury. After that, waiting is charged per minute at the class rate, for example SAR 1.50 a minute in Economy or SAR 2.50 a minute in a Premium SUV.
Immigration and baggage reclaim can take a while. You can add extra waiting at checkout in steps of 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 or 120 minutes, and the driver’s instructions then show the total from the booked pickup time. With older relatives, this is often the most useful addition of the whole week.
Day 2: no car needed
Many families rest after the flight and spend the day at the Haram. Whether your hotel is walking distance from the Grand Mosque depends on where you stay, but for most central hotels no taxi is needed. Leave this day empty in the booking plan.
Day 3: an optional Makkah visit
If the family wants a ziyarah outing, one is usually enough in a short week. Two common destinations are already in the planner’s list of popular places. From the Clock Tower area, the Hira Cultural District measured about 13 km out and about 11 km back. Masjid Aisha at Al-Taneem measured about 13 km out and about 19 km back, because the road layout does not simply reverse.
Each direction is a separate journey with its own pickup time, because the pickup and destination must differ. Each journey also has a minimum booking value equivalent to £40. Choose the return time with a realistic gap for the visit: the return car waits only for its free allowance plus any extra waiting you added.
Day 4: Makkah, with packing in the evening
Keep day 4 clear and pack in the evening. Our note on deciding which bag stays with the traveller helps you choose it.
Day 5: Makkah to Madinah
This is the longest leg of the week, about 439 km. Book it as soon as the hotels are fixed. Choose the pickup time around the hotel’s check-out rules and the family’s energy, not around a guess at arrival time in Madinah. If anyone in the party travels on this leg with a question about Ihram or the miqat, that is a matter for a scholar and Nusuk guidance, not the booking.
Hotel frontage rules and where a car may stop are managed on the day. Agree a meeting point with the driver and be ready to send a live location.
Day 6: Madinah, with an optional outing
The Prophet’s Mosque is the centre of most families’ time in Madinah. Visits to Al-Rawdah Al-Sharifah require a booked permit: the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah describes it as a free service for booking an appointment through the Nusuk app and website. Book that first, then plan any car around it.
A common outing is Quba Mosque, which Saudipedia describes as the first mosque built in Islam, on Hijra Road to the southwest of the city. Type it into the planner as your destination and check the distance shown in the route summary. As in Makkah, the outward and return trips are two journeys.
Day 7: Madinah hotel to Madinah Airport
Book this as soon as the flight home is fixed. Our route check measured Madinah Airport to the Madinah Hilton at about 20 km. We have not measured the reverse direction, so check the distance in the planner for your hotel. Work back from the airline’s advice on when to be at the airport, then add time for check-out and loading the bags.
Umrah itinerary with transport: every leg in one table
The Makkah-first week, Jeddah in and Madinah out, as a booking plan.
| Day | Journey | Distance from our route checks | Book when | What to leave open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeddah Airport to Makkah hotel | About 94 to 97 km to central Makkah | As soon as flight and hotel are fixed | Extra waiting, if you are unsure about immigration |
| 2 | None | None | Nothing to book | The whole day |
| 3 | Makkah hotel to a visit, then back | Hira about 13 km out, 11 km back; Masjid Aisha about 13 km out, 19 km back | Once the family agrees the visit, at least 48 hours ahead | Whether to go at all |
| 4 | None | None | Nothing to book | The whole day |
| 5 | Makkah hotel to Madinah hotel | About 439 km | As soon as both hotels are fixed | Nothing: this leg is fixed |
| 6 | Madinah hotel to a visit, then back | Check the planner | After the Rawdah permit is booked | The outing and its time |
| 7 | Madinah hotel to Madinah Airport | About 20 km measured airport to Madinah Hilton | As soon as the return flight is fixed | Nothing: this leg is fixed |
This is the core of any Umrah itinerary with transport: book the three fixed journeys early. The outings can wait, provided you stay outside the 48-hour limit.
How a one week Umrah plan changes if you start in Madinah
If you land in Madinah, the week runs in reverse. Day 1 is the short airport transfer to your Madinah hotel. The intercity leg comes around day 3 or 4, going to Makkah. The departure is from Makkah to Jeddah Airport: the Hilton Jabal Omar to Jeddah Airport measured about 91 km.
The intercity leg now runs towards Makkah, so questions about Ihram for that journey belong with a scholar before you set off. The Makkah outing and the departure also fall close together, so keep a clear day between them. Going straight from Madinah Airport to the Makkah Clock Tower, about 460 km, makes for a very long first day.
Jeddah in, Jeddah out: the week with two long legs
Some tickets only allow a return to the same airport. With Jeddah at both ends, one long road journey lands on the first or the last day, straight after or straight before a long flight. If you have no choice, plan nothing else on that day and leave a generous margin before any flight. The Haramain line also stops at King Abdulaziz International Airport, which is worth comparing.
Worked example: the Rahman family’s week
Imran Rahman is booking a week for himself, his wife Sadia and his parents, Yusuf and Nasreen, from Birmingham. They land at Jeddah on a Monday afternoon and fly home from Madinah the following Sunday evening. There are four adults and four large suitcases.
Imran starts with the three fixed journeys. When he searches Jeddah Airport to the Makkah Clock Tower area with four adults and four large cases, only Premium SUV and larger vehicles appear, because smaller cars fail the capacity check. He picks a Premium SUV. It includes 45 minutes of free waiting from the booked pickup time. His parents walk slowly, so he adds 30 minutes of extra waiting at checkout, and the driver’s instructions show 75 minutes from the booked pickup time.
He books Makkah to Madinah for Friday morning and the Madinah hotel to the airport for Sunday afternoon, working back from the airline’s check-in advice. All three are paid in full online and stay provisional until each status reads Confirmed.
The family decide on Monday evening, their first night in Makkah, that they would like to visit the Hira Cultural District. Wednesday is now inside 48 hours, so they choose Thursday morning instead and Imran books two journeys: the hotel to Hira, and Hira back to the hotel two and a half hours later.
On Wednesday, Yusuf asks whether they can leave for Madinah an hour later on Friday. Imran uses “Request a new pickup time” in his account. The request stays pending until the booking team approves it, and if approved, a £5 rescheduling fee, converted into the booking currency, is added to the cash paid to the driver. Imran decides the hour is worth it and tells his father the amount in advance.
In Madinah, the family book Rawdah permits in Nusuk before Imran looks at a Saturday visit to Quba.
Timing rules that apply to every journey
A few booking rules run through the whole week. It helps to have them in one place.
- 48 hours’ notice. Online bookings need at least 48 hours before pickup. Plan outings two days ahead, not the evening before.
- Status. Payment secures a provisional request. The journey is booked only when the status reads Confirmed, usually within 1 to 12 hours.
- Time changes. Only the pickup time can be changed online, as a request from your account. An approved change carries a £5 rescheduling fee, converted to the booking currency and added to the cash paid to the driver at pickup. A rejected request costs nothing.
- Other changes. A different hotel, destination, number of passengers or vehicle needs the booking team, or a new booking plus a cancellation request. Our guide to changing one journey without changing the rest explains how to keep the other legs intact.
- Cancellations. 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.
That is the main reason to book optional outings only when the family is sure.
Stretching the plan to 10 or 14 days
Stretching a 7 day Umrah itinerary does not add fixed journeys. It adds outings and rest days.
10 days. Keep the same three fixed legs. Spend five nights in Makkah and three in Madinah, or four and four. A longer Makkah stay leaves room for a second outing, such as a day in Taif: the Clock Tower to the Taif InterContinental measured about 106 km. That is a significant trip, so give it a day of its own and book the return journey as a separate leg with a realistic time.
14 days. The risk is booking too much too early. Book the three fixed legs straight away, then plan outings a few days at a time, which keeps you away from 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) bookings nobody wants any more.
| Length | Fixed legs | Typical outings | Clear days to keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 days | 3 | 1 or 2 | At least 2 |
| 10 days | 3 | 2 or 3 | At least 3 |
| 14 days | 3 | 3 to 5 | At least 4 |
Whatever the length, keep the day before the intercity move and the day before departure light.
Keeping the week’s plan in one place
Four to six journeys means several confirmations, times and phone numbers. Keep them in one document the whole family can see, with pickup times in Saudi time and places exactly as booked; our one-page travel brief gives a template. If the journeys are for someone else, checkout asks for the traveller’s name, the traveller’s phone and an emergency contact. Once a driver is assigned, the driver-assigned email shows the vehicle registration and meeting instructions. Share it with the traveller on each travel day.
Checklist before you book the week
- Confirm both flights, including the arrival and departure airports, and note the flight numbers.
- Fix the hotels in both cities and copy their names exactly as they appear on the hotel booking.
- Decide road or train for the move between Makkah and Madinah.
- Count adults, children, infants, large bags and cabin bags for each journey, and add any child seats or a wheelchair requirement in the search.
- Book the three fixed journeys first: arrival, intercity and departure.
- On the arrival journey, choose the pickup time with care and add extra waiting if immigration or mobility may slow the party down.
- Leave outings unbooked until the family is sure, and book them at least 48 hours ahead.
- Book any Rawdah permits in Nusuk before planning Madinah outings.
- Check each journey’s status until it reads Confirmed, and keep the confirmation emails together.
- Share the driver details and a live location with each traveller on the day.
Start with the three fixed journeys of your 7 day Umrah itinerary: enter your airport, hotels and party in the Pilgrim Taxi ride finder, see which vehicles fit, and add the outings later once the family has decided.