Madinah

People arrive in Madinah expecting a smaller Makkah and find something quite different. It is calmer, flatter, greener and easier to walk. Pilgrims who do both cities in one trip almost always say they slept better here.

How long you actually need

Three days is the usual answer, and it is a good one. That gives you the eight prayers people traditionally aim for at Masjid an-Nabawi, a Ziyarat round, and a Rawdah visit without the whole trip bending around the booking slot.

Two days works if you are organised. Four or five is comfortable and not wasted, because this is a city people are happy sitting still in.

The one thing to sort out first

The Rawdah requires an appointment through the Nusuk app, and slots are released on a rolling window and go quickly. Book it before you fly, not when you land. Everything else here can be improvised; that cannot.

Our Rawdah appointment guide covers the booking mechanics step by step.

Where to base yourself

The Haram is ringed by hotels and the walk is flat, which changes the calculation from Makkah. A room eight or ten minutes out is genuinely fine here in a way it often is not there.

The central area around King Fahd Road and the Markaziyah district puts you inside the ring. Further out along the Hijrah road is cheaper and still walkable for anyone in reasonable health. Madinah stays lists what is bookable.

Beyond the mosque

More than Makkah offers, and it is spread out enough to want a car. The Ziyarat round covers Quba, Qiblatayn, the Trench site and Uhud in two to three hours. Dar Al Madinah is the museum to do on your first day rather than your last, because it explains the city you are about to walk around. The date farms and market are worth an afternoon, and they are where your gifts should come from rather than the airport.

With a full spare day, Badr is about 150 km southwest and is the one people come back quietest from.

Getting here, and getting about

Three sensible routes in. Fly into Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz airport, which is close to the city and the easiest option. Take the Haramain train from Makkah or Jeddah, which is fast and comfortable. Or drive from Makkah, which is the slowest but lets you stop at Badr on the way, turning a transfer into a day out.

Fares for the drive are on the Makkah to Madinah page. For the airport run, see the Madinah airport transfer.

In the city, you walk to the mosque and take a car to everything else.

Worth knowing

• The central area is restricted to Muslims, like Makkah, and it is enforced.
• The city is at around 600 metres and noticeably cooler than Jeddah, though summer is still summer.
• The mosque's courtyard umbrellas open in the morning and make the outer areas usable through the middle of the day.
• Prayer times empty the shops. Plan your errands around them rather than against them.

Where it fits

Most trips do Makkah first and Madinah second, which works because Madinah is the gentler half and you will be tired by then. Doing it the other way round is fine too, particularly if you want the Rawdah slot early in the trip. The deeper detail on the rites and the etiquette is in our Madinah Ziyarat guide.