Some of our readers have been asking me how to do a cheap DIY UMRAH or Mini Hajj Pilgrimage to Mecca / Makkah in Saudi Arabia as the country now have relaxed the rules.
Some key notes that you should know: WEATHER, SEASON, BLACKOUT DATES, ROUTE.
Weather : Saudi weather is TYPICAL ARABIAN and meaning it is on the extremes. Hot weather summer can reach up to 60°C or so in Summer. Last Hajj season, a few hundred pilgrims passed away due to heat stroke as weather is scorching hot. Best avoid between May-Sept
Cooler weather starts October to Dec and Wet and chilly between Dec-Feb as heavy rainfall occurs. Trust me... it's like chilled ice water falling on you. A nice touch especially when you do the tawaf in the mataf and people will try avoid it..and thats when U can go and kiss the Kaabah and Hajar Aswad.
Blackout dates : Your umrah visa IS NOT VALID DURING HAJJ SEASON. Dhulkaedah and Dhulhijjah (After Syawal 2 months) as the Hajj Season has begin. This year, its WHOLE OF May & June 2025. Many will do Haji Irfad.And recent years, arrests and deportations are rampant and the police will break into the hotel rooms to catch violators.
ROUTE : If you are flying in for just UMRAH, then your route should be direct into Jeddah (JED) Airport with a simple stop-over. I strongly suggest take QATAR AIRWAYS (I don't get comm ok) but their service is really good. Emirates is great too but U will tend to waste time and effort indulging in shopping.
If you wish to do a ziarah *(VISITING Rasulullah ) , you need to do a MULTI-CITY and very likely it will require a 12-48hr stop over. I find it cheaper to Stop over in Doha and carry on. But you will require to take your luggage out.
This is an important step as you need to book your HARAMAIN TRAIN TICKETS proper. Last minutes will cost you dearly.
Book on a TUESDAY as it was said to be cheaper. You can verify with Flights Google
Example is SIN-DOH DOH-MED JED-SIN is cheaper than SIN-MED JED-SIN. Note: These are assuming you are flying from Singapore. I do notice flights from KUL and CGK are far expensive as the route is more expensive.
HOTEL :
CHEAP DOES NOT MEAN GOOD.
EXPENSIVE DOES NOT MEAN VERY CONVINIENT.
I learn it the hard way. I booked at the ZAMZAM CLOCK TOWER. Building is abit of old shared with Swisotel, Fairmont, and many more, so U need to take the lift from the mall to P11 or P5 or P3 depending on your hotel to check in. And whats worse, is that UBER CANNOT GO THERE. Only TAXI allowed into the Carpark driveway and they are a bloody ripoff. Even with meter, they refuse to do so, and charge anywhere from SAR20-SAR100 from HARAMAIN TRAIN STATION.
If you are unlucky, they will throw you at the underpass of Aziziyyah road..and you need to drag your bags up all the way!
Hence I recommend strongly AL-EBAA hotel , just after ANJUM hotel as it is outside the UBER CORDON AREA. ANJUM is great hotel, full of Indonesians but the climb up the hill of Jabal Omar (JABAL means HILL) is a journey in itself as it is located off the 3rd Extension project, 900m to the MATAF. Btw, Mataf means the tawaf area where the Kaabah is.
Price wise for Al-Ebaa is about S$100 for a 3 bed room.
I will continue in a second part
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