Mecca Transportation

If you would like to catch a Shared Taxi from Makkah to Jeddah (city and airport) or Madinah, you should come to the Taxi stand just 50 meters from Haram's Bab-ul-Fahad. There are many taxis standing but the negative aspect of a shared taxi is that it only leaves when it gets completely filled. The prices are just a bit more than the bus. The good aspect is that they are fast.

The Best Time to catch a shared taxi is just after the prayer because there are a lot of travellers waiting for the prayer so that they can pray in Haram and then leave for their journey. I took only 10 minutes for the taxi to get filled after the Maghrib prayer when i wanted to catch a taxi from Makkah to Jeddah. The cost was 10 SR one way.

Taxis are a bit pricy in Makkah because Taxi Drivers know that there are lots and lots of people who wants to use them because of the religious duties. So, I would recommend you to make sure two things before sitting inside a Taxi:

1. Make sure that the driver knows the place you wants to go.
2. Decide about the fare.

The drivers are a little bit stuburn and if u won't decide they'll ask their own amount which might be double of the real.

The highway between Jeddah and Makkah is about 80km long.
Before reaching the boundry of Makkah the highway sign points out for Non-Muslims to take the right exit,as it`s against Islam to let the non Muslims to enter the Holy City.
The distance between this exit and the holy Mosque is 27km.

The only way into Mecca is via road. You will have to take a cab from Jedda, and it will cost you about 100-150 Saudi Riyal. Make sure you get a good driver (of course there is no real way to tell beforehand). The roads in Saudi Arabia are built well and maintained, but the drivers are horrible. The best thing to do is pray a lot while on the road, and hope you have a good driver. Don't forget to buckle up, a lot of people die on the road from Jedda to Mecca.

During the Hajj season as well as in Ramadan the best way to get around in Mecca is walking. Every other means of transport will cost you a lot of money and you will still be stuck in traffic for hours. We still had to use the coach most of the times during our Hajj, because we had our little son with us and couldn't have walked long distances with him. But if you perform the Hajj without kids, then I would recommend to use your feet.

The best way to see 'Mecca' city is to walk through all the small alleys around Masjidil Haram.Be sure to visit the graves of 'Holy people' you will be surprise that there are only natural stone to mark the graves......no engravement...quite peculiar...unlike other muslim countries ........the tombstones have engravement. I guess in Saudi Arabia they have done the right thing.....no worshipping of beloved 'People' only .......worshipping GOD.

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There is a quite good bus service from Jeddah downtown to Mecca, which I think is much better than going there by car, because you will always have troubles parking your car in Mecca.

The busses operate very frequently, are air-conditioned and also clean. The seats are quite comfortable and the charge is 10 Riyals, ie approx. 2.70 USD for the one-way trip.