Prices and rules on this page last verified: 22 August 2026
A self-booked Umrah from the UK costs roughly £1,050–£1,300 for one adult travelling lean in low season, £2,000–£2,600 at a walkable four-star hotel on a direct flight, and £2,900–£4,500 for the last ten nights of Ramadan. A family of four should budget £4,000–£5,500 in low season and £7,000–£11,000 in late Ramadan.
Those are wide ranges because three decisions move the total more than everything else combined. We will get to those. First, something that has changed this year and invalidates most of the cost guides currently ranking.
Three carriers left the UK–Saudi market in 2026. British Airways ended London–Jeddah on 24 April 2026. Wizz Air withdrew Gatwick–Jeddah and Gatwick–Madinah, and removed its planned September 2026 restart on 15 July. Virgin Atlantic dropped Riyadh. Saudia is now the only direct London–Jeddah operator, and there is no direct flight from the UK to Madinah at all. Any cost guide written before mid-2026 is wrong on flights. British Airways’ Jeddah page is even still live and indexed.
Flights
Fares captured 22 August 2026. London to Jeddah: cheapest return found £259, typical range £474–£635, cheapest direct on Saudia £591. London to Madinah: cheapest £317, one-stop only. Manchester to Jeddah: from £348, Saudia direct.
| Season | One-stop economy return | Saudia direct return |
|---|---|---|
| Low season — Sept to Nov, mid-Jan to early Feb, May–June | £280–£450 | £480–£650 |
| UK school holidays — Feb and Oct half-terms, Easter, late July–Aug, December | £450–£700 | £650–£900 |
| Ramadan 2027, first two-thirds | £550–£800 | £750–£1,000 |
| Ramadan last ten nights and Eid | £650–£1,000 | £850–£1,300+ |
Monthly averages back this up: London–Jeddah is cheapest in June at £494 and dearest in December at £718; London–Madinah is cheapest in September at £255 and dearest in December at £555.
How big is the Ramadan premium really? The honest answer is that it depends how late you book. A 20–40% uplift is the base case. But Arab News reported a traveller whose quote went from SAR 2,000 to SAR 4,000 — a doubling — inside two months for the same Ramadan dates. Treat 20–40% as normal and 100% as the price of leaving it late.
Visa
| Item | SAR | GBP |
|---|---|---|
| Tourist eVisa, total | 535 | £104 |
| — government fee | 300 | £59 |
| — compulsory medical insurance | ~180 | £35 |
| — platform fee and VAT | ~55 | £11 |
| Nusuk Umrah permit | 0 | Free |
| Nusuk Rawdah permit | 0 | Free |
The ETA looks better than the eVisa and isn’t. The new UK Electronic Travel Authorisation runs 730 days against the eVisa’s 365, which makes it look like the obvious choice. But the Foreign Office is explicit: “An ETA does not include health insurance for your visit.” The eVisa bundles cover up to SAR 100,000. Read our full breakdown of the visa routes before you pick one.
One claim we could not confirm and will not repeat as fact: one large travel site states that from 2026 standalone Umrah visa applications are no longer accepted and every applicant must link a Nusuk booking including hotel and transport. Nothing on the FCDO or the official visa portal supports this. If it were true it would end DIY Umrah, so check the portal yourself before booking anything.
Accommodation — where the money actually is
This is the largest line and the one you control most. Prices below are per room per night, excluding tax.
| Zone | Distance from the Haram | Off-peak | Ramadan | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone C — Aziziyah, shuttle | 15–30 min shuttle | £24–£60 | £47–£123 | ~2.0× |
| Zone B — Ajyad, 3-star | 8–15 min walk | £33–£90 | £71–£151 | ~2.1× |
| Zone B — 4-star | 5–15 min walk | £60–£180 | £123–£264 | ~1.7× |
| Zone A — 5-star, Haram view | 0–600 m | £79–£300+ | £250–£1,200+ | 2–4× |
Live rates captured on 5 August 2026 for a September stay make the distance-to-price relationship concrete:
| Hotel | Distance | Per night |
|---|---|---|
| Makkah Al Aziziah | 3.8 km | ~£38 |
| voco Makkah | 1.9 km | ~£44 |
| DoubleTree by Hilton Jabal Omar | 735 m | ~£114 |
| Zamzam Pullman | 539 m | ~£160 |
| Swissôtel Makkah | 550 m | ~£185 |
| Makkah Clock Royal Tower (Fairmont) | 576 m | ~£207 |
| Swissôtel Al Maqam | 412 m | ~£239 |
voco Makkah at 1.9 km is £44 a night. Swissôtel Al Maqam at 412 m is £239. That is 5.4 times the price for about a kilometre and a half. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on who is walking it, how many times a day, and in what weather — which is exactly why we measure walking routes rather than quoting straight-line distances.
Madinah runs roughly 15–25% cheaper than Makkah across every tier.
The tax nobody quotes you
Saudi hotels add 15% VAT plus a 5% municipality fee — 2.5% for three-star and below. Most quoted rates exclude it. Add about 20% to any hotel quote. On a £1,000 accommodation bill that is £200 you had not planned for.
Ramadan
Whole-Ramadan city averages come in around +40%, but that figure is dragged down by outlying hotels. For a walkable hotel in the last ten nights, budget 2.5 to 5 times normal. Named examples: Pullman ZamZam £75 off-peak against £236–£472 in Ramadan; Mövenpick Hajar £87 against £208–£453.
Ramadan 1448 begins about 8 February 2027, so the last ten nights start around 27 February. Operators contract their room blocks 6–12 months ahead. If you want a walkable Makkah hotel for those nights, you are booking now — August 2026 — or you are competing for whatever the public rate leaves behind.
Ground transport
| Journey | Option | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Jeddah airport → Makkah | SAPTCO shared bus | ~£10 per person, 3–4 hours |
| Haramain train + taxi | £12–£20 + £10–£20 taxi, ~55 min | |
| Private pre-booked transfer | £59 fixed (Camry), 75 min | |
| Airport taxi | £49–£68 | |
| Uber / Careem | £59–£88, doubling at prayer times | |
| Makkah ↔ Madinah | Haramain economy | £28–£39 |
| Haramain business | £47–£59 | |
| Madinah station → hotel | Taxi | £8–£14 |
| Local transport, 10 days | Buses and short taxis | £28–£70 |
A finding that surprised us. For a family of four, the private airport transfer at £59 beats the train — four tickets plus the taxi from Makkah station comes to about £78 — and it is door to door with luggage. The train only wins for solo travellers and couples. Our full guide to the Haramain train covers the luggage limits, which are tighter than people expect.
The smaller lines
| Item | Cost | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Food, per person per day | £8–£16 budget · £16–£30 mid | Three independent sources converge on this. Zamzam inside the Haram is free and unlimited. |
| Ihram set and kit (men) | £35–£55 | Two-piece cotton set about £19, slippers £6, belt £15, pins £1. |
| Abaya or jilbab (women) | £20–£40 | No prescribed garment; plain clothing. |
| Zamzam, 5 litres | £2.44 | Must be bought sealed at an airport outlet, and handed over at check-in — never through security. |
| eSIM, 10 days unlimited | £25 | Airalo on the Zain network. |
| Local visitor SIM, 20 GB / 14 days | £11–£12 | Mobily, STC, Zain or Salam. Needs your passport and visa at point of sale. |
| Makkah ziyarat, private car | £49 (4 seats) – £78 (11 seats) | Priced per vehicle, not per person. |
| Souvenirs and gifts | £98–£391 | The sleeper line. For a family this can exceed the entire transfer budget. |
| Tips | £1–£2 per porter per bag, nightly for housekeeping |
Two easy arbitrages. One local SIM used as a hotspot costs £12 against £100 for four eSIMs. And a private ziyarat car for the whole family is £49–£59, where an agency charges £50–£80 per person — £59 against £200–£320 for a family of four.
The model: 10 nights, five in Makkah and five in Madinah
One adult
| Line | Lean, low season | Mid — 4-star, direct | Ramadan last ten nights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flights | £360 | £550 | £1,000 |
| eVisa | £105 | £105 | £105 |
| Makkah, 5 nights inc. tax | £190 | £550 | £950 |
| Madinah, 5 nights inc. tax | £170 | £450 | £650 |
| All ground transport | £114 | £176 | £217 |
| Food | £88 | £195 | £220 |
| SIM | £12 | £25 | £25 |
| Ihram and kit | £35 | £45 | £45 |
| Zamzam | £2.50 | £2.50 | £2.50 |
| Ziyarat | £15 | £80 | £80 |
| Insurance top-up | £20 | £25 | £25 |
| Tips and contingency | £40 | £70 | £100 |
| Total | ≈ £1,150 | ≈ £2,280 | ≈ £3,400 |
| Realistic range | £1,050–£1,300 | £2,000–£2,600 | £2,900–£4,500 |
Family of four, one quad room
| Line | Low season, one-stop | Low season, direct | Ramadan last ten nights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flights ×4 | £1,440 | £2,200 | £4,000 |
| eVisas ×4 | £420 | £420 | £420 |
| Makkah quad, 5 nights | £750 | £750 | £1,400 |
| Madinah quad, 5 nights | £600 | £600 | £1,000 |
| All ground transport | £306 | £306 | £370 |
| Food ×4 | £520 | £520 | £650 |
| Everything else | £507 | £507 | £580 |
| Total | ≈ £4,550 | ≈ £5,300 | ≈ £8,300 |
| Per person | £1,140 | £1,325 | £2,075 |
Children need their own eVisa. The Haramain child discount applies. An independent estimate for a comparable family trip puts the range at £4,500–£7,000, which brackets our figure — our number sits at the lower end because we model a shorter Madinah stay.
DIY versus a package — the honest answer
To compare fairly you have to add to every package price the things packages do not cover: food, SIM, ihram kit, Zamzam, insurance, tips and contingency. Roughly £910 for a family of four over ten nights.
| Scenario | DIY | Package | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family of four, low season, 4-star | ≈ £4,550 | ≈ £3,990 all-in | Package wins by ~£560 — and that package price is a lead-in “from” rate, so a real quote likely closes the gap |
| Solo, low season, lean | £1,150 | £1,300–£1,700 | DIY wins — you can buy a shuttle-zone hotel and a one-stop flight the operator will not sell you |
| Solo, walkable 4-star | £2,280 | £1,300–£1,700 | Package wins clearly — you pay the whole room, the package headline assumes quad-share |
| Family, Ramadan last ten nights | ≈ £8,300 | ≈ £9,160 (named hotels, half board, Saudia direct, ATOL) | Close, and availability may decide it for you |
Where packages genuinely win, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Operators contract room allotments 6–12 months ahead. By the time a member of the public searches for a walkable Makkah hotel for the last ten nights of Ramadan, the honest outcome is usually sold out, or a public rate at 3–5 times normal. A DIY Ramadan trip is a bet on availability that may simply not exist. Packages also carry ATOL protection; booking the pieces separately does not.
Packages also win for solo travellers, because every headline price assumes quad-share — worth £400–£800 in low season and £1,000 or more in Ramadan. And for regional departures: DIY from Manchester costs about £90 more than London, Birmingham £105, Glasgow or Edinburgh £130, while operators sell “from any UK airport”.
DIY wins on hotel certainty — you book the actual building, not “4-star or similar”, which is how people end up in Aziziyah on a shuttle they did not expect. It wins on flight quality, on the 10–25% agency margin, on the free permits you book yourself, and on being able to split your nights however you like.
The three decisions that move the total most
| Decision | What it is worth |
|---|---|
| 1. When you go | 2–3× the whole trip. One adult goes from £1,150 in September to £3,400 in the last ten nights of Ramadan. Cheapest windows: September–November, mid-January to early February, May–June, the weeks straight after Hajj, and Muharram and Safar. |
| 2. How far you sleep from the Haram | Up to £2,700 over ten nights. Zone C at £24–£60 a night against Zone A at £79–£300+. Over ten nights that is £240 against £3,000. |
| 3. How many share the room | £400–£1,000+ per person. Every package headline is quad-share. A solo DIY traveller pays for the whole room. |
After those: direct versus one-stop is worth £200–£350 per person; your departure airport £90–£130; and hotel tax adds a flat 20% that most quotes hide. Note that flights and hotels reward opposite behaviour — flight prices bottom out around seven weeks ahead, while Ramadan hotels need booking 6–12 months out.
How we got these figures
Flight fares were captured on 22 August 2026 and are a snapshot; on a route where Saudia now has a near-monopoly, expect them to firm through winter. Hotel bands come from two independent datasets that agree closely. Package prices are real quoted prices from UK operators, not estimates. Cost lines marked as ranges are our own arithmetic on sourced components — our methodology page explains what that means and where we draw the line.
This page is rechecked quarterly, and flight figures more often than that. If a number here does not match what you are being quoted, tell us — that is genuinely useful to us and to the next reader.