Both answers are correct, because there are two routes — an advance permit once every 365 days, and Instant Path, repeatable but only bookable once you are in Madinah. Plus timings, gates and the ten-minute reality.
The return leg has a hard deadline the arrival leg does not. Working backwards from your flight, including tawaf al-wada, the Terminal 1 trap and why six hours is not excessive.
We measured the price of proximity to the Haram across ten Makkah hotels. Walking 350 metres further saves 31% a night — and Aziziyah is fourteen times cheaper than the Clock Tower.
We check the ten largest Makkah hotels every week for the last ten nights of Ramadan 1448. Most return no rooms at all — but “unavailable on Booking.com” is not the same as sold out.
Train, taxi, bus, private transfer and the free shuttle almost nobody writes about — with real prices, the terminal that decides your options, and what to do when you land after midnight.
What the Nusuk app actually does, why the visa must come first, how permit slots and the QR code work, and the four different things confusingly called Nusuk.
Every line priced, for one adult and for a family of four. Where DIY beats a package, where it honestly does not, and the three decisions that move the total more than everything else combined.
Fares, luggage limits, the airport station that opens into the terminal, the refund policy most sites report wrongly, and where the miqat falls seven minutes out of Madinah.
Since October 2025 there is no separate Umrah visa. Here is what actually changed, the free permit that catches self-bookers out, and the rules most sites still get wrong.