Your flight from Morocco lands in Jeddah or Madinah. Everything after that, until you reach your hotel, happens on the ground: a train, a coach or a car, with suitcases and sometimes with parents who are already tired from the flight.
This guide covers that ground leg. It explains the railway between the three cities, what changes in Ramadan and in the Hajj season, and how to plan the transfer for a family. It does not cover the rites, or what to visit in each city.
How do I get from Jeddah airport to Makkah?
There are two ways: the train from the airport station, or a road transfer by coach or car. Both start at King Abdulaziz International Airport, which is one of the 5 stations of the Haramain line1.
Most travellers make this journey by air first. At the start of the 1448 season, from 15 Dhul Hijjah 1447 to the end of Muharram 1448, more than 1.27 million pilgrims came from abroad, and about 75% of them arrived by air5. Jeddah is the usual gateway from Morocco for Makkah: according to the Royal Air Maroc website, the airline sells Casablanca-Jeddah and Casablanca-Madinah flights8.
The train suits travellers who can handle their own bags between the terminal, the platform and the taxi at the other end. The Makkah station is a stop on the line, not the door of your hotel: you still need a last leg by road. Ask how far the station is from your hotel, and how you will cover that distance.
The road transfer is what most organised trips include. A coach or car takes you, and your suitcases, from the terminal to the hotel. If you travel with an organiser, ask in writing:
- who meets you at the airport, and how you will recognise them;
- whether the transfer goes straight to the hotel or stops on the way;
- what happens if your flight from Morocco lands late at night or very delayed.
Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah are also three of the four cities that the Saudi Ministry of Health calls the “Umrah areas”, with Taif9. Keep your health documents with your passport on every leg, not in the suitcase in the hold of the coach.
How does the Haramain railway work?
It is a high-speed line between the two holy cities, with Jeddah in between. The Haramain High Speed Railway is an electrified line of about 450 km linking Makkah and Madinah, with an operating speed of 300 km/h and 5 stations: Makkah, Jeddah, King Abdulaziz International Airport (Jeddah), King Abdullah Economic City and Madinah1.
For a trip from Morocco, three journeys matter:
- Jeddah airport to Makkah, on arrival if you land in Jeddah;
- Makkah to Madinah, or the other way round, in the middle of the trip;
- Madinah or Makkah to Jeddah airport, on the return day.
The trains themselves are large. For the Hajj season, the fleet was described as 35 electric trains of 417 seats each (13 carriages)2. On a busy day, that means a lot of people boarding at once with their luggage: allow time at the station.
We do not publish timetables, fares or journey times, because none is in our register. Book through the operator's official channels or through your organiser, and take the times from your own ticket.
How do I travel between Makkah and Madinah?
By train, or by road with your organiser. The train is the faster-looking option on paper, but the full door-to-door journey includes the road from each hotel to each station, the wait on the platform and the luggage at both ends.
For a family, the right choice depends on who is travelling:
- Adults who travel light often find the train simple: a fixed timetable and a seat.
- Groups with many suitcases may prefer a coach that loads the bags once at the hotel and unloads them at the next one.
- Older parents usually tire more from the changes (hotel, car, station, platform, train, car, hotel) than from the journey itself.
Ask your organiser which option is planned, at what time of day, and who handles the suitcases. If you start in Madinah, the same questions apply the other way round.
Madinah appears in this notebook as a stop on the route only. If you want to plan your time in the city itself, Wiki Tours' guide to visiting Madinah covers that side.
What changes in Ramadan?
Everything is busier, and the railway adds trains to keep up. During the last 10 days of Ramadan 2026, Saudi Arabia Railways raised Haramain train daily trips to more than 140, according to TradeArabia, citing SPA3.
More trains do not mean empty trains. The same period is when the largest number of pilgrims move between the cities. For Ramadan 1448, the first day falls on Monday 8 February 2027 according to the Umm al-Qura calendar (estimate, subject to moon sighting)10.
If your trip falls in Ramadan:
- book the train or the transfer at the same time as your flights and hotels, not once you are there;
- if you can, avoid a long transfer just before the evening meal, when fasting travellers are at their most tired;
- keep water and something to eat in a small bag for travellers who are not fasting, such as young children.
For the flight side of a Ramadan trip, see our guide to Umrah flights from Morocco. For when crowds peak across the year, see our page on the best time for Umrah.
What about the Hajj season?
The railway plans its biggest operation of the year. For Hajj 1447 (2026), the Haramain train planned more than 5,300 trips and over 2.21 million seats from 1 to 20 Dhul Qadah, over 210,000 more seats than the previous year2. Dhul Qadah is the month just before Dhul Hijjah, the month of Hajj.
For Moroccan Hajj pilgrims, part of the journey also starts before take-off. For Hajj 2026, the Makkah Route programme, under which Saudi entry formalities are completed at the departure airport, was extended for the first time to Rabat-Salé airport, and it applies to Hajj, not Umrah11. The scheme itself is explained in guideomra.ma's Makkah Route explainer. This notebook does not cover the official Hajj process: for transfers inside Saudi Arabia during Hajj, ask your Hajj supervisor or organiser how they are arranged.
If you are travelling for Umrah close to the Hajj season, expect a busier railway and busier airports than in winter.
How do you travel with luggage and older parents?
Plan the transfer as carefully as the flight. A long journey from Morocco followed by a crowded station is where many older travellers reach their limit on the first day.
Route
- Before you leave: confirm in writing who meets you at the airport, by train or by road, and what happens if the flight is late.
- On the plane: keep a small bag with passports, health documents, medicines and a phone charger at your feet.
- At the arrival airport: take a luggage trolley straight away and keep the group together until the transfer starts.
- On a train journey: board early, keep the suitcases in sight, and let the fittest person handle the bags on the platform.
- At the hotel: let your parents rest before the first walk to the Haram, especially in hot weather.
Heat changes everything on these days, even inside stations and coaches; our page on heat safety explains how to plan around it. The full plan for a trip with a frail parent is in our step-by-step guide to Umrah with elderly parents. And how far the hotel is from the Haram decides how much walking is left once the transfer is over: see what hotel distance means day to day.
On the return day, leave extra time at the airport if you plan to buy Zamzam water: the rules are on our page on Zamzam water and flights.
To confirm before you leave
- Timetables and fares of the Haramain trains: none in our register; check with the operator.
- Door-to-door journey times from Jeddah airport to a Makkah hotel, by train or by road: no approved source.
- Luggage rules on the trains (size, number of bags, where they go): not covered by our sources.
- Next Ramadan's train timetable: not published in our sources.
- Ground transport this season: we have seen a travel guide say that pre-booked ground transport is now part of every Umrah booking, but no official source confirms it yet. Ask your organiser what is booked.
- Distances between the Makkah station and the Haram: no verified figure.
Next stop in the notebook: how far your hotel is from the Haram, then what goes in the bag for the road.