Before you go

Your passport

Saudi Arabia requires a passport valid for at least six months beyond the date you travel. This catches more people than anything else on this page — a passport that is fine for a holiday in Colombo is not necessarily fine for Umrah.

Check the expiry date today, not the week before departure. A Maldivian passport renewal takes time you may not have, and we cannot register a pilgrim on Nusuk whose passport expires too soon. The booking form calculates the exact date your passport must be valid until and shows it to you.

The name on your passport is the name that goes on the visa, the ticket and the hotel register. If it is spelled differently on your ID card, tell us — we use the passport spelling, and a mismatch discovered late is a problem at the airport rather than in the office.

What we need from you

Less than people expect. To register you we need your full name exactly as printed in your passport, your date of birth, your national ID number, and your passport number and expiry.

You do not need to fill in a paper application form, and you do not need to produce a mahram document. If you do not have your passport number yet, you can start your booking without it and add it later from your pilgrim portal.

• National ID card — required
• Passport details — required before we can apply for your visa
• A recent photograph — we will tell you if the visa system asks for one
• Emergency contact — someone not travelling with you

VaccinationsCheck before you rely on this

Saudi Arabia has required proof of meningococcal vaccination (ACWY) from pilgrims for many years, and this is the one to arrange early because clinics ask for it to be given a set number of days before arrival.

Other requirements — seasonal influenza, and anything introduced in response to an outbreak — change from season to season. We confirm what applies to your specific departure once the visa conditions for that season are published, and we tell every pilgrim in the group directly rather than expecting you to check a website.

Speak to your doctor in any case if you are pregnant, immunocompromised, or managing a chronic condition. That conversation is worth having regardless of what the visa requires.

What to pack

Less than you think. You will be walking a great deal and carrying your own bag through two airports, and almost everything is available to buy in Makkah and Madinah.

The single most important item is comfortable, broken-in footwear you can walk several kilometres in and remove easily. Sandals you can slip off are more practical than laced shoes, because you will take them off many times a day.

• Ihram garments for men — two white unstitched cloths, plus a spare set
• Modest, loose clothing for women; the face and hands are not covered in ihram
• Comfortable walking sandals, and a cloth bag to carry them in
• An unscented soap, shampoo and toothpaste — scent is avoided while in ihram
• Any prescription medicine in its original labelled packaging, with enough for the whole trip
• A refillable water bottle
• A small bag worn across the body for your phone, money and hotel card
• A power adapter — Saudi Arabia uses the same three-pin plug as the Maldives

Money

Saudi Arabia uses the riyal (SAR). Cards are accepted almost everywhere in Makkah and Madinah, including in the smaller shops around the Haram, but carry some cash for taxis, tips and street vendors.

Change money before you travel or on arrival at Jeddah — both work. What we would avoid is arriving with nothing at all and depending on finding a working ATM on your first evening, when you will be tired and want to go straight to the Haram.

Your programme price covers flights, visa, hotels, ground transport and ziyarah. What it does not cover is meals outside those stated, personal shopping, and anything you buy to bring home — and it is worth deciding in advance roughly what you intend to spend, because the shops around the Haram are very good at their job.

In the weeks before you travel

Start walking. Whatever your fitness, the pilgrimage involves more of it than most people are used to — a single tawaf is roughly three kilometres of slow walking in a crowd, and sa'i adds a similar distance. A month of daily walking before departure makes a real difference to how you experience the days in Makkah.

Learn the sequence of the rites so you are not trying to memorise them on the plane. The next part of this guide sets them out in order.

Settle anything unresolved at home — debts, disputes, anything left unsaid to family. That is a matter for you and not for us, but every group leader we have will tell you the same thing: the people who prepared for the journey inwardly get more from it than the people who only packed well.