Day 2 – Medina | Nine Days in Saudi Arabia

Having a rental car in Saudi Arabia always helps navigating through the highways between cities and small towns at your own pace. After breakfast at our hotel in Jeddah, we headed out driving up north along the beautiful roads of Saudi Arabia.

It takes about 4-5 hours considering stops and traffic along the way from Jeddah to Medina. Having started early in the morning, we reached Medina around 1pm.

Medina is one of Islam’s two holiest cities, making it a key destination for millions of pilgrims traveling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj or Umrah. The city is centered around Al Masjid an Nabawi, also known as the Prophet’s Mosque, which was constructed by the Prophet Muhammed himself and is also where he is buried.

Visiting the holy mosque of Medina – Al Masjid an Nabawi – was not possible for non-Muslims, but it is accessible for everyone to visit, as long as you’re respectful of the customs there. We stayed at a hotel right across from the mosque and were able to visit the mosque anytime. In terms of ‘sights to see’, this mosque is the highlight ‘attraction’ for most visitors.

We visited the mosque right after arriving in Medina and checking in to the hotel.

[Shades go up all over the courtyard of the Mosque]

[Inside the prayer hall]

[Inside the prayer hall]

 

[Al Masjid an Nabawi – The tomb of Prophet Muhammed]

[Under the green dome lies the tomb of Prophet Muhammed]

[Under the green dome lies the tomb of Prophet Muhammed]

[The tomb of Prophet Muhammed]

After visiting the Mosque, we stopped by for lunch and some rest, before returning back to the Mosque during the last, evening prayer. One of the best experiences of this trip was to attend the last prayer – the soulful recital of the prayer by three different voices will mesmerize you with a calm feeling!

[Al Masjid an Nabawi Mosque at night]

[Al Masjid an Nabawi Mosque at night]

After walking around a bit and having dinner, we called it a day.

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate of USD 1 = SAR 3.65 at the time of publishing. Each cost is for one adult.