The Umrah Series #3: Our Stay In Madinah — What You Need To Know
The third instalment of my trip to perform the minor pilgrimage with a visit to the second holy city.
Welcome to my series about our Umrah trip, which will include practical tips and recommendations, as well as reflections about this very sacred journey, which has been life-affirming in all its existential ways. If you’re looking for details on travelling to Madinah, there’s a detailed post about the Haramain train here. For a quick rundown of my stay in Madinah, I’ve shared it on Instagram as a reel.
After I returned home, my son felt the holiday blues and began browsing YouTube for vlogs about Umrah. Somehow, he came across a video about a British, non-Muslim couple visiting Madinah which piqued our interest greatly, and we enjoyed watching their experience through the lens of lack of familiarity.
It made me realise that my children visited the city of the Final Messenger with a similar lack of familiarity, so to see them taking it in as complete newbies to it was for us as parents who had visited several times before, interesting and rather inspiring at the details they noticed.
From the peace of the city, as there is no umrah taking place there, to the opening and closing of the ornately designed umbrella shades in the courtyard of the Prophet’s Mosque, and the ease of navigating it due to its shape being rectangular, the general consensus among us as a family is that the children prefer Madinah for its peace and calm, while I prefer Makkah for the sacredness of the Ancient House and its deep association with the tradition and monotheism of Abraham. My husband, a ‘happy-with-everything’ sort of guy, prefers both, leaving me disloyally outnumbered in not just gender, but now also opinion.
That’s not to say I didn’t love being there, I just lean a little bit more towards Makkah. Madinah is, however, a comparably easier and more tranquil stay, and something that was much-needed after the hectic atmosphere and the intensely busy crowds of Makkah.
Makkah or Madinah first?
This is purely down to personal preference and is based on cost and practicality.
If you decide to go to Makkah first, like we did, you get to perform umrah, exit the state of ihram right after, and then you can enjoy the rest of your time praying and visiting the Holy Mosque as well as other notable sites around the city.
Some downsides to consider is that you’d have to enter the state of ihram on the plane which, for men especially, can be inconvenient, as they either have to change into the clothing before they fly or on the plane. After that, it’s also a journey from Jeddah to Makkah which extends the discomfort.
For some, it doesn’t make for an easy journey, whenever ihram clothing is worn.
A lot of the Brits I spoke to in Madinah were starting their journey there, and I understand why. When I went on Hajj, the group we booked with chose to go to Madinah first. This gave us time to visit the rawdah and pray in Riyad al-Jannah (more on that later), but more importantly, it allowed us to enter ihram by going to Dhul Hulayfah which is around 10 miles from the Prophet’s Mosque.
I can see the convenience of flying into Madinah first, as it allows ease for changing and entering into ihram and is far less uncomfortable than changing on the plane as you’re flying into Jeddah. However, if you can manage changing before your flight or on it, and you’d rather get your umrah done early on in your journey, it’s better to go to Makkah first.
If Madinah is going to be a part of your trip, then keep reading because I’m going to share details of our stay below.
Hotel
Since I already covered transport in my last post, I’m going to go straight into the hotel we stayed at in Madinah.
Here are the particulars:
- Nights: Another Accor hotel, we booked 4 nights at Anwar Al Madinah Mövenpick which is located incredibly close to the ladies’ entrance of the Prophet’s Mosque.
- Details: 2 connecting rooms for 5 (including breakfast): 3 adults (including one elderly person with mobility needs + wheelchair) and 2 children all came to approximately £1002 — almost half that of the Swissotel Makkah.
While known widely for its ice cream, Mövenpick as a chain of hotels within the umbrella of Accor boasts a reputation for luxury hotels and resorts across the world. As a global brand, did it live up to its name?
Well…I have some thoughts.
The Pros 🎉
- Very close location: One of the closest hotels to the Prophet’s Mosque, you really couldn’t get any nearer to it. You can literally roll out of bed as you hear the call to prayer at dawn and be in the mosque courtyard before prayer has even begun. With an elderly person in a wheelchair, this was a huge advantage for us. My mother-in-law, who can walk short distances, was able to walk to the mosque from the hotel a couple of times. The location is truly unmatched.
- Near shopping: Most of the 4-to-5 star hotels are in that area, with a plethora of shopping options selling scarves, clothes, gifts and more, allowing you to browse. The Mövenpick is inside a shopping mall including a Bin Dawood supermarket conveniently located on the basement floor.
- Breakfast fit for royalty: Truly we were spoilt for choice with breakfast. I’d say the breakfast was marginally better than that of the Swissotel with the choice of cooked foods.
- Comfortable beds: I had a much better sleep in this hotel, as the beds were not only comfortable but the duvets were thicker adding warmth and weight for a better night’s sleep.
- Budget friendly: For the price we paid, the hotel offers quite a lot in terms of breakfast and location.
The Cons 👎🏽
- Dated: Part of a good hotel experience is how well-maintained the rooms are. One of the biggest issues with the Madinah Movenpick is that it hasn’t been updated since it opened over 20 years ago, which means a full-on refurbishment of the rooms is long overdue, diminishing the experience of staying at the hotel. The hotel lobby and breakfast rooms are, however, perfectly fine.
- Poor breakfast service: The breakfast buffet was brilliant and hugely varied, but the service wasn’t great and, frustratingly, there was always a shortage of cutlery. Knives, in particular, seemed to be scarce and I found myself — and other guests who also had omelettes on their plates — requesting them every morning so we could cut our breakfast. Unlike Swissotel Makkah, coffee was self-service.
- Inadequate cleaning: I was not impressed with the housekeeping at all. Rooms weren’t cleaned to the standard of a 4-to-5 star hotel, particularly the vacuuming. I noticed dust and crumbs hadn’t been cleaned either. It felt unhygienic at one point.
- Inaccessible bathrooms: The biggest letdown of the hotel rooms were the bathrooms. As mentioned earlier, the hotel hasn’t been updated since it opened, which means there most likely aren’t disabled-access bathrooms available. For my mother in-law, this made the stay quite difficult for her. The walk-in showers were set on a step up, and the toilet was too low, affecting her balance, mobility and overall comfort. The lack of disability access and dated bathrooms brings the hotel down.
- Lack of daylight: The hotel rooms were allocated to us, so we received a building view which faced one of the other sections of the hotel. In addition to this, the windows were darkened, making the stay dim and dark, alongside the poor lighting inside the room.
Overall?
The Anwar Al Madinah Mövenpick is perfectly located and budget friendly with a fabulous breakfast every morning, making it very popular with Brits. However, the dated hotel rooms and bathrooms as well as lack of disability access, resulted in a disappointing stay for us.
There are plenty more hotels to choose from that are equally near but will provide a better experience.
Food
The way the area around the Prophet’s Mosque is set up is much, much easier than navigating around Makkah. So finding food wasn’t a problem. Finding food that wasn’t fast food was much harder. However, I have a couple of recommendations!
- Mystery eatery: The usual fast food is available but only one place met our needs. Unfortunately, I didn’t get its name but its location is directly next to Makarem Al Haram Suites Madinah serving food and fresh smoothies. The shawarma platter is a must.
- Zaitoon: The Zaitoon restaurant in Taiba shopping centre is must-try. The cuisine is a mixture of Pakistani and Middle-Eastern within a chaotic atmosphere and a high turnover. Place an order at the counter, find a table yourself, eat the amazing food and leave. It’s nice and quick!
Rawdah
Part of the reason to go to the Prophet’s Mosque is to pray in the riyad al-Jannah, the sacred area of carpet where praying there is considered the same as praying in a garden of Paradise. It’s a busy spot and used to be poorly managed before. My previous experiences in the Rawdah have verged between life and death due to immense crowding and the lack crowd control. This time, the experience was fantastic.
Enter the Nusuk app.
A one-stop app that helps you book times to enter the Rawdah, as well as providing guides on how to perform umrah, prayer times, weather in the locality and so on. It turned out to be incredibly helpful on the evening we went to the Rawdah. All you have to do is make sure you book your slot a couple of weeks ahead and show your booking QR code to the staff letting everyone in. I strongly advise arriving at least half an hour before the time to allow you to get to the entrance as there are queues and sometimes the courtyard gates are closed so you have to enter through another gate further away to access the Rawdah entrance.
For those visiting the Rawdah as a companion for a person in a wheelchair, the experience is far easier as everyone has to enter into the area in single file through roped areas. It’s safe, easy and convenient.
Extra Tips
- Laundry took longer to be done in Madinah, a full 24 hours so allow yourself that extra time as it’s a bit slower than the service we received in Makkah.
- Save any shopping to do on your trip for Madinah at the Taiba Centre. Makkah is busy and expensive so if you’re going to Madinah first, you probably won’t have to pack as much from home as you’ll be able to buy when you arrive. Clothes, scarves and ihram clothing are all very cheap compared to buying from the UK.
Are we done yet?
Hah. No.
I still need to talk about places to visit in Makkah and Madinah, as well as a packing list with essential accessories and toiletries. All with links.
So stick around!
But, in the meantime, if you have any questions, leave a comment!
Thanks for reading and supporting The B-Roll. If you enjoy reading my work here, and found it valuable enough that others should know about them too, then I’d be grateful if you could share, like or drop a comment on this post. It’s hugely appreciated! You can follow me on Instagram or TikTok to see more of my content.
Great post! Brought back memories from my time in Madinah last year! I also much preferred Madinah, felt a sense of peace as soon as we got there.