Makkah hotels with a Haram view: what you will really see

"Haram view" can mean very different things from one hotel to the next, and the price follows. Some rooms look straight onto the Kaaba; others catch a corner of the mosque between two towers.

Four kinds of view

• Kaaba view: you see the Kaaba itself and the tawaf around it. These are the rarest rooms and the most expensive, high up in the towers that face it.
• Haram view: you look onto the mosque, its minarets and courtyards, but not necessarily the Kaaba.
• Partial Haram view: part of the mosque, from an angle, often between other towers.
• City view: the streets, mountains or towers around you, with no view of the mosque.

Hotels with a Haram view

Most rooms that look onto the Haram are in the Clock Tower complex, south of the mosque, and in the towers by the King Abdullah expansion to the north. The Clock Tower hotels are also among the closest to the mosque, so there the view comes with a short walk.

An all-suite hotel with its own lifts down to the Haram plaza. Its one-bedroom suites are 80 m² with a separate living room, and they are sold by their view: the city, the Haram, part of the Kaaba or the whole Kaaba. Its prayer room looks over the Kaaba, and it has a café that looks over the Haram.

The hotel inside the Clock Tower itself. Many of its rooms look onto the Kaaba, but the view changes from room to room and minarets hide part of the Kaaba from some, so the view you book matters here.

A large hotel in the complex, with its own entrance on Ajyad Street. The Kaaba views are from the higher floors and not every room has one, so if it matters, book a room whose name gives the Kaaba view. Some rooms have small, dated bathrooms.

On the north side, beside the King Abdullah expansion, with a private way into the Haram for its guests. Some of its rooms look onto the Haram. Because it faces the new expansion, the walk to the Mataf is longer, and uphill on the way back.

A partial view, for less

The Jabal Omar towers, west of the Haram, have rooms that look onto part of the mosque from the side. You still wake up to the minarets, for less than a full view.

Its rooms have full-length windows, and some are sold with a partial Haram view. The hotel stands behind Dar Al Tawhid, so what you see is the Haram's courtyards, not the Kaaba.

Across from King Fahd Gate. The rooms are 56 m² with two queen beds, room enough for a family of four, and some look toward the Haram. A few show their age, from the furniture to the air conditioning.

Opposite King Fahd and King Abdullah Gates, and joined to the Jabal Omar mall. Its prayer hall overlooks the Grand Mosque, as do some of the suites, and a few guests say they could see the Kaaba too. Bathrooms are small in some suites.

Before you book

• The view of each room type is the hotel's own description. If seeing the Kaaba matters to you, choose a room that says Kaaba view, not just Haram view.
• Upper floors usually see more of the mosque, but the lifts are busiest just before and after each prayer, so allow extra time to get down.
• View rooms are the first to go in the last ten nights and around Eid, so book early for Ramadan.
• If you will be in the mosque from Fajr to Isha, the walk matters more than the window. If someone in your group can't go down for every prayer, a view room lets them see the Haram all day.

If a view room is over your budget for the whole stay, book it for a night or two and the rest in a city-view room.