Umrah with elderly parents: hotels, wheelchairs and pacing

What tires older parents most on Umrah is the walk to the mosque, the heat and the crowds. The right hotel and the right hours take care of much of it.

Choose the walk first

For an older pilgrim, the walk to the mosque matters more than the room, the view or the stars. Compare hotels by the walk to the nearest gate, and ask whether the way is level: from some hotels the way back is uphill.

• In Makkah, the Clock Tower hotels open straight onto the Haram's plaza, with no road to cross. Guests at Anjum, by the King Abdullah expansion, and at the Hilton Hotel & Convention in Jabal Omar say the way back from the Haram is uphill. The closest hotels are in our list for Makkah.
• In Madinah, the hotels around the Prophet's Mosque are on flat ground. Check which gate is closest: the women's prayer areas have their own gates, as our list for Madinah explains.

Hotels a few steps away

These four are among the closest hotels to the mosque in each city, and have rooms adapted for wheelchairs.

Makkah

Two minutes from King Fahd Gate. Its prayer halls, one for women and one for men, carry the Haram's prayers live through speakers, and the rooms carry the sound too, so a parent resting upstairs still hears the adhan and the recitation. The concierge team helps with everything, train and flight tickets included.

Two minutes from King Abdulaziz Gate, with its own lifts down to the plaza. Its one-bedroom suites have a separate living room, a butler is on hand around the clock, and the hotel's prayer room looks over the Kaaba.

Madinah

At the edge of the courtyard, five minutes from King Fahd Gate and four from the nearest women's entrance, one of the shortest walks for women in the city.

Four minutes from King Fahd Gate and five from a women's entrance. Its triple rooms and two-bedroom family suites let the family stay together.

In the room

• Ask for a low floor near the lifts. The lifts are busiest before and after each prayer, and a short wait matters more than a high view. Tell us when you book, and our team will ask the hotel.
• Ask for a walk-in shower if stepping over the side of a bath is hard. Not every room has one.

Tawaf and sa'i in a wheelchair

• Free wheelchairs for the elderly and people with disabilities are lent at the Haram's main gates and courtyards: ask the mosque's staff.
• Paid options: a wheelchair pushed by a trained attendant, or an electric cart, for tawaf, sa'i or both. Book them in the Tanaqol app, run by the authority that looks after the Two Holy Mosques.
• Wheelchairs and carts usually go round on the upper floors, not beside the Kaaba. A round there is much longer, so the tawaf takes more time, but it is far calmer.
• The sa'i is about 395 m each way, seven times, and the mas'a has lanes kept for wheelchairs.

Pick the quiet hours

The mosque is at its fullest just before and after the prayers, all day on Friday, and in the last ten nights of Ramadan. For an older pilgrim, the gentlest times for tawaf are usually mid-morning, once the sun is up, and the hours after midnight.

If you arrive in ihram after a long journey, there is no rush: rest at the hotel first, then perform your Umrah at a quieter hour.

The heat and health

• Carry water and an umbrella: Makkah's courtyards are in full sun most of the day. Zamzam is everywhere inside the mosque.
• Bring every medicine in its own box, with a copy of the prescription.
• Your Umrah visa includes health insurance, so keep its details with you.
• Both mosques have first-aid points, and the ambulance number in Saudi Arabia is 997.

Pace the trip

• Plan a rest day after you arrive, and another between Makkah and Madinah.
• Split the day: one prayer at the mosque and the next in the hotel's prayer hall is better than a parent too tired for tomorrow.

Older pilgrims may have concessions in some rites, such as being carried in a wheelchair for tawaf and sa'i. For anything you are unsure of, ask a scholar you trust before you travel.