Umrah from the Türkiye
The part of the journey that happens before you reach Saudi Arabia, and that a guide written for everyone cannot answer: which airport is actually worth departing from, what the flight costs you in hours, and the specific things that catch out Turkish pilgrims.
AlHaram.live Editorial · Last reviewed August 28, 2026
Which airport to depart from
- Istanbul (IST) — the main hub, with services to both Jeddah and Madinah
- Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) — low-cost capacity on the Asian side, often materially cheaper
- Ankara (ESB) and Izmir (ADB) — seasonal direct services, heaviest around Ramadan
Flight time
About 4 to 4½ hours to Jeddah, and around 3½ to Madinah — the shortest of the major origin markets
The visa route, and where to check it
Both routes are common
Turkish travellers use several routes depending on what other visas they hold, and the rules differ from the pure eVisa markets. This is one where the official portal is genuinely the only reliable answer — check it against your own passport and residence before booking.
Both plain links to the official sources. We earn nothing from either, and we do not restate visa rules here because they change and we cannot verify them for your passport.
What catches out pilgrims travelling from here
- The short flight makes Madinah-first itineraries far more practical from Türkiye than from anywhere further out. Flying into MED, taking the train down and out of Jeddah is a genuinely better trip and rarely quoted.
- Sabiha Gökçen departures often price well below Istanbul Airport, but the cross-city transfer takes two hours in traffic. Price the taxi, not just the ticket.
- Short flights tempt people to skip entering ihram on board. The miqat still applies — the flight being four hours does not move it.
Once you have the flight
Work out where to stay from the walking-distance table rather than from a search sorted by “distance from centre”, and check the season calendar before fixing your dates.