What's the cheapest month for Umrah?

A five-night Umrah trip during Ramadan in February 2027 could cost roughly three times what the same trip costs in July 2026. Same hotel, same room, same Makkah. The only thing that changes between those two bookings is the calendar.

We track nightly hotel prices across the year for the same panel of 18 hotels in Makkah. Our latest capture ran on 10 July 2026, pulled from Booking.com five-night stays for two adults. The pattern is consistent enough to plan around: if you have flexibility on when you travel, picking the right month can fund the entire rest of your trip.

July is the cheapest month, and the whole summer sits low

Why July is the cheapest month of the year

July sits at the tail of the post-Hajj seasonal low. The pilgrims who came for Hajj have gone home, and hotel rooms are still emptying out as that transition period finishes.

It's also one of the hottest months on the calendar, with average highs around 41°C and overnight lows barely dipping into the high 20s. That heat compounds the quiet: most international pilgrims don't book Umrah for July if they have any flexibility, and that reluctance is exactly what keeps the discount alive.

If you can handle the heat, and many people can with the right preparation, July is the best value Umrah month of the year.

August and September: the pick of the cheap months

August and September stay inexpensive. August averages £139 a night, just seven pounds above the July low, and September climbs a little further to £153, still a fraction of what the same room costs by winter.

September is worth calling out on its own: summer holidays end, school terms restart, and family travel thins out, while the worst of the heat starts to ease. September's highs still average 40°C, but it's the point where the heat first properly breaks. If you want low season prices without July and August's near identical 41°C, September is the sweet spot.

From there the climb is steady rather than sudden: October averages £187 a night and November £194, before prices step up hard for the winter run.

Peak prices: December, and a surprise in March

December and January are the winter peak, and the order has flipped since our last capture. December now averages £261 a night, ahead of January's £239, a reversal from before, when January briefly ran hotter than December. The shift looks like January softening rather than December spiking: several mid-tier hotels in our panel have trimmed January rates while December held close to where it was. December isn't the priciest month outside Ramadan any more, though. On current data, March nudges just above it once pilgrims return after Eid, which makes autumn, not spring, the real escape from peak pricing.

Demand is driven by a few overlapping factors:

• Winter escape demand: pilgrims from cold-climate countries time Umrah for the cooler months.
• School holidays: the December break overlaps with Christmas and New Year travel windows in Western markets.
• Comfortable weather: December and January are the coolest months in Makkah, averaging around 30°C high, 19°C low.

Hotels know all of this. Budget hotels reach prices that look like five-star prices the rest of the year. Jumeirah Jabal Omar goes from SAR 709 a night in July to SAR 1,338 in December, almost double, for the same bed.

And don't assume Ramadan is the quiet bargain some might hope for. Ramadan 1448 runs from 8 February to 8 March 2027 (Umm al-Qura projection, moon sighting could shift the dates by a day either way), and our 15 to 20 February capture window sits right in the middle of it. Rates for the seven hotels that have released February pricing already average £399 a night, provisional and likely to move as the other eleven publish, but already the most expensive month we've tracked, up 203% on July's low. March doesn't bring the relief you might expect once Eid al-Fitr passes, expected around 9 March 2027: our 15 to 20 March window falls after Eid, and rates across the fourteen hotels that have released so far average about £265 a night, provisional, edging just above December to make March the second priciest month on current data.

How to actually use this

A few practical takes from the pricing pattern:

• If you can handle the heat, book July. The savings are enormous and the city is calm. Hotels discount aggressively.
• If you want a compromise, book October. Sub-40 degree heat and well short of winter prices, the genuine middle ground of the year.
• Avoid December, February, and March if you can. December is the winter peak, February is Ramadan itself and by far the most expensive month, and on current data March lands just above December as pilgrims return after Eid. All three are the busiest visitor stretches of the year: Mataf gets packed, wait times at Makkah's food halls get even longer, and the value-for-money equation works against you on every line item.
• Don't treat Ramadan as a deal. February 2027 is shaping up as the most expensive month we've ever tracked, averaging £399 a night on the seven hotels that have posted rates so far. Go for the reward, not the price.

Worked example: same room, three different months

A representative 5-night Umrah trip at the DoubleTree by Hilton Jabal Omar Makkah, same room category, same flights:

• July booking: SAR 611 a night, about £603 for five nights (SAR 3,055) hotel total, plus ~£120 food and ~£100 transport = ~£823.
• December booking: SAR 940 a night, about £927 for five nights (SAR 4,700) hotel total, plus ~£120 food and ~£100 transport = ~£1,147.
• February booking, during Ramadan: SAR 1,977 a night, about £1,950 for five nights (SAR 9,885) hotel total, plus ~£120 food and ~£100 transport = ~£2,170.

The hotel line is doing all the work. Food and transport are essentially flat year round. Between July and December the gap is roughly £324, the cost of shifting from summer to winter. Book the same room during Ramadan in February and the hotel line alone more than triples the July price, taking the total to about £2,170.

If you want a fuller breakdown of how a 5-night trip splits across hotels, food, transport, and extras at both ends of the spectrum, see our Budget vs Luxury 5-night Umrah breakdown.