Today we are going to discuss the cheapest way to do your Umrah from Europe or America. Whether you plan by yourself or take assistance from travel agents like LOTTRIPS; these tips will make your trip highly affordable yet comfortable. You will plan everything by yourself on your own time and your own money.
Umrah Visa from USA
First of all you need the visa. Visa will cost you about a hundred seventy to three hundred dollars. You need to submit the written application along with a self-addressed envelope. With the written application you should need to submit following papers to apply Umrah Visa from USA:
Comprehensively filled Application form
Passport size photographs (Blue background)
Valid passport and should not expire before 6 months
Confirmed return ticket that should be within the visa ending date
In case the pilgrim (applicant) is a woman or kid, they should be accompanied by Mahram (husband, brother, father, etc.)
You also need to showcase the relationship certificate to the accompanied person.
Vaccination certificates of all required diseases that are not older than 3 years and not less than 10 days at the time of entry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
If someone has non-Islamic name, they need to provide Muslim certificate authorized by the Mosque or State Islamic center.
Note: your Umrah visa will be valid for 30 days. Moreover, Umrah-hajj visa is free but these charges are for the services they’ll get in Saudi Arabia.
Flight Booking
If you’re going alone, plan about seven to ten days.
Meanwhile your passport came back, next you should start working on fare comparisons & flight legitimacy. If you opt to travel from New York or LA it might be even cheaper.
In this regard, Houston can be a best option for those who are looking for a return ticket to the USA in less than or around $1000.
If it does not work well, use lottrips.com; you can even find a better price for your flights, hotels and transportations.
Pick & Drop Service and Transportation
Now once you reach Jeddah you might need to travel to Medina or Makkah. There’s multiple ways you can travel by bullet train, bus, or by plane. What I did when I went on Umrah; I traveled from Jeddah to Medina by bullet train.
I highly recommend it and it’s pretty fast and will provide you with a great experience.
Luxurious Accommodations according to your requirements
So once you reach Medina, you’ll need a hotel and you can find it within $20 to $50 using Lottrips’ hotel booking search engine. We have over hundreds hotels up on the catalog that are very close by haram and walking distance.
Hajj-Umrah Accessories
Don’t buy the Ihram or other accessories from the USA, it will cost you a lot. So buy it from Makkah or Medina. There are many highly affordable markets where you can buy anything at an extensively low price range.
You can buy Ihram & other essentials from Medina. My preference will be to buy it from Medina and it costs altogether maybe $15 with the belts.
Visit to Historic sites affordably
You can travel around the city and you can see all the key sites with the hop-on-hop-off bus tour and it costs you less than $20. If you want to go individually or with your companion you can opt for a rented car or private transfer service. It will cost you just a few bucks more.
Beside this if you need to travel between Madina to Makkah take a bus service, which is called a VIP service. You can take either one of the economy services that may take a little longer. VIP service will take about four and a half hours and has only one stop.
It will be an awesome journey by bus, you will love it; the view and everything is pretty good.
Once you are in Makkah, once you have some time after performing Hajj or Umrah, you can also take a look at the city I highlighted. You can hover around the entire under $50 with the taxi service.
Now once you are done with your heart, you need to come back to Jeddah; you can car, bus, train or flight options. Bus and train both will take only one hour, so in this case I would suggest you just take the bus. It’s not only cheaper but it’ll also be faster. But you can use the other one you want.
At Lottrips.com you can book all your reservations from the USA; you don’t have to worry about going there and buying the ticket, make all the reservations.
Budget friendly restaurants
There are many hotels offering American cuisine, La Carte, Asian dishes and Arabic. You can find all kinds of restaurants you may be looking for from 3-star to 5star restaurants but prices vary significantly. There are plenty of foods you can buy under $10 and easily can take 2-3 persons.
ZamZam Water
You can buy ZamZam water to drink there or to take home. Zamzam water agents charge you around $100 dollars (water is free, these are for their services) and will be responsible to drop the package to your destination airport.
Bottom line
Zamzam water agency allows you to take one, they will deliver to your destination. Following these tiny but tricky tips will benefit you. Of course it doesn’t include any expensive food or gift item.
May Allah accept your Umrah and Hajj.
If you have any questions please let us know using the contact form. Here are a few more comments on visa and other things that might be important for you.
