Ramadan 1448 runs from roughly 18 February to 19 March 2027. Pilgrims tend to talk about “going for Ramadan” as though it were one thing. It is three, and they barely resemble each other.
The three periods side by side
| First ashra | Second ashra | Last ten nights | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rough dates in 2027 | 18 to 27 Feb | 28 Feb to 9 Mar | 10 to 19 Mar |
| Crowd in the Haram | Busy, but you can move | Building noticeably | At capacity, all night |
| Getting into the mataf | Possible at most hours | Possible off-peak | Difficult, and often not at all |
| Hotel we could secure within 1,000 m | 4-star at 480 m | 5-star at 480 m | 3-star at 800 m |
| That hotel, per room per night | $572 | $712 | $567 |
| Round-trip flight, JFK, with a bag | $754 | $754 | $766 |
| Taraweeh in the Haram | Yes, comfortably | Yes | Yes, if you arrive hours early |
| Laylatul Qadr | No | No | Yes |
Look at the flights column. $754, $754, $766. The airlines barely distinguish between the three. Every bit of the price difference between a first-ashra trip and a last-ten-nights trip is on the ground, and nearly all of it is the hotel.
What each one is actually like
The first ashra
Ramadan has begun, the Haram is full, and it is still possible to be a person in it. You can reach the mataf. You can find a place for Taraweeh without arriving two hours early. You can go back to your hotel between prayers instead of camping in the mosque all night.
For a first Umrah in Ramadan, with family, this is the one we would recommend without hesitation. The month is the month. The hadith about Umrah in Ramadan does not specify which ten days.
Our own first ashra group stays in a five-star hotel in Madinah, 480 metres from the Prophet’s Mosque, at $313 a night — a rate that would be unthinkable for the equivalent room in Makkah in the same week.
The second ashra
The middle period is the least discussed and, on the numbers, the most expensive in Makkah. Our research found the highest Makkah rate of the whole year here: $712 a night for a five-star at 480 metres. The reason is supply, not demand — the towers by the mosque are still holding inventory for the last ten nights, so the middle ten are squeezed between two peaks.
It is a good period if you want the build-up without the crush, and if the Makkah hotel premium is affordable.
The last ten nights
This is what most people mean when they say Ramadan Umrah, and it deserves its reputation. The odd nights carry Laylatul Qadr. The mosque does not empty. The i’tikaf sections fill in the afternoon for a night that ends at Fajr.
It is also genuinely hard. By September 2026, when we did our hotel research, what was available within a thousand metres of the Haram was a three-star hotel eight hundred metres out at $567 a night — more than a five-star room costs in October. The five-star towers beside the mosque were gone.
Go with clear eyes. You will walk further, sleep less, and spend more on a lower grade of hotel than at any other time of the year. Many pilgrims say it is the most important thing they have ever done.
How to choose
Go in the last ten nights if Laylatul Qadr is the reason for the trip, you are physically able to pray through the night, and the budget can carry the hotel.
Go in the first ashra if you are travelling with children or parents, this is a first Ramadan Umrah, or you want the month without the ordeal. It is the best value of the three by a distance.
Go in the second ashra if your dates are fixed by work or school and they land there. It is a good trip; just be ready for the Makkah rate.
Consider Makkah first for the last ten nights. We run the last-ten-nights group both ways — Madinah first, and Makkah first with six nights at the Haram before moving on. Arriving in Makkah at the start of the ten means you are settled before the intensity peaks. Both versions are on the Ramadan packages page.
One practical note on booking
The constraint on Ramadan is not the visa. Visas for the 1448 season are issued until 9 March 2027, which covers all of it — see the 1448 visa calendar.
The constraint is hotel rooms, and it bites much earlier than people expect. The figures on this page are what remained in September, six months ahead. If the last ten nights matter to you, that decision is a now decision, not a January one.
