City Asia
Medina
Medina is a city in Saudi Arabia. It has a mosque with a green dome and tall towers. Many visitors come here every year.
Medina is a city in western Saudi Arabia, about 620 meters above sea level, with mountains and lava fields around it. Saudi Arabia's 2022 census counted 1,411,599 people in the city, the country's fourth-largest. It is home to the Prophet's Mosque, a mosque with a green dome and tall minarets.
Medina, once called Yathrib, began as hamlets in a fertile oasis. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, moved there from Mecca in 622, and he died and was buried in Medina in 632. Today it is a city of 1,411,599 people (2022 census), linked to Mecca and Jeddah by a high-speed railway.
Photo: Bluemangoa2z at Malayalam Wikipedia, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Medina
Medina is a city in Saudi Arabia. It is in a dry land with mountains on almost every side.
More than a million people live in Medina.
Medina is a city in western Saudi Arabia, about 250 kilometers inland from the Red Sea and about 620 meters above sea level, Saudipedia says. Mountains surround it on almost every side, and lava fields, called harrat, border the city.
Saudi Arabia's 2022 census counted 1,411,599 people in the city, the fourth-largest in the country after Riyadh, Jeddah and Mecca.
City Population (General Statistics Authority, Saudi Arabia) gives the city of Medina 608,295 people in the 1992 census, 920,069 in 2004, 1,100,093 in 2010 and 1,411,599 in 2022; the whole Al-Madinah region counted 2,389,452 in 2022.
Saudipedia (a Saudi encyclopedia): the city is the capital of Al-Madinah Province, about 250 km east of the Red Sea, at about 620 m, covering about 700 km², and it lies 442 km from Mecca.
- Country
- Saudi Arabia
- People in Medina (census, 2022)
- 1,411,599
- Rank among Saudi cities (2022 census)
- 4th, after Riyadh, Jeddah and Mecca
- Height above sea level
- about 620 m
The Prophet's Mosque
Look at the big green dome! Next to it are a silver dome and tall, thin towers.
People walk across a shiny, wide plaza in front of the mosque.
This photo shows the Prophet's Mosque in Medina in December 2008. A green dome and a silver dome rise above long walls with rows of arches, and four tall, slender towers called minarets stand around them. Visitors in white robes cross a shining marble plaza in front.
Saudipedia says the first mosque here was built by Muhammad and his companions, next to the house where he lived.
Commons: 'Al-Masjid al-Nabawi', 13 December 2008, by Bluemangoa2z at Malayalam Wikipedia (public domain); category 'Exterior of Masjid al-Nabawi'.
Saudipedia: Muhammad bought the land where the mosque stands and built the first mosque there with his companions, its foundations laid in stone.
- Photo
- the Prophet's Mosque from its marble plaza, December 2008
- First mosque on the site
- built by Muhammad and his companions, beside his home
- Land for the first mosque
- bought by Muhammad
From Yathrib oasis to Medina
Long, long ago, Medina was a green oasis in the desert, with small villages. Its name was Yathrib.
Later, the town grew into the big city of Medina.
Long ago, the town was called Yathrib, Universalis says: a group of hamlets in a fertile oasis, unlike Mecca, which was a trading city. In 622 Muhammad, the founder of Islam, moved from Mecca to Yathrib. That journey, called the hijra, became the starting point of the Islamic calendar, and the city became known as Medina.
Muhammad lived in Medina until he died there in 632, and he was buried in the city.
Universalis: before Islam, Yathrib was a group of hamlets in a fertile oasis of the Hejaz; Muhammad left Mecca for it in 622 (the hijra, from which the Islamic calendar counts), returned to live there after entering Mecca in 629, and died and was buried there in 632. The first three caliphs lived in Medina, but the center of power soon moved north, and the city lived apart from world affairs until the 18th century.
Saudipedia: the city was named Yathrib after its first inhabitants and took the name al-Madinah al-Munawwarah after Muhammad's migration.
- Old name
- Yathrib
- Muhammad moves from Mecca to Medina
- 622 (the start of the Islamic calendar)
- Muhammad dies and is buried in Medina
- 632
Railways old and new
Fast trains zoom from Medina to other cities. Medina also has an old train station that is now a museum.
The Haramain High-Speed Railway links Medina with Jeddah and Mecca, Saudipedia says, and has cut the trip between Mecca and Medina to about two and a half hours. Medina's station on this line opened in 2018, Wikidata says.
More than 100 years earlier, in 1908, Medina's station on the old Hejaz Railway opened. It is now the Hejaz Railway Museum. The international airport lies about 14 kilometers northeast of the Prophet's Mosque.
Saudipedia: the Haramain High-Speed Railway connects Mecca, Jeddah and Medina and has cut the Mecca–Medina journey to two and a half hours; the airport has a capacity of about 15 million travelers a year.
Wikidata: Medina railway station (Hejaz Railway, opened 1908) 1.3 km SW of the Prophet's Mosque, now the Hejaz Railway Museum; Madinah Station (Haramain line, opened 2018) 9.0 km E; the international airport 14.0 km NE.
- Haramain High-Speed Railway
- links Medina with Jeddah and Mecca
- Old Hejaz Railway station
- opened 1908; now the Hejaz Railway Museum
- International airport
- about 14 km northeast of the Prophet's Mosque
Very hot and very dry
Medina is a desert city. Summer days are very, very hot.
It hardly ever rains. A rainy day is a rare thing here!
Averages from Germany's national weather service, the DWD (1961–1990), give Medina highs of about 42 °C in July, the hottest month. Only about 49 millimeters of rain fall in a year.
The little rain there is falls mostly between November and May. From June to October, almost no rain falls at all.
Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD, Germany's national weather service), climate table for Medina, 1961–1990: average daily highs from 38.9 °C (May) to 42.3 °C (July), 41 °C or more from June to September; January average high 23.6 °C and low 11.6 °C; rainfall 49.1 mm a year, wettest April 11.9 mm, then November 9.2 mm, March 8.3 mm and January 8.0 mm; June to October together 2.1 mm. Days with at least 1 mm of rain: 8.9 a year (1968–1990).
Saudipedia: the Wadi al-'Aqiq takes its name partly from the Arabic for 'to cut through', for its torrents that carve through the lava fields.
- July, average daily high (DWD, 1961–1990)
- 42.3 °C
- Rainfall in a year (DWD, 1961–1990)
- 49.1 mm
- Wettest month
- April, 11.9 mm
Mountains, valleys and universities
Medina has a mountain called Mount Uhud. It also has another old mosque, called Quba Mosque, and two public universities.
Mount Uhud rises about 4 kilometers from the Prophet's Mosque, Saudipedia says, to the north of it on the map. About 3 kilometers to the south-southeast stands Quba Mosque, whose first foundations were laid in 622.
The city has two public universities, Taibah University and the Islamic University of Madinah. A project aims to turn the Wadi al-'Aqiq, a valley named partly for the reddish color of its surroundings, into a park with walkways and bicycle paths.
Saudipedia: Mount Uhud lies 4 km from the Prophet's Mosque; Quba Mosque's first foundations were laid in 622, which Saudipedia calls the first mosque in Islamic history; the Wadi al-'Aqiq project adds walkways, bicycle paths, green spaces and family areas; ruins of palaces from the Umayyad and Abbasid eras were found along the valley.
Wikidata: the Islamic University of Madinah was founded on 6 September 1961, about 4.9 km WNW of the Prophet's Mosque.
- Mount Uhud
- a mountain about 4 km from the Prophet's Mosque
- Quba Mosque
- about 3 km south-southeast of the Prophet's Mosque
- Public universities
- Taibah University and the Islamic University of Madinah
Medina on the map
Find the Arabian Peninsula on the globe. Medina is in the west of Saudi Arabia, not far from the Red Sea.
Medina lies at about 24.5° north, in the west of Saudi Arabia, about 250 kilometers from the Red Sea and 442 kilometers from Mecca. Measured from the Prophet's Mosque, Mount Uhud is about 4.7 kilometers north, Quba Mosque about 3.3 kilometers south-southeast and the airport about 14 kilometers northeast.
Universalis places Medina in the Hejaz, in Saudi Arabia.
Medina lies at about 24.47° N and 39.61° E. From the Prophet's Mosque (Wikidata points): Hejaz Railway Museum 1.3 km SW, Quba Mosque 3.3 km SSE, Mount Uhud 4.7 km N, Islamic University of Madinah 4.9 km WNW, Madinah Station 9.0 km E, airport 14.0 km NE.
Saudipedia: harrat (lava fields) border the city from east to west, and the Wadi Buthhan is the only valley that crosses the city from north to south.
- Latitude
- about 24.5° north
- Longitude
- about 39.6° east
- Distance from Mecca
- 442 km
Amazing facts
-
Medina's old name was Yathrib!
Before it was called Medina, the city was called Yathrib, a group of small villages in a fertile oasis, Universalis says.
Universalis: pre-Islamic Yathrib was a group of hamlets in a fertile oasis, while Mecca was a trading city; Saudipedia says Yathrib was named after its first inhabitants.
-
An old train station in Medina is now a museum!
Medina's station on the old Hejaz Railway opened in 1908. It is now the Hejaz Railway Museum, Wikidata says.
Wikidata: Medina railway station opened in 1908 on the Hejaz Railway; the same buildings house the Hejaz Railway Museum.
-
Medina is surrounded by mountains and lava fields.
Saudipedia says mountains surround Medina on almost every side, and lava fields, called harrat, border it to the east and west.
Saudipedia: Medina is ringed by mountains, with harrat (lava fields) bordering the city from east to west, among them Harrat al-Wabra and Harrat Waqim to the west.
-
The Islamic calendar starts with a journey to Medina.
Muhammad's move from Mecca to Medina in 622, called the hijra, became the starting point of the Islamic calendar, Universalis says.
Universalis: the hijra of 622, Muhammad's departure from Mecca for Yathrib, was taken as the starting point of the Islamic calendar.
Words to know
- oasis
- a green place in a desert where there is water
- mosque
- a building where Muslims gather to pray
- minaret
- a tall, slender tower beside a mosque
- lava field
- a wide area covered by old, cooled lava from volcanoes
- hijra
- Muhammad's move from Mecca to Medina in 622
- census
- an official count of all the people in a country
Discovery challenge
-
Medina is a city in which country?
Medina is a city in which country on the Arabian Peninsula?
Medina, 442 km from Mecca, is the capital of a province in which country?
- Egypt
- Saudi Arabia
- Morocco
Show the answer
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia!
Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia.
-
What was Medina's old name?
What was Medina called long ago, when it was a group of villages in an oasis?
Before 622, the oasis that became Medina was known by what name?
- Yathrib
- Petra
- Babylon
Show the answer
Yathrib
Yathrib!
Yathrib.
Yathrib.
-
What color is the big dome in the photo?
In the photo of the Prophet's Mosque, what color is the large dome beside the tallest minaret?
Which color is the dome that rises between the minarets in the December 2008 photo of the Prophet's Mosque?
- Green
- Red
- Gold
Show the answer
Green
Green!
Green.
Green.
-
How much rain falls in Medina in a year?
About how much rain falls in Medina in a year, on average?
The DWD's 1961–1990 averages for Medina give about how much rain a year?
- About 50 mm: very little
- About 500 mm: quite a lot
- About 5,000 mm: huge amounts
Show the answer
About 50 mm: very little
No! Only a little rain falls.
About 49 millimeters.
49.1 mm.
-
How can people travel fast from Medina to Mecca?
Which railway links Medina with Jeddah and Mecca?
Which line cut the Mecca–Medina journey to about two and a half hours?
- The Haramain High-Speed Railway
- The Trans-Siberian Railway
- The Orient Express
Show the answer
The Haramain High-Speed Railway
By fast train: the Haramain High-Speed Railway!
The Haramain High-Speed Railway.
The Haramain High-Speed Railway.
Nearby places
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Watch
Landmark
Prophet's Mosque
The Prophet's Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, began as the simple home and courtyard of the Prophet Muhammad, who helped build it after he came to Medina in 622. Rebuilt and enlarged many times, it now has a famous green dome over Muhammad's tomb, ten minarets and room for up to a million worshippers at the busiest times.
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City
Jeddah
Jeddah is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia and the country's second-biggest city: 3,712,917 people lived there at the 2022 census. For centuries, Muslim pilgrims traveling by sea to Mecca, 72 kilometers away, landed at Jeddah's port.
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City
Mecca
Mecca is a city in western Saudi Arabia, in a dry valley ringed by mountains, about 70 kilometers from the Red Sea. About 2.4 million people lived there at the 2022 census. Its Great Mosque surrounds the Kaaba, and in 2026 more than 1.7 million pilgrims came to the city for the hajj.
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Landmark
Al-Masjid al-Haram
Al-Masjid al-Haram, the Great Mosque of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, was built around the Kaaba, a cube-shaped building that Muslims face when they pray. It is the most important place of pilgrimage in Islam. In 2026, 1,707,301 pilgrims came to Mecca for the hajj, and the mosque can hold up to about one million worshippers.
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Watch
Landmark
Abraj Al Bait
Abraj Al Bait is a group of seven hotel towers in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, beside the city's Great Mosque. In the middle rises the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, 601 meters tall to the tip of its spire, with a huge clock near the top. It was finished in 2012.
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City
Aswan
Aswan is a city on the Nile River in the south of Egypt, in the region called Upper Egypt. Larousse describes its granite quarries and two dams on the Nile nearby. Egypt's statistics office estimated 401,890 people in the city in 2023.
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Landmark
Aswan High Dam
The Aswan High Dam crosses the Nile River in southern Egypt. Finished in 1970, it is 111 meters high and 3,830 meters long. It controls the Nile's yearly flood, stores water for farms, makes electricity and created a huge reservoir, Lake Nasser. Ancient temples had to be moved to save them from the rising water.
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Natural wonder
Wadi Rum
Wadi Rum, in southern Jordan, is a desert of towering sandstone and granite mountains rising from valleys of red sand. Wind, water and salt have carved arches, gorges and honeycomb patterns into the rock. People have lived here for at least 12,000 years, leaving behind about 25,000 rock carvings and 20,000 inscriptions.
Explore next
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Country
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia covers about four-fifths of the Arabian Peninsula. Most of it is dry desert, including the Empty Quarter, the largest sand area in the world. About 35.3 million people lived there in 2024, most of them in cities such as Riyadh, the capital.
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Watch
Landmark
Prophet's Mosque
The Prophet's Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia, began as the simple home and courtyard of the Prophet Muhammad, who helped build it after he came to Medina in 622. Rebuilt and enlarged many times, it now has a famous green dome over Muhammad's tomb, ten minarets and room for up to a million worshippers at the busiest times.
-
Watch
City
Mecca
Mecca is a city in western Saudi Arabia, in a dry valley ringed by mountains, about 70 kilometers from the Red Sea. About 2.4 million people lived there at the 2022 census. Its Great Mosque surrounds the Kaaba, and in 2026 more than 1.7 million pilgrims came to the city for the hajj.
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Watch
City
Riyadh
Riyadh is the capital and biggest city of Saudi Arabia, in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula. It grew from small villages with gardens into a city of tall towers. An old fort built of mud and hay stands in its center, and a new driverless metro opened in 2024. The 2022 census counted 6,924,566 people in the city.
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Watch
Landmark
Al-Masjid al-Haram
Al-Masjid al-Haram, the Great Mosque of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, was built around the Kaaba, a cube-shaped building that Muslims face when they pray. It is the most important place of pilgrimage in Islam. In 2026, 1,707,301 pilgrims came to Mecca for the hajj, and the mosque can hold up to about one million worshippers.
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Watch
City
Jeddah
Jeddah is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia and the country's second-biggest city: 3,712,917 people lived there at the 2022 census. For centuries, Muslim pilgrims traveling by sea to Mecca, 72 kilometers away, landed at Jeddah's port.
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City
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It began in the 1700s as a small settlement around fresh water on an island, guarded by a coral-stone watchtower. Before oil, it relied on fishing and pearl diving; since the 1960s, money from oil has turned it into a city of towers. An official estimate gave the city about 1.75 million people in 2023.
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City
Almaty
Almaty is the main city of Kazakhstan, in the southeast of the country at the foot of the Ala-Tau mountains. It was founded in 1854 where a Kazakh village called Almaty, 'village of apple trees', stood. It was the capital until 1998, and about 2,387,900 people lived there on 1 September 2026.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Medina in western Saudi Arabia, inland from the Red Sea.
- Explain what an oasis is and why towns grew at oases.
- Read a rainfall table for a desert city.
- Compare an old railway (1908) with a new high-speed line (2018).
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Medina began as villages in an oasis. Why would people settle where there is water in a desert?
- Medina gets about 49 millimeters of rain a year. How do you think people plan for water in such a dry place?
- A train trip that took much longer now takes about two and a half hours. How do fast trains change a city?
Try at home or in class
- Rain compare: draw a bar for Medina's 49 mm of rain next to a bar for the rain where you live.
- Shade test: on a sunny day, measure the temperature in the sun and in the shade, and talk about how people keep cool in a desert city.
- Map hunt: on a map of Saudi Arabia, mark Medina, Mecca and Jeddah and draw the railway line between them.
Key vocabulary: oasis, mosque, minaret, lava field, hijra, census
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Natural Earth vector data , Natural Earth (NACIS) (Public domain)
- Saudi Arabia: Regions and Major Cities (census 2022) , City Population (Thomas Brinkhoff), from the General Authority for Statistics
- Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah , Saudipedia
- Médine , Encyclopaedia Universalis
- Klimatafel von Medina (al-Madinah) / Saudi-Arabien (climate table, 1961–1990) , Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD, Germany's national weather service)
- File:Madeena masjid nabavi 12122008230.jpg (Bluemangoa2z, December 2008) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Picture credits
- Photo: Bluemangoa2z at Malayalam Wikipedia, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · source