Qibla direction in Buenos Aires

How to face the Qibla in Buenos Aires

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 13.7° towards north: the result is the bearing of 76.3°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 14° off.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Buenos Aires, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Buenos Aires to Mecca points to 59.1° (north-east), a full 17.2° away from the true Qibla of 76.3° (east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 57 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Buenos Aires first heads east, and that is the direction to face.

How is the figure of 76.3° obtained? From the coordinates of Buenos Aires (34.6132° S, 58.3772° W) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Buenos Aires to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 12,061 km from Buenos Aires as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 12,213 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 14 h 41 min, although most pilgrims from Buenos Aires connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Buenos Aires run 6 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Buenos Aires rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Buenos Aires

On 225 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Buenos Aires while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in January (31 days); for example, on 1 January 2027 it happens at 10:48 local time.

On 105 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in January (31 days), for instance on 1 January 2027 at 18:13.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Buenos Aires (06:18 and 06:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 18:29 and 28 November 2027 at 18:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Buenos Aires points straight to Mecca.

Buenos Aires compared with other cities

The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Quilmes (16 km), prays towards 76.2°, the same bearing to the tenth of a degree.

Across the 34 cities in Argentina on this site, the Qibla ranges from 73.1° in Posadas to 86.4° in Comodoro Rivadavia, a spread of 13.3°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Argentina.

Qibla in cities near Buenos Aires

• Quilmes76.2° · 16 km
• Laferrere76.4° · 24 km
• Merlo76.5° · 33 km
• Jose C. Paz76.4° · 37 km
• La Plata76.2° · 52 km
• San Nicolás de los Arroyos76.7° · 221 km