Qibla direction in San Luis

How to face the Qibla in San Luis

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 10.3° towards north: the result is the bearing of 79.7°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 10° 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 San Luis, 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 San Luis to Mecca points to 61.6° (north-east), a full 18.0° away from the true Qibla of 79.7° (east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 64 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from San Luis first heads east, and that is the direction to face.

How is the figure of 79.7° obtained? From the coordinates of San Luis (33.2914° S, 66.3247° 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 San Luis to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 12,748 km from San Luis as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 12,883 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 15 h 30 min, although most pilgrims from San Luis connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in San Luis 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 San Luis rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in San Luis

On 213 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of San Luis 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 11:14 local time.

On 121 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 18:11.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in San Luis (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 San Luis points straight to Mecca.

San Luis compared with other cities

Compared with Buenos Aires, 747 km away, the Qibla in San Luis is turned 3.4° further clockwise (79.7° against 76.3°), and Mecca is 686 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Río Cuarto (184 km), prays towards 78.6°, a difference of 1.0°.

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 San Luis

• Río Cuarto78.6° · 184 km
• San Rafael81.3° · 237 km
• Mendoza80.7° · 239 km
• Rawson79.9° · 282 km
• Córdoba, Cordoba Province, Argentina77.9° · 290 km
• Santa Rosa, La Pampa Province, Argentina80.1° · 414 km