Qibla direction in Xi'an

How to face the Qibla in Xi'an

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 7.5° towards north: the result is the bearing of 277.5°. The direction is close to due west, which makes it easy to remember.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. The simplest check in Xi'an is a local mosque: its mihrab and prayer lines already point to the Qibla. See the mosques of Xi'an. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Xi'an to Mecca points to 258.1° (west), a full 19.4° away from the true Qibla of 277.5° (west). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 104 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Xi'an first heads west, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 34.2583° N, 108.9286° E to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Xi'an to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 6,818 km from Xi'an as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 6,680 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 8 h 31 min, although most pilgrims from Xi'an connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Xi'an run 5 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Xi'an rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Xi'an

On 144 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Xi'an while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in May (31 days); for example, on 15 April 2027 it happens at 18:40 local time.

On 205 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 May (31 days), for instance on 15 March 2027 at 07:33.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Xi'an: at 17:18 and 17:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Xi'an compared with other cities

Compared with Beijing, 912 km away, the Qibla in Xi'an is turned 1.4° further anticlockwise (277.5° against 278.9°), and Mecca is 567 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Xianyang (23 km), prays towards 277.4°, a difference of 0.2°.

Across the 612 cities in China on this site, the Qibla ranges from 249.0° in Tacheng to 286.5° in Suifenhe, a spread of 37.5°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for China.

Qibla in cities near Xi'an

• Xianyang277.4° · 23 km
• Weinan277.7° · 60 km
• Tongchuan277.2° · 71 km
• Tongchuanshi277.2° · 92 km
• Shangluo278.2° · 102 km
• Huayin277.9° · 110 km