Qibla direction in Salvaleón de Higüey

How to face the Qibla in Salvaleón de Higüey

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 26.5° towards north: the result is the bearing of 63.5°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 27° off.

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. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. 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 Salvaleón de Higüey to Mecca points to 88.4° (east), a full 25.0° away from the true Qibla of 63.5° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 286 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Salvaleón de Higüey first heads north-east, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 18.6150° N, 68.7080° W 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 Salvaleón de Higüey to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 11,056 km from Salvaleón de Higüey as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 10,895 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 13 h 30 min, although most pilgrims from Salvaleón de Higüey connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Salvaleón de Higüey run 7 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Salvaleón de Higüey rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Salvaleón de Higüey

On 77 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Salvaleón de Higüey while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in June (30 days); for example, on 15 May 2027 it happens at 12:29 local time.

On 288 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 17:39.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Salvaleón de Higüey (05:18 and 05:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 17:29 and 28 November 2027 at 17:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Salvaleón de Higüey points straight to Mecca.

Salvaleón de Higüey compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Santo Domingo (63.0°), and Mecca is 119 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Punta Cana (32 km), prays towards 63.6°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 10 cities in the Dominican Republic on this site, the Qibla ranges from 62.5° in Puerto Plata to 63.6° in Punta Cana, a spread of 1.1°. The difference is small, yet each city should still use its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Dominican Republic.

Qibla in cities near Salvaleón de Higüey

• Punta Cana63.6° · 32 km
• La Romana63.4° · 35 km
• San Pedro de Macorís63.3° · 66 km
• Santo Domingo63.0° · 126 km
• San Cristobal63.0° · 149 km
• San Francisco de Macorís62.7° · 179 km