Qibla direction in Puerto Barrios

How to face the Qibla in Puerto Barrios

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 34.9° towards north: the result is the bearing of 55.1°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Puerto Barrios.

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 Puerto Barrios to Mecca points to 87.3° (east), a full 32.2° away from the true Qibla of 55.1° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 507 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Puerto Barrios 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 15.7272° N, 88.5979° 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 Puerto Barrios to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 13,038 km from Puerto Barrios as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 12,837 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 15 h 50 min, although most pilgrims from Puerto Barrios connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Puerto Barrios run 9 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Puerto Barrios rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Puerto Barrios

On 97 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Puerto Barrios while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in July (31 days); for example, on 15 May 2027 it happens at 11:31 local time.

On 266 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 15:35.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Puerto Barrios (03:18 and 03:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 15:29 and 28 November 2027 at 15:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Puerto Barrios points straight to Mecca.

Puerto Barrios compared with other cities

Compared with Guatemala City, 238 km away, the Qibla in Puerto Barrios is turned 0.6° further clockwise (55.1° against 54.5°), and Mecca is 238 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Chiquimula (145 km), prays towards 55.0°, a difference of 0.1°.

Among the 14 cities in Guatemala on this site, Puerto Barrios has the largest Qibla bearing; the smallest is 53.7° in Coatepeque. Across the country the direction varies by 1.4°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Guatemala.

Qibla in cities near Puerto Barrios

• Chiquimula55.0° · 145 km
• Cobán54.2° · 192 km
• Jalapa54.8° · 193 km
• Jutiapa55.0° · 212 km
• Guatemala City54.5° · 238 km
• San Juan Sacatepéquez54.4° · 247 km