Qibla direction in Quetzaltenango

How to face the Qibla in Quetzaltenango

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 36.2° towards north: the result is the bearing of 53.8°. 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 Quetzaltenango.

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 Quetzaltenango to Mecca points to 87.0° (east), a full 33.1° away from the true Qibla of 53.8° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 540 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Quetzaltenango 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 14.8446° N, 91.5232° 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 Quetzaltenango to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 13,350 km from Quetzaltenango as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 13,144 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 16 h 12 min, although most pilgrims from Quetzaltenango connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Quetzaltenango 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 Quetzaltenango rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Quetzaltenango

On 103 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Quetzaltenango 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 1 May 2027 it happens at 12:01 local time.

On 260 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 Quetzaltenango (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 Quetzaltenango points straight to Mecca.

Quetzaltenango compared with other cities

Compared with Guatemala City, 111 km away, the Qibla in Quetzaltenango is turned 0.7° further anticlockwise (53.8° against 54.5°), and Mecca is 75 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Totonicapán (19 km), prays towards 53.9°, a difference of 0.1°.

Across the 14 cities in Guatemala on this site, the Qibla ranges from 53.7° in Coatepeque to 55.1° in Puerto Barrios, a spread of 1.4°. The difference is small, yet each city should still use its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Guatemala.

Qibla in cities near Quetzaltenango

• Totonicapán53.9° · 19 km
• Coatepeque53.7° · 40 km
• Chichicastenango54.0° · 46 km
• Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa54.4° · 78 km
• San Juan Sacatepéquez54.4° · 96 km
• Escuintla54.5° · 100 km