Qibla direction in Tegucigalpa

How to face the Qibla in Tegucigalpa

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 33.4° towards north: the result is the bearing of 56.6°. 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 Tegucigalpa.

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 Tegucigalpa to Mecca points to 86.5° (east), a full 30.0° away from the true Qibla of 56.6° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 450 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Tegucigalpa 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 14.0818° N, 87.2068° 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 Tegucigalpa to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 13,017 km from Tegucigalpa as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 12,827 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 15 h 49 min, although most pilgrims from Tegucigalpa connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Tegucigalpa 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 Tegucigalpa rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Tegucigalpa

On 109 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Tegucigalpa 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 11:39 local time.

On 256 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 15:36.

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

Tegucigalpa compared with other cities

The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Danlí (67 km), prays towards 56.9°, a difference of 0.3°.

Across the 10 cities in Honduras on this site, the Qibla ranges from 55.4° in Puerto Cortez to 56.9° in Catacamas, a spread of 1.5°. The difference is small, yet each city should still use its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Honduras.

Qibla in cities near Tegucigalpa

• Danlí56.9° · 67 km
• Siguatepeque56.0° · 88 km
• El Progreso55.7° · 160 km
• Catacamas56.9° · 165 km
• Olanchito56.3° · 170 km
• San Pedro Sula55.5° · 181 km