Qibla direction in Kecskemét

How to face the Qibla in Kecskemét

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 39.5° towards east: the result is the bearing of 140.5°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “south” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Kecskemét.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Kecskemét, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Kecskemét to Mecca points to 147.2° (south-east), 6.8° away from the correct 140.5°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 6 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 140.5° obtained? From the coordinates of Kecskemét (46.9062° N, 19.6913° E) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Kecskemét to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,364 km from Kecskemét as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,057 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 27 min, although most pilgrims from Kecskemét connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Kecskemét run 2 hours behind Mecca in winter and 1 hour behind Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Kecskemét rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Kecskemét

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Kecskemét while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in January (31 days); for example, on 1 January 2027 it happens at 08:53 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Kecskemét during daylight, so the shadow method does not apply here; the left-hand column is the one to use.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Kecskemét: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Kecskemét compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Budapest (140.1°), and Mecca is 82 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Szeged (81 km), prays towards 140.5°, the same bearing to the tenth of a degree.

Across the 9 cities in Hungary on this site, the Qibla ranges from 137.2° in Pécs to 144.9° in Nyíregyháza, a spread of 7.7°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Hungary.

Qibla in cities near Kecskemét

• Szeged140.5° · 81 km
• Budapest140.1° · 82 km
• Székesfehérvár138.7° · 102 km
• Pécs137.2° · 145 km
• Miskolc143.5° · 156 km
• Debrecen144.4° · 162 km