Qibla direction in Cuernavaca

How to face the Qibla in Cuernavaca

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 43.2° towards north: the result is the bearing of 46.8°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Cuernavaca.

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 Cuernavaca to Mecca points to 88.9° (east), a full 42.1° away from the true Qibla of 46.8° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 822 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Cuernavaca 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 18.9261° N, 99.2308° 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 Cuernavaca to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 13,693 km from Cuernavaca as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 13,446 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 16 h 37 min, although most pilgrims from Cuernavaca connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Cuernavaca 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 Cuernavaca rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Cuernavaca

On 74 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Cuernavaca 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 12:33 local time.

On 291 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 15:32.

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

Cuernavaca compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Mexico City (46.6°), and Mecca is 46 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Cuautla (32 km), prays towards 47.0°, a difference of 0.3°.

Across the 99 cities in Mexico on this site, the Qibla ranges from 25.5° in Rosarito to 54.2° in Chetumal, a spread of 28.7°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Mexico.

Qibla in cities near Cuernavaca

• Cuautla47.0° · 32 km
• Tlalpan46.6° · 42 km
• Xico46.8° · 49 km
• Delegación Cuajimalpa de Morelos46.5° · 50 km
• Mexico City46.6° · 57 km
• Toluca46.3° · 60 km