Qibla direction in Bath

How to face the Qibla in Bath

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 26.4° towards south: the result is the bearing of 116.4°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 26° off.

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 Bath to Mecca points to 132.1° (south-east), a full 15.7° away from the true Qibla of 116.4° (south-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 42 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Bath first heads south-east, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 51.3751° N, 2.3617° 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 Bath to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,924 km from Bath as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,643 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 6 h 18 min, although most pilgrims from Bath connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Bath run 3 hours behind Mecca in winter and 2 hours 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 Bath rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Bath

On 255 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Bath while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 15 February 2027 it happens at 07:58 local time.

On 73 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 June (30 days), for instance on 1 June 2027 at 20:14.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Bath: at 10:18 and 10:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Bath compared with other cities

Compared with London, England, United Kingdom, 156 km away, the Qibla in Bath is turned 2.6° further anticlockwise (116.4° against 119.0°), and Mecca is 130 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Bristol (19 km), prays towards 116.3°, a difference of 0.2°.

Across the 75 cities in the United Kingdom on this site, the Qibla ranges from 113.7° in Plymouth, England, United Kingdom to 121.7° in Aberdeen, a spread of 8.0°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for United Kingdom.

Qibla in cities near Bath

• Bristol116.3° · 19 km
• Swindon117.2° · 45 km
• Newport116.0° · 50 km
• Gloucester117.0° · 55 km
• Cardiff115.7° · 58 km
• Bournemouth116.3° · 80 km