Qibla direction in Upata

How to face the Qibla in Upata

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 23.2° towards north: the result is the bearing of 66.8°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 23° 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 Upata to Mecca points to 82.3° (east), a full 15.4° away from the true Qibla of 66.8° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 136 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Upata 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 8.0162° N, 62.4056° 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 Upata to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 10,931 km from Upata as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 10,837 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 13 h 22 min, although most pilgrims from Upata connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Upata run 7 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Upata rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Upata

On 144 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Upata 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 15 April 2027 it happens at 11:52 local time.

On 185 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 March (31 days), for instance on 15 January 2027 at 17:23.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Upata (05:18 and 05:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 17:29 and 28 November 2027 at 17:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Upata points straight to Mecca.

Upata compared with other cities

Compared with Caracas, 563 km away, the Qibla in Upata is turned 1.4° further clockwise (66.8° against 65.4°), and Mecca is 338 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Ciudad Guayana (45 km), prays towards 66.7°, a difference of 0.1°.

Among the 47 cities in Venezuela on this site, Upata has the largest Qibla bearing; the smallest is 63.9° in Machiques. Across the country the direction varies by 2.9°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Venezuela.

Qibla in cities near Upata

• Ciudad Guayana66.7° · 45 km
• Ciudad Bolívar66.6° · 126 km
• Maturín66.4° · 210 km
• El Tigre66.3° · 225 km
• Anaco66.2° · 275 km
• Carúpano66.3° · 309 km