Qibla direction in San Felipe

How to face the Qibla in San Felipe

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 25.1° towards north: the result is the bearing of 64.9°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 25° 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 San Felipe to Mecca points to 83.9° (east), a full 19.0° away from the true Qibla of 64.9° (north-east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 195 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from San Felipe 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 10.3401° N, 68.7430° 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 San Felipe to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 11,460 km from San Felipe as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 11,340 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 13 h 59 min, although most pilgrims from San Felipe connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in San Felipe 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 San Felipe rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in San Felipe

On 131 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of San Felipe 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 11:48 local time.

On 234 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 17:48.

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

San Felipe compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Caracas (65.4°), and Mecca is 192 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Yaritagua (51 km), prays towards 64.9°, the same bearing to the tenth of a degree.

Across the 47 cities in Venezuela on this site, the Qibla ranges from 63.9° in Machiques to 66.8° in Upata, a spread of 2.9°. The difference is small, yet each city should still use its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Venezuela.

Qibla in cities near San Felipe

• Yaritagua64.9° · 51 km
• Tinaquillo65.2° · 67 km
• Barquisimeto64.8° · 74 km
• San Carlos65.1° · 77 km
• Puerto Cabello65.1° · 81 km
• Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela65.2° · 84 km