Airport

There's an airport in Jeddah and another in Madina.

I took a British Airways flight (booked using Sky Scanner) from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Jeddah and back. However, I would suggest taking a flight to Jeddah when going and returning from Madina (if you are going to Mecca first and Madina later).

Or if you are going to Madina first then take a flight to Madina and return from Jeddah. It saves a long 4 hours travel between Madina and Jeddah airport.

Jeddah Airport

There are 3 terminals on Jeddah airport - North, South and Umrah.

Remember to check which terminal you are flying to and from because terminals are not interconnected and you will have to take a taxi to go from one to another.

For us British Airways landed at North Terminal, both arrival and departure are on the same floor right next to each other. There are coffee shops, ATM, money exchange and Taxi counters. There are 2 big prayer rooms (for men and women).

I would suggest taking a taxi from the counter rather than outside for your first leg of the journey. Again try to go for a taxi driver who speaks your local language.

On the way out, you can buy ZamZam cans right outside the departure entry, from the official counters. You will need to show the passport. It costs SAR 7.5 for a 5-litre bottle.

Most airlines including BA allow 1 can per passenger, and this is not counted in your luggage/weight for checked in baggage.

I only got to know of this after returning that you can actually buy more than 1 bottle per passenger if you have luggage space (check-in baggage). I am not certain of this though.