Laundry is included in every one of our packages — clothes washed and pressed during your stay. Pack for about four days, not for fifteen. This is the single biggest saving in weight and the thing most first-time pilgrims get wrong.
Documents, in hand baggage
- Passport, visa copy, ticket and your itinerary from the office
- Vaccination certificate
- Photocopies of everything, kept separately from the originals
- Some Saudi riyals in small notes, and a card
- Your group leader’s number, written down as well as saved in the phone
Ihram and clothing
- Men: two sets of ihram cloth, and an ihram belt with a pocket
- Women: ordinary modest clothing, loose and light; nothing special is required
- Light, breathable everyday clothes for the rest of the stay
- Something warmer for early mornings and for the coach, which runs cold
Footwear
Slip-on sandals, comfortable, already broken in. Shoes come off and go back on many times a day, and the sa’i alone is roughly three and a half kilometres. A cloth bag to carry them in is genuinely useful — the racks are crowded and sandals go missing.
Medication and health
- All regular medication in original packaging, enough for the whole trip plus a few days
- A written note of any conditions and medicines, in English, kept with the passport
- Blister plasters. More people need these than expect to.
- Unscented soap and toothpaste for the days in ihram
- A refillable water bottle
Useful, and often forgotten
- A power bank, and a plug adapter — Saudi sockets are not the same as Indian ones
- A small umbrella for shade
- A prayer mat that folds small
- A notebook, for the duas people ask you to make for them
Leave space for the way back
Your five litres of Zamzam is carried home for you and does not eat into your allowance. Dates, prayer mats, gifts and attar do. Most pilgrims come back heavier than they went, and it is worth leaving room deliberately rather than repacking at the airport.