Current time in Medina, Saudi Arabia
The current local time in Medina is shown below. Medina observes AST.
What's the daylight saving status?
Medina does not observe daylight saving time. The local offset is fixed year-round.
When are sunrise & sunset today?
What are the timezone facts?
- Timezone
- Asia/Riyadh
- Standard abbreviation
- AST
- Observes daylight saving
- No
- Country
- 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
- Business hours
- 09:00 – 17:00 local
What's the timezone history of Medina?
Medina shares Saudi Arabia's UTC+3 offset year-round with no daylight saving. As one of the two holy cities of Islam, Medina shares with Mecca a particular significance for prayer-time calculations across the Muslim world. The standard Saudi offset of UTC+3 applies to both, with no special adjustment despite their religious importance. The position at around 39.6 degrees east places solar noon close to clock noon, slightly later than Riyadh in the central interior.
What are the working hours in Medina?
Medina's working economy is dominated by religious tourism and the substantial service infrastructure supporting pilgrims year-round. The expanded Prophet's Mosque can accommodate around 700,000 worshippers at peak. The city historically restricted non-Muslim residency and tourism (rules that have been gradually relaxed for tourism purposes in recent years). The Saudi national working week of Sunday to Thursday applies, with Friday and Saturday as the weekend. Prayer-time pauses break the working day five times daily, with reduced commercial activity around each call.
Where is Medina?
Medina sits in the western Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia, around 340 kilometres north of Mecca and 150 kilometres inland from the Red Sea coast. The city proper holds around 1.5 million permanent residents, with the population expanding substantially during the Hajj pilgrimage season as pilgrims combine their Mecca journey with a visit to the Prophet's Mosque (al-Masjid an-Nabawi). The geography places the city in a small basin surrounded by basalt lava plains, with date-palm cultivation in the surrounding oases historically central to the local economy.