where is the important pilgrimage site mecca located
Mecca Mecca (/ˈmɛkə/) or Makkah (Arabic: مكة‎[1] Makkah (Hejazi pronunciation: [ˈmakːa,ˈmäkːä]) is a city in the Hejazi region of the Arabian Peninsula, and the plain of Tihamah in Saudi Arabia, and is also the capital and administrative headquarters of the Makkah Region.[8] The city is located 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of 277 m (909 ft) above sea level, and 340 kilometres (210 mi) south of Medina. Its resident population in 2012 was roughly 2 million, although visitors more than triple this number every year during the Ḥajj (Arabic: حَـجّ‎, "Pilgrimage") period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah (Arabic: ذُو الْـحِـجَّـة‎).