Process for preparing melamine by converting urea in the presence of a solid catalyst in one reactor or in a plurality of reactors connected in series in the temperature range from 370° C. to 430° C., cooling and filtering the gas formed in the urea conversion, removing the melamine by desublimation and recycling a portion of the gas present after the melamine removal (“cycle gas”) into the reactor or the reactors, which comprises performing all of the above stages at a pressure in the range from 4 bar abs. to 10 bar abs.