Jerusalem travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Jerusalem, planned over three days
Best time to visit Jerusalem
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best overall weather, green hills and wildflowers, but Passover and Easter bring crowds and high prices.
Hot dry days around 28 to 32C with cool evenings, start outdoor sights early and use museums at midday.
Spring like weather returns by October, but the High Holidays and Sukkot can fill the city and spike prices.
Cold, wet and quiet at 5 to 13C, with the cheapest hotels outside the Christmas and New Year spike.
What's on
- Jerusalem Marathon spring
Closes roads across the city for a morning.
- Passover spring, dates vary by year
City at its most atmospheric, crowded and expensive, with massive Priestly Blessing gatherings.
- Easter / Holy Week spring, dates vary by year
Processions and Old City closures, book everything well ahead.
- Israel Festival late spring / early summer
Performing arts festival worth timing a trip around.
- Jerusalem Light Festival June, in the years it runs
Light installations along the Old City walls and lanes over a week of evenings, free to walk.
- Rosh Hashanah autumn, dates vary by year
Start of the High Holidays stack, when Jerusalem fills and prices rise.
- Yom Kippur autumn, dates vary by year
The whole country stops for about 25 hours with no transport or traffic, plan food ahead.
- Sukkot autumn, dates vary by year
Pilgrims fill the city and the Western Wall area hosts massive Priestly Blessing gatherings.
- Hanukkah winter, dates vary by year
Menorahs in windows and peak sufganiyot season.
- Christmas 25 December
Centres on the Old City and Bethlehem, with limited sought after midnight Mass tickets in Bethlehem.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Jerusalem
Old City
Start here with a licensed guide so the four quarters and 3000 years of layers actually make sense.
Western Wall
Free plaza open around the clock, plus booked tunnels revealing the full Herodian wall below street level.
Temple Mount
Esplanade with the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa. Non-Muslims enter only by the Mughrabi Bridge in short morning slots, Sunday to Thursday, and cannot go inside the buildings.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Church over the traditional Crucifixion and tomb sites, reached by walking the Via Dolorosa stations.
Yad Vashem
Holocaust remembrance campus telling individual stories, profoundly affecting and never to be rushed.
Israel Museum
National museum with the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Shrine of the Book and a huge Second Temple era model.
City of David
Where Jerusalem began, with excavations and a dark wet wade through Hezekiah's Tunnel in ankle deep water.
Mahane Yehuda Market
Great open air shuk for grazing by day that turns into bars and live music behind painted shutters at night.
Where to stay in Jerusalem
Mamilla / King David Street corridor
first trip, all-round base
Five to ten minutes walk to the Old City and fifteen to the market, on quiet well lit streets.
City Centre / Nahalat Shiva / Downtown Triangle
value and nightlife base
Boutique hotels and hostels on the light rail, with the densest cafe and bar streets in west Jerusalem.
German Colony / Rehavia
calmer, local, repeat-visit stay
Tree lined residential streets with cafes, best for families and longer stays, a ride from the Old City.
Ein Kerem
village retreat, one night
Green church and gallery village in the hills, beautiful for a decompress night but a daily commute for sightseeing.
Inside the Old City
pilgrims and romantics, with eyes open
Dawn visits on your doorstep, but no cars, steep stone lanes for luggage and small rooms in old buildings.
Sheikh Jarrah
character and quiet in East Jerusalem
Calmer old world base a taxi ride from the Old City, chosen for atmosphere rather than walk everywhere ease.
Think twice about
- Damascus Gate and the Salah ad-Din / Sultan Suleiman strip
Major transport and protest flashpoint where demonstrations and closures concentrate first, and visitor infrastructure empties at night.
- Mea Shearim and the ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods
A fit warning not a safety one: scarce visitor lodging, enforced modest dress expectations and streets that shut to visitors on Shabbat.
- Isolated Mount of Olives / far East Jerusalem lodging
Steep lanes, thin night transport and few restaurants, and the main lookout above it is a documented pickpocket spot.
- Highway settlement suburbs and industrial-zone hotels marketed as Jerusalem, e.g. far Atarot / north-east corridor
A cheap room 25 minutes drive from the walls with no light rail and no neighbourhood costs you the city.
Best restaurants in Jerusalem
Machneyuda
Loud joyful chef restaurant that put modern Jerusalem cooking on the map, sourced from the shuk itself.
Azura
Old school Iraqi Turkish slow cooking in huge pots inside the market, with lunch the meal to aim for.
Ishtabach
Tiny counter for Kurdish shamburak pastry pockets filled with slow cooked meat, baked to order.
Hachapuria
Georgian cheese boats of molten cheese, butter and egg yolk, baked to order in a few table spot.
Crave
Kosher deli meets street food inside the shuk, known for its Reuben, burgers and loaded fries.
Yudale
Machneyuda's casual tapas bar sibling across the street, walk in friendly and cheaper than the original.
The Eucalyptus
Biblical ingredient tasting menus from foraged Jerusalem hills herbs, on a terrace facing the walls.
Hamotzi
Warm family run Algerian cooking with couscous and slow stews, without chef restaurant prices or stress.
Outdoor things to do in Jerusalem
Masada National Park
Sunrise climb of Herod's desert fortress, then Ein Gedi waterfalls and a float in the Dead Sea.
Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
Half day to the Nativity grotto and Shepherds' Fields with a local Palestinian guide, passport required.
Ramparts Walk
Walk the top of Suleiman's walls in two sections, with views into the quarters and out over the new city.
Sataf
Restored ancient terraces, pine forest and two spring pools, the Jerusalemites' own free weekend escape.
Jerusalem Trail
Forty kilometre trail circling the city, with the Sataf down to Ein Kerem section the best single day walk.
Mar Saba Monastery
Guided 4x4 desert run to Mar Saba and St George's in Wadi Qelt, with big silence and no facilities.
Caesarea Golf Club
Israel's only 18 hole championship course, a Pete Dye redesign beside Caesarea's Roman harbour ruins.
The First Station
Segway or e bike the rail trail promenade from the First Station through the German Colony to Givat Ram.
Best hotels in Jerusalem
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem
Polished flagship in the restored 1929 Palace Hotel, a short stroll to Jaffa Gate.
Mamilla Hotel
Design led luxury attached to Mamilla mall, with the best known rooftop bar view over the Old City walls.
The King David
Historic 1931 grand dame with gardens and pool overlooking the Old City walls, where heads of state stay.
Eldan Hotel
Mid range workhorse opposite the King David, unfussy rooms and a big breakfast at a prime address.
HI Agron Jerusalem Hostel
Best located cheap bed in west Jerusalem, dorms and simple private rooms with breakfast and parking.
Arthur Hotel
Reliable boutique pick in the centre with breakfast included, walkable to everywhere that matters.
Brown Mamilla
Boutique hotel by Mamilla with rooftop and small pool character at well under flagship prices.
Villa Brown Jerusalem
Townhouse style boutique stay from the Brown group, quieter and more residential in feel than Brown Mamilla.
Is Jerusalem expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ₪195 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ₪488 a person |
| Splurge | ₪1,215 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Old City: a few days ahead
- Western Wall: weeks ahead
- Yad Vashem: a few days ahead
- City of David: a few days ahead
- Tower of David Museum: a few days ahead
- Private Old City Tour, Jerusalem: a few days ahead
- Masada National Park: a few days ahead
- Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem: a few days ahead
- Western Wall Tunnels book days to weeks ahead, before you fly.
- Book Tower of David Night Spectacular showtimes and Yad Vashem timed entry ahead.
- Machneyuda dinner needs weeks; hotels fill completely over Passover, Sukkot, Easter and Christmas.
- Masada sunrise and Bethlehem tours usually need only a day or two outside peak holidays.
Is Jerusalem safe?
- Check your government's current travel advice before you go.
- Pickpockets cluster at the Mount of Olives lookout, outside Gethsemane and at Via Dolorosa Station V.
- Walk away from demonstrations, which concentrate at Damascus Gate and major junctions.
- Dress modestly with shoulders and knees covered for sacred sites and religious neighbourhoods.
- Plan around crowding, heat, steep slippery stone when wet and security closures.
Jerusalem travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Unlicensed guides at Jaffa Gate who attach themselves and invoice you at the end.
- Currency exchange booths around Jaffa Gate with rates far from the market rate.
- Restaurants by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with no prices on the menu.
- The red string blessing on the steps to the Western Wall, where a string is tied and money demanded.
- Bundled Bethlehem, Jericho, Masada and Dead Sea mega coach days with four headlines and no depth.
Getting around Jerusalem: public transport and more
- Walk the Old City, Mamilla, centre and market as one arc.
- Light rail Red Line links the Central Bus Station, Mahane Yehuda, city centre and Damascus Gate; pay by Rav-Kav or contactless.
- Use the Gett app for taxis and insist on the meter or agree the price first.
- Do not rent a car for Jerusalem itself; Israeli rentals cannot enter West Bank Area A.
- The fast train from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon takes about 25 minutes, with no trains over Shabbat.
Who Jerusalem suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Jerusalem your trip
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