Traveling to Jerusalem? Then this video is for you! There’s a lot to see in Jerusalem
so I’m going to break down the planning process for three days in the city: which sites to see,
how to organize your day, which sites you need to register for in advance and some very useful tips.
Before we get to the actual planning, I just want to say that in Jerusalem, much more than in Tel
Aviv, it’s important that you sleep in the city center. You’ve found a wonderful Airbnb in the
Ramot neighborhood? Great! It’s not for you. Do yourself a favor and sleep in the center.
In my post about accommodation in Jerusalem I give some great options for all budgets.
The most important places in Jerusalem are in the Old City: the Western Wall,
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, the Via Dolorosa, the Jewish quarter...
There are two areas that are located outside the Old City but are still part of it and they
are usually visited together. The first is Mount Zion, where you will find the Tomb of King David,
the Room of the Last Supper and the Dormition Abbey. And outside the Dung Gate, which is near
the Western Wall, you have the City of David national park, which is ancient Jerusalem.
This is a very interesting site: a large section of it is actually underground and you also have
the option of walking in waist-high water. Most of the sites are open at all times. The
Western Wall is open 24/7 and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is open from very early in
the morning. If you want to enter the Western Wall tunnels, where you get to see the entire
length of the Western Wall, then you need to register in advance. You will be able to find
links to all of the places I mention in this video in the post linked below. If you want to
visit the Temple Mount, then you need to know that non-Muslims can only access it via one entrance,
which is located between the Western Wall and the Dung Gate (you will see the wooden bridge).
The Temple Mount is open every day except Friday, for three hours in the morning, and one hour at
noon. Make sure you dress modestly and be aware that no knives or religious books are allowed.
On the Temple Mount there are two monumental buildings: the Dome of the Rock, the most iconic
building in Jerusalem, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Most people will visit the Old City more than
once, as there is a lot to see and absorb and there are lots of shops and places to eat.
If you’re sleeping in the city center, it’s easy to get to the Old City. I really recommend
visiting the Old City early in the morning, especially if you want to visit the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre. Sometimes I get thank-you emails from people from Wisconsin and the rest
of the world, which I really appreciate. Anyway, the single tip that travelers mention the most
is visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre early in the morning. If visiting the church
is important to you, go early. At midday it is one big balagan, the Hebrew word for chaos.
Another part of the city is the Mount of Olives. You can reach the Mount of Olives
on foot by passing through the Lions’ Gate and then climbing the mountain (it is quite steep),
or alternatively you can take a taxi. If you want to take a bus, you need to take it from the bus
station outside of Damascus Gate. These are two main bus stations in Jerusalem: one in the west,
next to the light rail station and central station and one on the Arabic side, next to Damascus Gate.
From there you can also take a bus to Bethlehem. At the top of the Mount of Olives is the Chapel
of the Ascension where, according to tradition, Jesus ascended to heaven. Many of the sights on
the Mount of Olives are connected to Christianity: the Church of the Pater Noster, Dominus Flevit,
the Church of Gethsemane and others. The reason that there are so many important churches is
that Christianity tends to commemorate events connected to the life of Jesus
by building churches, which is something that can’t be said of Judaism and Islam.
But the sights on the Mount of Olives are not only of interest to practicing Christians. Mount
of Olives is higher up than the Old City so the view is amazing. All the videos you can see about
Jerusalem start with a 3-second shot from the Mount of Olives. Another significant location
is the Jewish cemetery, one of the most important Jewish cemeteries in the world, since Jews have
been buried here for around three thousand years. Allow yourself 2 to 3 hours to see the main
sights. Unlike in the Old City, there are almost no places to eat while visiting the various points
of interest. On hot days (or indeed always) make sure you have a bottle of water with you.
In the city center there is also a lot to see. Many of the sites, or I guess I mean
neighborhoods, are at or a few minutes’ walk from the light rail stations of City Hall,
Jaffa Center and Machine Yehuda. There is Mea Shearim, which is the ultra-orthodox neighborhood,
Mishkenot Sha'ananim, the first Jewish neighborhood outside the Old City,
and Nachlaot, Machine Yehuda, which is the market. The nice thing about Jerusalem is that although
it’s the biggest city in Israel, with almost one million inhabitants, the neighborhoods in
the city center haven’t changed much in the last hundred years. There are hardly any skyscrapers.
The last station on the light rail line is called Mount Herzl and it is on this mountain that
you will find the grave of the father of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl, the Great Leaders of the
Nation’s Plot, the biggest military cemetery, with dozens of memorials, and Yad Vashem, also known as
the Holocaust museum. Yad Vashem is one of the most visited sites in Israel, for good reason,
yet only a few tourists visit Mount Herzl. I find it disappointing that many tours skip Mount
Herzl. In my opinion, there is a discrepancy between where the tours take travelers to,
and where the interest of the travelers lies. The mainstream tours visit Masada,
Jaffa, Caesarea, Banias, Megiddo – all ancient sites, and almost no sites that are connected
to the state of Israel. But what tourists tend to ask about is the modern state of
Israel. And on Mount Herzl you have the perfect opportunity to learn about the state of Israel.
There is a connecting path, which is literally called the connection path, from Yad Vashem to
the memorials on Mount Herzl, and yet very few go there. I can’t understand why they don’t. Anyway,
from the light rail station at Mount Herzl, you can take the bus to Ein Karem, a quiet village
on the outskirts of the city. There are two important churches in this neighborhood:
the Church of the Visitation and the Church of St John the Baptist. There are also lots
of nice little spots where you can sit back and relax. And when visiting Jerusalem,
you definitely need a little down time. Givat Ram is a neighborhood where many of
the national institutions are located, among them the Supreme Court, the Bank of Israel,
the National Library, and two sites that are
relevant to travelers – the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) and the Israel Museum,
the most important museum in Israel. You can look at the Knesset from the
outside or register in advance for a tour of the inside. In the post below you’ll be able
to find all the details. Next to the Knesset stands Israel’s most
impressive museum, the Israel Museum. Here you can see the Shrine of the Book, some of
the oldest parts of the Bible that have ever been found, the largest and by far the most important
collection of Israel’s archeological finds, and a whole
wing concerned with Jewish life and culture. What I absolutely love about the Israel Museum
is that it is the Israel Museum. There are many museums, like the British Museum in London, or the
Pergamon in Berlin, where the important artifacts are not necessarily from the UK or Germany. And in
the Israel Museum you will be able to see all the most significant artifacts that have been found in
all the sites you will be visiting in Israel, be it Caesarea, Tel Dan, or Jerusalem. So the museum
sums up all the sites in one place. The museum offers free tours and you can find the link below.
So, those are the main sites. I would suggest
the following itinerary. Day one: the Mount of Olives, the Old City and the city center. Day two:
the Old City, Temple Mount, the City of David and the city center. Day three: Mount Herzl,
city center and then the Israel Museum. A word about visiting Jerusalem with children.
Too much archeology, religion and history is not easy to take – not for adults, and certainly not
for children. Luckily, Jerusalem has more to offer than just holy sites. I’ll be writing a
whole post on this subject, but for now the main attractions for children include the Bloomfield
Science Museum, which is an excellent interactive museum. Then there is the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo,
where the focus lies on the animals that once lived in Israel and those that are mentioned
in the Bible. Also, the Israel Museum has a large wing dedicated to children.
Although this is a video about 3 days in Jerusalem, I know that some people visiting
Israel for a conference or on business might only have two days in Israel. If you have 48
hours in Israel, then I would recommend one day in Jerusalem for the Old City,
the City of David and the market. And then a day tour to Masada and the Dead Sea. Getting
from Jerusalem to Masada takes about an hour and a half and this is probably the most popular day
tour in Israel. All the information about Masada and the Dead Sea will be in the post linked below.
The most important thing is not just seeing the sites but understanding what
you’re looking at. You can join a tour, you can find my recommendations on my website,
or you can hire a private guide, like myself. Yes, I will soon be starting
to guide in Jerusalem again. And if you are on a budget, you can purchase my app,
Jerusalem with Oren, with all of my Jerusalem tours as videos, discount codes and tips.
It will take your Jerusalem experience to a much higher level. This week I signed my
mortgage – about a million shekels.
Now I have
done all the calculations, and I only need around
20,000 of you to purchase my app and then that’s it – no more mortgage, so do the right thing!
That’s it, give this video a like and subscribe for more tips. All
the important information will be in the link below. See you in Israel. Yalla bye.