12 Best Sights in Jerusalem, Israel

Just south of today's Old City walls, the City of David was the core of Old Testament Jerusalem, built more than four millennia ago on a 15-acre spur over the vital Gihon Spring. It was given its royal Israelite sobriquet 1,000 years later, when the legendary King David conquered the city and made it his capital (II Samuel 5). Begin with the great rooftop observation point above the visitor center. Consider the 15-minute 3D movie, despite its ideological bias; it's a good historical introduction to the site, especially for kids (call ahead for English-language show times). Below the floorboards of the center are the excavated remains of a large building of the 10th century BC, identified by some archaeologists as King David's fortified palace (though others demur). A few flights of steps down from the center is Area G, dominated by a sloping structure of the same period, possibly a support ramp for the "palace" above. The most intriguing artifacts found here were 51 bullae, clay seal impressions no bigger than a fingernail, used for sealing documents or official correspondence. Some were inscribed, in ancient Hebrew, with the names of personages mentioned in the biblical book of Jeremiah. There is strong circumstantial evidence to suggest that the bullae were baked into permanent pottery by the Babylonian burning of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

Take the steps about a third of the way down the hillside: a small sign on the right directs you to Warren's Shaft and the descent to the spring. Charles Warren, a British army engineer, discovered the spacious, sloping access tunnel—note the ancient chisel marks and rough-cut steps—in 1867. The deep vertical shaft that drops into the Gihon Spring may not have been the actual biblical "gutter" or "water-shaft" through which David's warriors penetrated the city 3,000 years ago—it was apparently hewn in a later era—but an alternative access to the spring has kept the biblical story alive. Three centuries later, King Hezekiah of Judah had a horizontal tunnel dug through solid rock to bring the spring water safely into a new inner-city reservoir.

The tunnel—variously called Siloam, Shilo'ach, or Hezekiah's Tunnel—can be waded today. You will need water shoes or sandals, a flashlight (cheap LED ones are on sale at the visitor center), and appropriate clothing: the water is thigh-deep for the first few minutes, and then below the knees for almost the entire length of the tunnel (a 30-minute walk). The visitor center has lockers for your gear. In this very conservative neighborhood, it's advisable to wear covering over swimsuits when walking outside. The wade is not recommended for very small children or for claustrophobes of any age. If you don't fancy getting wet, you can still view the spring, and then continue through the dry Canaanite tunnel to emerge aboveground.

The tunnel ends in the Pool of Siloam, mentioned in the New Testament as the place where a blind man had his sight restored (John 9); the current pool is its Byzantine successor. From the exit, modern wooden steps take you down and over the large flagstones of a 1st-century-BC commercial street to the edge of an ancient pool unearthed in 2004 by city workers repairing a sewage pipe. Archaeologists exposed finely cut steps and two corners of the pool, apparently a large public mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath, for pilgrims who flocked here 2,000 years ago—and arguably the very pool of the Gospel miracle. Hezekiah's original pool remains hidden.

An underground Roman-period drainage ditch is the adventurous route back up the hill. For an additional fee you can continue still farther north through the ditch (bypassing the visitor center), to the Jerusalem Archaeological Park inside the city walls.

There is a shuttle van (NIS 5) from the pool up the steep hill back to the visitor center, but currently not from the dry exit.

This was once the terminus of the old Jaffa–Jerusalem railroad, inaugurated in 1892. It survived two world wars and two regime changes until the suspension of rail service in 1998. Despite being boarded up, the handsome building's limestone facade, gabled roof, and arched doorways stood as a reminder of its glory days. A creative renovation has won accolades, especially from Jerusalemites. In a city not known for its contemporary attractions, First Station made a splash with its cafés and restaurants, shaded crafts stalls, and play equipment for the kids (and sometimes balloon artists or puppeteers). Evening performances and other cultural events have become popular, especially in the warmer months. The compound is open on Saturday, but only really comes alive in the evening.

Officially the Gottesman Family Israel Aquarium Jerusalem, this new spot is the first public aquarium in Israel. You can combine a visit with the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens next door and see all kinds of aquatic life from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea's coral reefs and beyond. The museum is dedicated to the conservation of Israel's marine habitats, and its modern exhibits have high-tech digital displays. A devoted and knowledgeable staff guides visitors through the experience. Public transportation reaches as far as the Zoo's main entrance.

This world-class museum shines after a massive makeover that brought modern exhibits and state-of-the-art technology. The Dead Sea Scrolls are certainly the museum's most important collection. A Bedouin boy discovered the first of the 2,000-year-old parchments in 1947 in a Judean Desert cave, overlooking the Dead Sea. Of the nine main scrolls and bags full of small fragments that surfaced over the years, many of the most important and most complete are preserved here; the Antiquities Authority holds the rest of the parchments, and a unique copper scroll is in Jordan. The white dome of the Shrine of the Book, the separate pavilion in which the scrolls are housed, was inspired by the lids of the clay jars in which the first ones were found.

The scrolls were written in the Second Temple period by a fiercely zealous, separatist, and monastic Jewish sect, widely identified as the Essenes. Archaeological, laboratory, and textual evidence dates the earliest of the scrolls to the 2nd century BC; none could have been written later than AD 68, the year in which their home community, known today as Qumran, was destroyed by the Romans. The parchments, still in an extraordinary state of preservation because of the dryness of the Dead Sea region, contain the oldest Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament ever found, authenticating the almost identical Hebrew texts still in use today. The sectarian literature provides an insight into this esoteric community. The early-medieval Aleppo Codex, on display in the small lower gallery under the white dome, is considered the most authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible in existence.

The quarter-acre outdoor 1:50 scale model, adjacent to the Shrine of the Book, represents Jerusalem as it was on the eve of the Great Revolt against Rome (AD 66). It was designed in the mid-1960s by the late Professor Michael Avi-Yonah, who relied on considerable data gleaned from Roman-period historians, important Jewish texts, and even the New Testament, and based some of his generic reconstructions (villas, a theater, markets, etc.) on Roman structures that have survived across the ancient empire. Later archaeological excavations have sometimes confirmed and sometimes challenged Avi-Yonah's sharp intuition, and the model has been updated occasionally to incorporate new knowledge. The available audio guide is a worthwhile aid in deciphering the site.

Taken together, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the huge model, and Roman-period exhibits in the Archaeology Wing evoke the turbulent and historically momentous Second Temple period. That was the era from which Christianity emerged; when the Romans razed the Temple in Jerusalem, it compelled a slow revolution in Jewish life and religious practice that has defined Judaism to this day.

The Archaeology Wing highlights many artifacts (in the Canaanite, Israelite, and Hellenistic-Roman sections) that offer evocative illustrations of familiar biblical texts. Don't miss the small side rooms devoted to glass, coins, and the Hebrew script.

Jewish Art and Life is the name for the wing made up mostly of finely wrought Jewish ceremonial objects (Judaica) from widely disparate communities. The "synagogue route" includes reconstructed old synagogues from India, Germany, Italy, and Suriname.

The Art Wing is a slightly confusing maze spread over different levels, but if you have patience and time, the payoff is great. Older European art rubs shoulders with modern works, contemporary Israeli art, design, and photography. Landscape architect Isamu Noguchi designed the open-air Art Garden. Crunch over the gravel amid works by Daumier, Rodin, Moore, Picasso, and local luminaries.

The Youth Wing mounts one major new exhibition a year, interactive and often adult-friendly, designed to encourage children to appreciate the arts and the world around them, or to be creative in a crafts workshop. Parents with younger kids will also be grateful for the outdoor play areas.

The vegetarian/dairy café, Offaime, is a great place for a light meal or coffee. The more expensive Modern has tempting meat and fish combinations and remains open beyond museum hours. The lockers and ATM in the museum's entrance hall are useful. Large bags or packs have to be checked. Photography (without flash) is allowed everywhere except in the Shrine of the Book. Check the website for summer days with longer hours and free entrance for kids.

Though strictly speaking outside the Jewish Quarter, this site is related to it historically, and is often visited at the same time. A gold mine for Israeli archaeologists, its most dramatic and monumental finds were from the Herodian period, the late 1st century BC. The low-rise, air-conditioned Davidson Center (on your right as you enter the site) offers visual aids, some artifacts, two interesting videos (which alternate between English and Hebrew), and modern restrooms. Allow 30 minutes for the center and another 40 minutes for the site. 

The best place to start a tour is the high corner, off to the left as you enter the site. King Herod the Great rebuilt the Second Temple on the exact site of its predecessor, more or less where the Dome of the Rock now stands. He expanded the sacred enclosure by constructing a massive, shoebox-shaped retaining wall on the slopes of the hill, the biblical Mount Moriah. The inside was filled with thousands of tons of rubble to level off the hill and create the huge platform, the size of 27 football fields, known today as the Temple Mount. The stones near the corner, with their signature precision-cut borders, are not held together with mortar; their sheer weight gives the structure its stability. The original wall is thought to have been a third higher than it is today.

To the left of the corner is the white pavement of an impressive main street and commercial area from the Second Temple period. The protrusion high above your head is known as Robinson's Arch, named for a 19th-century American explorer. It is a remnant of a monumental bridge to the Temple Mount that was reached by a staircase from the street where you now stand: look for the ancient steps. The square-cut building stones heaped on the street came from the top of the original wall, dramatic evidence of the Roman destruction of AD 70. A piece of Hebrew scriptural graffiti (Isaiah 66:14) was etched into a stone, possibly by a Jewish pilgrim, some 15 centuries ago.

Climb the wooden steps and turn left through the shaded square. A modern spiral staircase descends below present ground level to a partially reconstructed labyrinth of Byzantine dwellings and mosaics; from here you reemerge outside the present city walls. Alternatively, stay at ground level and continue east through a small arched gate. The broad, impressive Southern Steps on your left, a good part of them original, once brought hordes of Jewish pilgrims through the now-blocked southern gates of the Temple Mount. The rock-hewn ritual baths near the bottom of the steps were used for the purification rites once demanded of Jews before they entered the sacred temple precincts. This section of the site, directly below the al-Aqsa Mosque, closes at 11 am on Friday, before the Muslim prayer time.

Spread over a scenic 62-acre ridge among Jerusalem's hilly southern neighborhoods, this zoo has many of the usual species that delight zoo visitors everywhere: monkeys and elephants, snakes and birds, and all the rest. But it goes much further, focusing on two groups of wildlife. The first is creatures mentioned in the Bible that have become locally extinct, some as recently as the 20th century. Among these are Asian lions, bears, cheetahs, the Nile crocodile, and the Persian fallow deer. The second focus is on endangered species worldwide, among them the Asian elephant and rare macaws.

This is a wonderful place to let kids expend some energy—there are lawns and playground equipment—and allow adults some downtime from touring. Early morning and late afternoon are the best hours in summer; budget 2½ hours to see (almost) everything. A wagon train does the rounds of the zoo, at a nominal fee of NIS 3 (not on Saturday and Jewish holidays). The Noah's Ark Visitors Center has a movie and computer programs; check the zoo website for animal feeding times. The zoo is served by city routes 26A (from Central Bus Station) and 33 (from Mount Herzl). The ride is about 30 minutes; a cab would take 15 minutes from Downtown hotels.

Many visitors find this museum invaluable in mapping Jerusalem's often-confusing historical byways. Housed in a series of medieval halls, known locally as the Citadel (Hametzuda in Hebrew), the museum tells the city's four-millennium story through models, maps, holograms, and videos. The galleries are organized by historical period around the Citadel's central courtyard, where the old stone walls and arches add an appropriately antique atmosphere. Walking on the Citadel ramparts provides unexpected panoramas: don't miss the wonderful view from the top of the big tower. The basement has a model of 19th-century Jerusalem, constructed for the Ottoman pavilion at the Vienna World Fair in 1873. Guided tours in English are offered weekdays at 11 am. You'll need 90 minutes to do justice to this museum.

The outdoor "Night Spectacular" is a stunning 45-minute sound-and-light pageant of historical images played onto the ancient stone walls and towers. The event runs throughout the year, but days and times change with the seasons. Reserve in advance.

Most of the street is an open-air pedestrian mall in the heart of Downtown, forming a triangle with King George Street and Jaffa Street. It is known locally as the Midrachov, a term concocted from two Hebrew words: midracha (sidewalk) and rechov (street). The street is named after the brilliant linguist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who in the late 19th century almost single-handedly revived Hebrew as a modern spoken language; he would have liked the clever new word. Cafés have tables out on the cobblestones, and buskers are usually around in good weather, playing tunes old and new. It's a great place to sip coffee or munch falafel and watch the passing crowd. On Saturday and Jewish holidays, only a few restaurants and convenience stores are open, but after nightfall (especially in warm weather) the area comes to life.

Most archaeological museums group artifacts according to their place of origin, but the curators here favor a chronological display, seeking cross-cultural influences within any given era. The exhibits cover more than 6,000 years—from the prehistoric Neolithic period (Late Stone Age) to that of the Byzantine Empire—and sweep geographically from Afghanistan to Sudan. Rare clay vessels, fertility idols, cylinder seals, ivories, and sarcophagi fill the soaring, naturally lighted galleries. Look for the ancient Egyptian wooden coffin, in a stunning state of preservation. Plan on an hour to see the permanent exhibition—a guided tour will enhance the experience—and check out the temporary exhibitions downstairs.

For kids, this may be the city's best rainy-day option, but don't wait for a rainy day to enjoy the museum. Along with a range of intriguing, please-touch interactive equipment that demonstrates scientific principles in a fun environment, there is a lot of innovation and creativity—not least of all in the changing exhibits. Explanations are in English, and Hebrew University science students, as many as 20 at a time on busy weekends, are on hand to explain exhibit displays and host workshops.

The YMCA exudes old-world charm: its high-domed landmark bell tower thrusts out of a palatial white-limestone facade, full of carved arcane symbols and ancient scripts. The complex boasts the usual YMCA fitness facilities, a hotel, a concert hall, a restaurant, and a bilingual preschool. For NIS 20 you can ride the small elevator (they insist on two people minimum) to the Bell Tower, with breathtaking views of the city in all directions. The building, dedicated in 1933, was designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon, one of the architects of New York City's Empire State Building.

Set just west of Jaffa Gate next to Hutzot Hayotzer Artist Colony compound is Teddy Park, named for Teddy Kollek, the popular mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993. On the park's upper terrace, a small mirrorlike globe is designed as a jigsaw of the continents. Entering the globe through the "oceans," you encounter a floor engraving of a famous Renaissance map that shows Jerusalem as the center of the world. The middle terrace boasts an intriguingly innovative sundial that not only tells time, but also tracks the solstices, equinoxes, and a few memorable dates. In the summer, a large square platform on the lower terrace becomes a cool children's playground when multiple water jets spurt unpredictably into the air for 20 minutes, four times daily. At night, the fountain plays to an orchestration of light and music.