96 Best Shopping in Israel

Outside Jaffa Gate, Hutzot Hayotzer is home to goldsmiths and silversmiths specializing in jewelry, fine art, and Judaica, generally done in a modern, minimalist style. The work is of extremely high quality and priced accordingly.

Every Friday, local artists and craftspeople hawk handmade jewelry and bags, whimsical puppets, hefty wooden cutting boards, and other pieces at this art market in central Jerusalem. The pace is relaxed and friendly. Stalls run from the pedestrian section of Bezalel Street and continue onto Shatz Street to the small Schieber Park.

The family of Bilal Abu Khalaf has been trading in fine fabrics for Jerusalem's elite for three generations. The shop is a treasure trove of Damascene silks woven with golden thread, Moroccan brocade set with semiprecious stones, and the finest fabrics from Kashmir. Phone ahead to arrange a riveting 20-minute presentation of the shop's most beautiful treasures, and an explanation of the Crusader church visible through the glass floor.

This 80-year-old shop carries colorful Persian, Bedouin, and Armenian pottery and ceramics, weavings, painted silks, and jewelry.

The Cremisan Monastery was founded by Italian missionaries in a stunning valley on the West Bank–Jerusalem border. Today, it produces wine using indigenous Palestinian grapes. The Hamdani Jandali white blend is crisp and refreshing, and you can taste several whites and reds, along with a distilled arak, at the cellar. Bottles are an excellent value; you can pay with credit cards; and staffers speak English, Arabic, and Italian. If you're visiting in summer, ask about wine festivals hosted on-site.

Local designer Daniella Lehavi makes distinctive, well-crafted leather bags, shoes, and accessories.

These delicate items in fine porcelain are all hand-painted in rich shades of blue, red, and gold. Traditional Jewish ritual objects include fine papercuts and a range of ornamental ketubot (wedding contracts). Less expensive items include napkin rings and bottle stoppers.

Arman Darian's exacting painting can be seen in prestigious buildings around Israel and the world. Besides ceramic pieces with Jewish themes, the shop carries hand-painted tables and mirrors and has a plentiful selection of bargain-priced seconds. You can often catch Darian and his staff working on new designs.

Kevork Kahvedjian's collection of 3,500 photographic prints of Jerusalem and the Holy Land dating back to 1860 provides a window into a vanished world. Many of them have been published in history books and adorn the walls of local hotels and restaurants. All are available as high-quality prints in various sizes, mounted and ready for framing.

The artist studios and shops are part of the Nocturno complex, including a home and fashion store that hosts pop-up sales of Israeli designers and the studio of jewelry designer Efrat Yefenof.

A specialist in Jewish fine art and a pioneer in pewter pieces, Frank Meisler has a magical studio and gallery located in the heart of the artist's quarter in Old Jaffa. Here you'll find his regal Judaica as well as a display of caricature sculptures.

Well-crafted wooden toys and games fill the shelves of this vaulted underground shop. Kids are welcome to try out many of them. Gaya also has a branch at the First Station.

This shop beckons with its delightfully colorful tiled steps. The functional and ornamental pottery is made by a dozen Israeli artists, and many pieces are bright and cheerful.

Here you'll discover the work of 20 excellent Israeli craftspeople working in ceramics, glass, jewelry, sculpture, and wood. You can join them for a crafts workshop in their studios on the second floor. The store offers guided tours in English on the history of art in Jerusalem as well as on the building itself, which served as a hospital during the British Mandate.

Meticulously crafted Armenian tiles and pottery can be found in this family-run store of local artisan Hagop Karakashian, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Their high-quality work includes plates, bowls, tiles, and plaques painted with peacocks and flowers and can be shipped all over the world.

This shop sells traditional and affordable papercuts, a well-established Jewish art form. These pieces make unusual gifts—to say nothing of being both light and easy to pack. They can be customized with your name.

This gallery is filled with bright and colorful hand-painted wooden dishes, furniture, floor mats and other housewares. The pieces feature geometric designs and Israeli motifs, including pomegranates, grapes, and birds. In addition to shopping for Kakadu art, you can chat with owners Aharon and Reut Shahar while sipping tea or coffee on comfortable couches overlooking the lush Ella Valley. Aharon is a tour guide and can give advice on trails and biking nearby. Workshops, by appointment only, allow visitors of all ages to create their own colorful wooden art pieces. The gallery ships globally.

Bordered by Old City's Jaffa Gate on one end and the Mamilla Hotel on the other, this open-air shopping center features such familiar clothing chains as Nike, The Northface, Mango, and Zara. There's also a growing number of independent Israeli fashion and jewelry designers. The restaurants and cafés all have spectacular views, and the street is lined by Israeli sculptures.

This pedestrian-only strip of Ben-Yehuda Street makes for a fun shopping experience. Street musicians serenade passersby and those seated at the many outdoor cafés. Summer evenings are lively, as the mall fills with peddlers of cheap jewelry and crafts. Some of the city's best restaurants are tucked into the nearby alleys.

Simple, classic styles in very comfortable fabrics are this well-known Israeli clothing designer's hallmark.

Sabon—Hebrew for soap—sells its aromatic herb-infused soaps, creams, and lotions all around the world. The ritual hand washing in the shop is a delight. There's another branch in the Malcha Mall.

This shop just inside the New Gate stocks intricately hand-painted ceramic tiles in any shape or size, from small decorative tiles to elaborate tiled mirrors, tables, and trays. From the Jaffa Gate, take the first left onto Latin Patriarch Road.

Jerusalem's main market is the souk in the Old City, spread over a warren of intersecting streets. This is where much of Arab Jerusalem shops. It's awash with color and redolent with the clashing scents of exotic spices. Baskets of produce vie for attention with hanging shanks of lamb, fresh fish on ice, and fresh-baked delicacies. Food stalls are interspersed with purveyors of fabrics and shoes. The baubles and trinkets of the tourist trade often seem secondary, except along the well-trodden paths of the Via Dolorosa, David Street, and Christian Quarter Road.

Haggling with merchants in the Arab market—a time-honored tradition—is not for everyone. If you know what you want and what you are willing to pay, it can be fun to try to knock the price down; if not, seek out shops with set prices, either in the Old City or outside its walls.

In the old neighborhood of Nahalat Shiva, just off Zion Square, is the pedestrian-only Yoel Moshe Salomon Street. Between the restaurants on the main drag and in the adjacent alleys and courtyards, you'll find several crafts galleries, unique ceramics stores, and artsy jewelry and clothing shops.

Established in 1940, the Zalmania PhotoHouse is the oldest photography shop in Israel and has been family owned and operated for generations. With more than a million negatives documenting Israel’s history, this nostalgic shop sells historical photographs, books, postcards, posters, and gifts, many of which are only found here.

This shop sells striking handmade leather shoes that you definitely won't find back home. Adi Kilav's classic lines reflect his training in architecture.

This gallery and jewelry studio in the heart of Old Jaffa sells handcrafted jewelry in sterling silver, gold, and vermeil, combined with polymer clay in the ancient technique called millefiori, which means "a thousand flowers" in Italian. The combination of metals and modern materials creates an innovative and classy look.

The two sections of this shopping center are connected by a passage filled with cafés where you can stop and take stock of all the bargains you've found. On a smaller scale than Mul HaYam Mall, it nevertheless has a wide variety of stores. There's a notable absence of tacky souvenir shops.

The standouts in Armenian Hagop Antreassian's studio are his wonderful large bowls. They won't fit in your carry-ons, but the owner is happy to ship your orders. You can often find him painting or firing his clay creations in his studio just inside Zion Gate.

Owners Dan and Lea Ben-Arye have lived and worked in Ein Hod for more than three decades, creating and selling their art. Their gallery features paintings, sculptures, jewelry, Judaica, and wearable art. They act as village ambassadors, running an information center from their shop. Private workshops can be arranged ahead of time with Lea.