Visiting Jerusalem on your own | How to Get from Eilat to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

If you want to travel to Jerusalem on your own, you should be afraid of any difficulties, including language ones. You don’t have to speak Hebrew, if you know some English, it will be quite enough for you. A lot of Israelites can speak English well.

o visit Jerusalem independently you have to know in advance the approximate location of attractions in the old city of Jerusalem and at least a little about these places and their history.

The site gives enough information for a one-day excursion. To get familiar with this city, you should spend there at least three days.

Jerusalem places of interest

It goes without saying, You will need more than a week to visit all sights of this old city, but it is real to see some of them within one day, for example, to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, walk along Via Dolorosa and climb the Mount of Olives in the garden of Gethsemane.

You may not save much money if you travel without a guide and group. But you will be able to see the places You have chosen, stay alone and peacefully think about everything in the inspiring atmosphere of temples. This is the greatest advantage of travelling to Jerusalem on your own.

It is important to arrive in the city early in the morning, then you’ll manage to get into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre before crowds of tourists fill it.

ou can see the bus timetable of the company “Egged” in Israel on the site egged.co.il, it is in English.

So, the last bus from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem leaves at 16:58 on Friday (usually at 23:40), and the next one will be only at 20:30 on Saturday.

The ticket from Eilat to Tel-Aviv costs 86 shekels, and the ticket Eilat – Tel-Aviv – Eilat costs 139 shekels.

Цена билета из Тель Авива в Иерусалим 19 шек.

The ticket from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem costs 19 shekels.

The ticket Jerusalem - Eilat costs 82 shekels.

You can book tickets through the Internet or buy them at the central station in advance. If you buy return tickets, you will get 155 discount.

Hotels in Jerusalem

You should try to choose a hotel as close to the Old city as possible.

From Eilat to Jerusalem

Route No 444.

The first bus from Eilat to Jerusalem leaves at 7:00 a.m. and arrives at the central bus station in Jerusalem at 12:04 p.m. It is late, because the last routes from Jerusalem to Eilat leave at 14:00 and 17:00 p.m.

There is another option.

Early in the morning you can get from Eilat Jerusalem through Tel-Aviv. It is route No 394. At 1:00 a.m. there is a bus Eilat – Tel-Aviv. At 6:00 a.m. you arrive at the central bus station in Tel-Aviv. This is the final bus station, of course, it is not very convenient to go to the bus station in Eilat, but you should be patient and take a nap on the bus till morning for the sake of such a great event as visiting Jerusalem. In addition, there are two or more buses going from Eilat to Tel-Aviv and back, therefore, they indicate an additional number 1 or 2. When getting on the bus You will see this number on the bus windshield.

From Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem

Buses from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem run evert 20 minutes starting at 5:50 a.m. Platform 607, route No 405. You can buy tickets from the driver. The journey takes exactly 1 hour; thus, you can get to Jerusalem at about 8:00 a.m.

In Jerusalem

Getting from Central bus station to the Old City

So, here you are at the central bus station in Jerusalem. Leave the building, cross the road and tram tracks,

Buy two tram tickets in the machine at the stop. One ticket costs 6-90 NIS, it’s about $2. Entering a tram, put your ticket into the electronic ticket punch.

ou should ride 5 stops, the stop names are announced in Hebrew, Arabic and English. You need the stop called City Hall. You get on the tram at the Central Station, then there are the following stops: Ha Turim, Mahane Yehuda, Ha Davidka, Jaffa-Center and at last Your - City Hall.

When You get off the tram, just straight ahead You will see the wall of the Old City. Tram tracks go to the left, but You have to go straight on, down along the wall and in 5 minutes you will get to the Jaffa gate of the Old City. You see, it is quite easy to get to Jerusalem on your own.

The map shows how to get from the central bus station to Old Jerusalem. It indicates the central bus station; the initial and final tram stops as well as Jaffa gate.

From Jerusalem central bus station to Old City Map

It is easy to get from the bus station to the Jaffa gate in Jerusalem on your own.

After the independent excursion around Jerusalem You can get back to the central bus station using the same route. Turn right at Jaffa gate and go up to the tram stop. Go 5 stops to the Central Stations. Go up two floors in the Station building. There you can buy tickets and have a snack in the café. Bus platforms are located on the same floor. The bus for Eilat, route No 444 leaves from platform 4.

Jerusalem tourist attractions map

There are about 100 sights of Jerusalem in the map, they are in the Old City, the Mount of Olives, the Mount Zion, new Jerusalem and Ein Karem. Now You can see only part of them. To find all of them, You have to move the picture and change the scale.

Entering the Jaffa gate, you can see the Visitor Centre on the left. You can buy a map of the Old City there. However, if You arrive early, the centre may be closed, therefore, it is better to buy this map beforehand or print this one out.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is not usually crowded at 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. so, You will be able to look around, buy and sanctify candles. To get to Edicule, you have to stand in the queue, while groups are standing in the queue, guides usually talk about the Church, Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. You can stand nearby and listen to one of the guides.

It is easy to buy candles either inside the Church or somewhere near.

If You travel in Jerusalem on your own, You can face some difficulties in finding some of nine stops in Via Dolorosa. Starting your tour from the Lion gate, keep in sight one of the guided groups. They all move from the Lion gate to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As for finding the Western Wall (the Wailing Wall) there won’t be any difficulties. There are some more sights behind the walls of the Old City on the Mount of Olives. The most famous of them are the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of All Nations, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church and the very beautiful Church of St. Mary Magdalene.

From Jerusalem to the Dead sea

Your rip back to Eilat will be also exciting, as it goes along the coast of the Dead sea. You will enjoy wonderful landscapes, mountains, date plantations, kibbutz’s green oases. Then your trip will be interesting and fast.

It takes exactly 2 hours to go from Jerusalem to Ein Bokek on the shore of the Dead sea.

If You buy tickets in advance and leave Jerusalem for Ein Bokek early, you will be able to have a swim in the Dead sea. The last bus from Ein Bokek to Eilat leaves at 18:30 p.m., and it arrives in Eilat at 21:52 p.m.

Pay attention to the note below the bus time table.

So, You can see that it is not so difficult to get to Jerusalem on your own, visit the sights of the Old City and get back to any Israel city.