Hezekiah's Tunnel: What to Know Before You Go

Hezekiah's Tunnel is one of the most remarkable things you can actually walk through in Jerusalem. Here's what to know first.

Hezekiah's Tunnel is one of the most remarkable things you can actually walk through in Jerusalem, and also one of the most misunderstood before people arrive.

What it actually is

Carved through solid rock roughly 2,700 years ago, on King Hezekiah's orders, to bring water from the Gihon Spring into the city ahead of an Assyrian siege, described in the Bible itself. Two teams dug from opposite ends and met in the middle, an engineering feat that still puzzles people about how they managed it with the tools of the time.

What to actually know before you go

You will get wet, often up to your knees or higher depending on the season and water flow. Bring shoes you don't mind soaking and a real flashlight or headlamp, not just your phone. The tunnel is narrow in places, and claustrophobia is worth being honest with yourself about beforehand. There is a shorter, dry alternative route for anyone who would rather skip the wading.

How it fits into a City of David visit

The tunnel adds roughly thirty to forty five minutes depending on pace, and comes out near the Pool of Siloam, another site worth a few unhurried minutes. If you're still deciding whether the City of David is worth visiting at all, that's worth reading first. Whether it is worth adding to your particular day, given your group's mobility, time, and appetite for a wet, narrow walk, is exactly the kind of decision I'd rather make with you on the ground than have you guess at in advance.

If you want to know whether it is worth it for you specifically, that is a five-minute conversation, not a universal yes or no.

Written by Orit Kropp

Licensed by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, Jerusalem-based, and endlessly enthusiastic about bringing the Tanach to life on the ground where it happened.