Can You Tour Jerusalem on Foot or by Bus?

People ask me this constantly. The honest answer depends entirely on which Jerusalem you mean.

People ask me this constantly, usually hoping for a simple answer, and the honest one is that it depends entirely on which Jerusalem you mean.

The Old City: foot, no real alternative

Most of the Old City is closed to vehicles and built on narrow stone lanes and stairs that a bus simply cannot navigate. If you want to see the Old City properly, you are walking it, and comfortable shoes matter more here than almost anywhere else you'll visit.

Beyond the walls and across the wider city: it depends on your day

Jerusalem's light rail and buses are genuinely useful for covering distance between neighbourhoods, and for a group with mixed mobility, some driving between sites and walking within them is often the most sensible plan.

My honest opinion as a guide

Walking gives you the texture of the city that a bus window never will, the smell of the bakeries, the sound of the market, the feeling of stone underfoot that's been worn smooth by centuries of the same. But walking everything, everywhere, on a hot day with a mixed-ability group is a way to make people miserable rather than moved.

The right answer is usually a blend, walking where the city demands it and driving where distance does, and getting that balance right for your specific group is exactly the kind of planning I do before we even start the day.

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.