Location

King Solomon Hotel is 13-20 minutes downhill and uphill walk to Jaffa Gate. So staying here isn’t as convenient as staying in the downtown triangle area. (Restaurants options also limited)

However, it’s just one bus ride away from Central Bus Station.

I actually booked this hotel using hotwire, and in general, I don’t think the business model can apply to this part of the world. it wasn’t so pleasant. But what I felt about this hotel? I found the staff courteous and friendly here!

Different hotels fit different types of people. Foreigners who stay here aren’t backpackers or tourists, most of them look like they are here for business. Should you get a dorm bed in a fun hostel for $30, or spend $110 for a quiet room here? Some might find it boring here. But we liked it.

Things look ancient here, even though not as ancient as Jerusalem, but it needs renovation here. I guess this would have been what this place looked like 15 years ago?

9th floor…. even the new poster here looked old. 9th floor~ Let’s take a look of our room!

Going to our room…  There’s a Mezuzah on every door frame by the way! And then I realized I was upgraded (again!)! I got a room with a VIEW of the walls of Jerusalem!

The Room

As the door opened… Ooo! This is cozy!

I ran to the window, well, the window leads to a tiny balcony with limited safety bars. So be careful not to run too fast.

The view I had! That’s the old city of Jerusalem! How fabulous is it to see this from your hotel room?

I used a different lens and captured Jaffa Gate.

And Mt.Zion.

The Old City looks pretty at night too! You can never get enough of this view and city! (except for the food part… I guess that’s because I’m Chinese, I prefer warm food)

Bathroom… yes it looks old. But this is the first and only hotel room I stayed that offered me a bathtub! It’s not common to see a bathtub in Israel because of water scarcity and drought here. And the hairdryer was the vacuum machine type, like what I saw in BY14TLV.

The swimming pool was under renovation during my stay (Feb 2018), so I didn’t get to use it! (Well it was winter anyway)

My mom likes this hotel the most among all the other places we stayed in Israel. I know it’s old, but the great view compensates all shortcomings. Consider it’s two times more expensive than 2 hostel dorm beds, I think it is good value.

Final Verdict

Old in general, but functional and comfortable. A working elevator that comes quickly, a bathtub that’s rarely seen in Jerusalem. And a very good view. Worth considering if around $120-$150.

King Solomon Hotel in Jerusalem — 2018

Location

It’s right in the Jewish quarter, in the Old City. The closest bus station is at Dung Gate.

And then you walk uphill…. (yeah the not so romantic part if you are traveling with luggage… )

Why is this place called “Sephardic House”?  The Sephardic Jews spent a great fortune to buy this land from Ottoman Turks more than 100 years ago. The place was set up by Sephardic Jews and there’s a Sephardic synagogue adjacent to this hotel.

This place was turned to a refuge house after the six-day war in 1967 because of its unique location. It’s more like a mansion of a big family than a boutique hotel. This is the same courtyard as the picture above, well, if we came in warmer months, we would have breakfast served here!

95% of guests here are Jewish, and they travel as families. But oddly, as a Chinese, I didn’t feel uncomfortable walking around here. And I like mini lounge area in corners.

I think some rooms are classrooms!

And this is a Sephardic synagogue. I took this picture from the hall where we had breakfast. I think the building is connected, and maybe the idea is like other pilgrim houses in Israel,  some portion of it is for religious study and the other part for hospitality.

I didn’t take any picture in the lobby because it was full of people … and noise. It’s just a small room with a reception and some sofas. And walking through the aisle there’s an elevator.

Check-in was on the 5th floor, so we are now going “down” to our room! There’s no 1st or 2nd floor. D is for Dining room…

The room I stayed was on the right! You can see the Sephardic synagogue through this big window on the left! That’s why I think the building is connected!

The Room

Voila! Well, I booked the basic double room for $120, but the manager was so kind that he upgraded me to this room. It probably is a $175 room. You can see from the arches that this was an old building! It was spacious!

Water kettle is available. And I think it’s hard to clean this carpet…

The toilet is small but cozy. Hot water was amazingly HOT. And the floor was heated! Yay!

Breakfast

They normally serve breakfast in the courtyard, but we were here because it’s winter. Well, I didn’t mind it, and I liked the Hebrew sound heard in my years, some even with some French accent in it. It feels so familiar because we have guesthouses like these for ‘teachers’ in Taiwan.

So many options! But guess what? There’s no meat! This is a kosher place!

Grilled veggies! But it’s cold Hmmm

Cheese~ I didn’t take any because, well, I don’t know. Maybe I am 50/50 towards cheese? (Please give me meat!)

Lots of options for more veggies, tomato, olives, and spreads.

And the best part is….. squeeze your own orange juice! Unlimited! It costs 7 NIS a cup when you walk outside this door!

There’s a station for bread too.

Coffee and other hot drinks. And some pastries!

And finally… an egg station! Wow! I ordered an omelet. There were 2 waiters standing there all the time so I didn’t take any picture… I think it is pretty amazing!

The kosher certificate on the wall!

Final Verdict

Great Location. Super close to Kotel. Generous breakfast. Nice staff. Great atmosphere. Spacious room. Prices are good too! But don’t come here if you have 23kg luggage, haha!

Sephardic House in Jerusalem — 2018

Location

Paamonim Jerusalem Hotel is located in the new city. Yafo center light rail is 1-minute walk away. And about 10 minutes walk to Mahane Yehuda market. 17 minutes walk to Damascus gate! The location is ideal!

The look of Paamonim Jerusalem Hotel from outside doesn’t stand out. The signage was small. Google Maps street view still has old data. But I don’t think it is hard to find if you know you are looking for this place.

At the entrance on 1st floor, it doesn’t quite show is a hotel. But take the elevator to 2nd floor where reception is . 

There are two lounges on the 2nd floor. One is a lobby for rest, some tea bags and cookies are provided (but not as generous as BY14TLV in Tel Aviv) And then the other lounge is for dining, and where we had our breakfast in the morning.

From the lounge- The Bell building! (Paamonim means bell)

There are only 4-6 rooms per floor, oh, and I think there’s a clinic on the 4th floor. It’s weird that this elevator is shared. But let’s just say it is hard to acquire an entire property in Jerusalem! And this place is branded as Aparthotel. (I think)

Let’s see our quadruple room. A small kitchenette is at the entrance but it means just a microwave and a sink. Anyways… I don’t know if with a microwave the counter can be called a kitchenette, but I guess everyone’s opinion is different.

And the room was small. About 20m2.   I took this picture standing between two single beds. You can’t open a suitcase at the same time. (unless you drag is to dining table)

The second room is with a door and looks like a proper room. The double bed here is 2 single beds.

The view from the balcony!

I was super happy with the shower room. Hot water was really “hot” water, and finally, I saw a normal hairdryer that doesn’t look like a vacuum machine.

Toiletry set. Again, Sea of Spa.

Facilities

I don’t remember seeing any facility except Shabbat dinner service?

Breakfast

I am so fond of my breakfast memory here. They serve from 7 am till 10 am, but they wrap up at around 10:30. The ambiance, the options, and just everything are wonderful. A friend of mine compared with 5-star hotel she stayed in Jerusalem, and she said she felt more relaxed here! This is THE place to chat!

Let’s see the options…. make your own orange juice! Yay! My happiest memory! (But it’s not available on Shabbat as you aren’t allowed to work)！

Cute signages

Salad zone. No meat. Israel is too kosher for us.

Spreads. You can use jam and honey from the shelf!

Cereals, milk and a super slow coffee machine. Not available on shabbat by the way!

You don’t see backpackers here. People who stay here aren’t pilgrims or tourists either (except us? haha). I think most people are on business trips here. So maybe that explains why a microwave is enough.

Final Verdict

Location is right next to Yafo station! Lots of restaurants nearby. Generous breakfast option. Some tea bags and available in the lobby. Reasonable price ($200 for 4) but kitchenette wasn’t of much use and room size was small.

Paamonim Jerusalem Hotel  — 2018

The Location of BY14 TLV

It’s close to the beach and the previous American Embassy. There are many restaurants and supermarkets around.

The new look from outside. BY14 TLV! I like how they rebranded this property.

The style fits Tel Aviv better. It’s modern and has an industrial feel.

This is the lobby? This is the conference room? Very informal, but I like it.

The coffee table area from the other side. You get natural sunlight from here. You will feel like you are sitting in someone’s sunroom. It’s so comfortable!

There’s a TV here. And free snacks (cookies), all kinds of tea bags, coffee machine and 2 other types of drinks. Everything is elegantly presented, and it’s so relaxing to be here.

Check-in

This is the reception! I like it! It feels like I was interviewing for a job! I love this hotel! The lady at reception was so kind that she let me check in early. And she gave me an upgrade! Why? I don’t know! But I am happy!

My upgraded room is on the 9th floor. This place used to be Hotel Mercure, so you can still see they haven’t rebranded everything.

The Room

Ooops, sorry about the setting. But let’s just look at the size. It’s about 16m2. I asked for 2 single beds… I guess this is 2 single beds, you just need to pull them apart by yourself. Haha!

Yay, back to correct setting. The beds are so comfortable. You get 2 pillows too! What a luxury!

Hey I can see the Mediterranean Sea from my window!

You get a TV, fridge, kettle… and a capsule type coffee machine. I don’t know how to use it though :/

The reception was supposed to send someone to help me when I called. But no one came. I didn’t care, but I didn’t want to wait and I went for lunch (Kukiza is a great lunch option, by the way, just 1-minute walk). And when I came back…. wait, what’s on my table?????  Complimentary Wine? Cookies? Why??? So my new tase was try to open this bottle of wine. Haha!

The washroom. You will usually see a shower instead of a bathtub in Israel because water is in shortage in this area. It is crazy how Israeli has fixed this problem by inventing ways to recycle water.

An I have no idea why the hair dryer is like a vacuum machine.  It’s funny when you dry your hair with this… it is even a bit scary! (Please don’t eat my hair)

A complete set of toiletries. The brand is Sea of Spa. It seems like all the hotels in Israel uses this brand.

Hello Mezuzah!  The mitzvah from the Bible that Israeli still keep till today.

The Facilities

A gym! Of course, I won’t work out (I refuse!) I like the chairs outside. That’s more me!

The sunset. Well, it would look nicer if it wasn’t a cloudy day!

And a room for Dry Sauna. You need to make a reservation 1 hour earlier. But I don’t understand dry sauna…

Breakfast

The place where we have breakfast is kind of hidden. You need to walk through a hallway and go down some stairs.

The style is totally different. Maybe this has changed. (I stayed here in February 2018)

Let’s see what I had here! There are many choices. Kosher. So it means no meat…. but you get all kinds of bread, juice (artificial), and tea bags.

Fruits, olives, veggies, dairy products. If you are having dairy products then you cannot have meat. That’s the rule.

Cheeses~ They look the same to me, but they actually had very different tastes. So it is time to practice enjoying cheese! (It’s hard for Asian to like cheese, FYI)

Cereals. Eat with yogurt. Eat with yogurt made by Yotvata Kibbutz!

I ate so much!

Final Verdict

I like this place a lot! 24 hours snack! Good breakfast! Excellent service! But I will double check the price. If it’s less than $150, then it is a good choice!

BY14 TLV in Tel Aviv — 2018

Comment：Very friendly. Good breakfast. 24 hours snack in lobby. The room is not big.

These are the websites that I recommend!

1.HotelsCombined

Hotelscombined is good for comparing prices. If you already know which hotel/hostel that you want to stay, it’s not a bad idea to ‘double check’. 

2.Booking.com

I use Booking.com. This is my “go-to” booking portal because the interface is much easier to use. I think the prices is presented as clear as possible. And you get some perks being Genius member.  Booking.com works with local credit card companies, so make sure you check what’s available in your country.

3.Hotels.com

If you are looking for “proper” hotels, in terms of quality, Hotels.com has better listing (there are exceptions though).  The game here is if you stay 10 nights you get 1 night free (average price). I use it when I want filtered hotel-like accommodation.

4.agoda

There was a day when agoda was popular. It’s not so popular in my home country now (and many places) mostly because the quality of listings are not verified, the hidden costs and hard to use filters. They’ve now got this rule for giving you rebates. If it’s hard to find accommodation in your budget, try Agoda. You might find something cheap but with bad reviews.

5.Expedia.com

I used this website 10 years ago…..  and I did a research on the prices offered for “Flight+accommodation”, well, you can save about 16% if you choose the deal of the day. Otherwise it’s about the same as other websites.

6.Hotwire.com

Don’t use hotwire in Israel. At least my experience in 2017 was not good. You get blind deals but a ‘deal’ never existed.  The ‘40% discount’ claim was the price of this hotel comparing to simialr hotels in the neighborhood. How can you compare oranges to apples? What’s the point for presenting price difference of two different hotels as 40% discount?

7.Priceline.com

Priceline is similar to hotwire. You don’t know the name of the hotel until you have a deal. There is a function of  “Name Your Own Price!” Again, in my opinion I don’t think this model would work in Israel….

8.Airbnb

If you want to stay in a room with kitchen, then it is better that you rent an apartment/studio. Expect to pay $20 per head at least, so the price is about the same with dorm-bed if you are a group of 2-3 people, except you have way more privacy.

9.Flipkey

Similar to airbnb. The listing seems to be superior. It’s a brand of Tripadvisor!

10.Home Away

Like Airbnb. This is a brand of Expedia. It purchased VRBO. The options look good actually!

11.Couchsurfing

Israeli love traveling and hosting. You can easily find a host in Israel, and personally I think it is a good way to see a country through the eyes of a local. It’s very time consuming to find a host though, and it costs $25 to be a member now…

 12.BeWelcome

Similar to couchsurfing (before it is commercialized). But the interface is so basic and there aren’t as many hosts on it.

 13.Home Exchange

You need to pay $150/year to be a member, so it’s for serious users only. But I think it worth a try if you are a house owner and if you can work something out!

 14.WWOOF

You are allowed to volunteer as a WWOOFer not longer than 30 days with a regular B/2 visa (the visa you get when entering Israel as a tourist).  The membership fee is $48 a year. There are many good oppurtunities which actually sound fun!

 15.Craiglist Israel

If you are considering short-term rentals, you can use craglist. The term is for minimum a year I think.

 16.Janglo

Similar to Craiglist. Lots of ads to check.

 17.Facebook Group

Good for sublets. You’ll find 1-2 month oppurtunities in these two Facebook groups. A room without bath is typically 2000NIS/month. You are sharing the common area with other roommates. Often you’ll see SS/SK, SS means roommates are shabbat keeping (SS: Shomer Shabbat) and SK means the kitchen is kosher (SK: Shomer Kashruth）

1. https://www.facebook.com/groups/JerusalemApartments/
2. https://www.facebook.com/groups/121562707980013/

18. Pilgrim Houses

There are many Christian pilgrim houses. Many require you to write emails to check availability (like the Casa Nova I stayed in Tiberias)

19.Zimmer

If you feel like having a can somewhere, check out zimmer. I find it expensive though. Check: www.israel-tours-hotel.com , www.weekend.co.il (in Hebrew)、www.zimmer.co.il (in Hebrew)

20. Camping

There are free campsites in Israel (Ein Bokek, Masada, Tiberias), but I’m not sure what facilities there will be except toilets. If you go to national or private campsites, expect to pay ₪65-₪70 ($16-$17) a head! Unless you love camping, you might as well go to a hostel. For more information:  http://gocamping.co.il/apage/71496.php

Hopefully you will find one of these websites useful! Happy searching!