Well, your dream can easily come true! Citadel Hostel, an 800-year-old youth hostel, wait, I mean an 800-year old Jerusalem stone-house that runs a youth hostel is an excellent option! You can book a dorm bed or a shared room. The view on the balcony is incredible. If you want the experience of waking up in Jerusalem, this is the place!



Location

From Jaffa Gate. First, go down a flight of stairs, then turn right and go up the stairs. After that, there’s a flat road. It’s 4 minutes walk to the Church of Holy Sepulchre!

It’s sort of in parallel to the main road, so it doesn’t belong to any quarter!

The entrance to the Citadel Hostel! This building is 800 years old!

My impression of the Old City of Jerusalem is dark and cold… I have no idea if this hostel would turn out to be a bad experience….

Check-In

When I came in, I was amazed by the architecture! It’s more than what pictures can deliver! You feel immediately connected to Jerusalem, really, you have to be there. With a relatively “okay” review, I was surprised that the staff was so friendly. Our triple room was $85, with a shared bathroom and no breakfast. A dorm bed would cost $25, so a triple room was a good deal. By the way, cash only. The staff let us store our luggage before our room was ready. When I asked if I could leave my luggage here the next day after check-out? The staff immediately agreed and said I could leave it there as long as I want. I was really impressed By the way, even though bus 231 from Damascus Gate to Bethlehem was easy, I would rather not to carry my luggage all the way from Jerusalem to there!

Facility

Unexpectedly, the lounge was cozy and pretty! It was much cleaner than expected too! The area could consider spacious as this is how big a floor is in this 800-year-old building! So this probably counts as the basement? Look at these sofas (floor cushions)! So Middle Eastern!

From here, there’s a doorway for leaving luggage. And that door at the end leads to a dorm room.

 

If the lounge is considered B1, the reception as 1st floor, then from the intriguing stairs it leads to 3 more floors.

This is the second floor. There are two rooms and 3 shared bathrooms. 

On the third floor, there’s a kitchen. But I found the electric stove inefficient. It takes forever to cook something. And the switch for the light is impossible to find… well, there’s a box above “Exit” with a yellow keychain right? That’s the switch! 

And let’s go to the 4th floor. There are two rooms. 

And finally, on the 5th floor, there’s this amazing balcony! You can see the Mt.Olives from here! Wow! The location is superb, and I leave the good views for your surprises! It is simply amazing!

The Room

I stayed in the cheapest triple room with shared bathroom. I didn’t take pictures for the shared bathroom, there are 3 of them, small but enough. It might not be ideal if you are larger in size…

So here’s our room! I like staying in a stone room, the experience made me happy! It’s more atmospheric there than on pictures. But the room was small. It wasn’t cold, and there were blankets on the bed. In Asia, we don’t use blankets. So when a blanket is used, it is always in a cover. It isn’t expected to put a blanket on top of a bed cover. So, anyways, this is a cultural difference. My mom and my aunt didn’t like these blankets.

And… Wifi was terrible in the room. Probably because of the stones? And the socket (near the door) was too high that made it hard to charge the power bank.

These are the rooms from 4th floor. It looks brighter because of the windows, but it is less atmospheric in my opinion.  

For $85, with no private bathroom or breakfast, I think it is not so good for value. But hey, this is in the Old City! Prioritize what is important to you, the location? View? Atmosphere? Or Value? In terms of value, at least for me, there are better choices in the New City.  The Post Hostel or Stay Inn Hostel. Or Zion Hotel. If you have more budget, and that you really want to have a good experience in the Old City of Jerusalem, then consider Sephardic House ! ($120 for a double room)！

Citadel Hostel — 2019

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