Getting Around Jerusalem: Light Rail, Buses, Shabbat, Taxis and Walking

One line, the route you will actually use

The Red Line is the only line in full operation, 22.5 km long with 35 stops. It opened to full service in 2011 and was extended in 2025. Line L1 runs from Mount Herzl, the stop for Yad Vashem, past the Central Bus Station, the Mahane Yehuda market, Jaffa Road and City Hall to near Damascus Gate, the northern gate of the Old City. That single route covers most journeys a visitor makes.

A Green Line entered partial operation in 2026 with 11 of 35 planned stations running, and a Blue Line is under construction. For a short visit you can ignore both and treat the Red Line as the network.

• Mount Herzl end: Yad Vashem and Mount Herzl
• Central Bus Station: trains and intercity buses
• Mahane Yehuda stop: the market
• Jaffa Road and City Hall: the modern centre
• Near Damascus Gate: walk into the Old City from here

Paying: Rav-Kav or app, never paper

There are no paper tickets on the light rail. You pay with a Rav-Kav stored-value card or an approved smartphone app, and the platform validators do not take bank cards. Buy or top up a Rav-Kav at the Central Bus Station or at ticket machines before you board, because there is no way to pay the driver.

The fare itself is not published here, and the machines show the current price when you load the card. Tap or validate on the platform before boarding. Inspectors do check, and riding without a validated ticket brings a fine.

• Get a Rav-Kav card first, it works on the light rail and city buses
• No paper tickets exist on the system
• Validators on the platform take no bank cards
• Validate before every boarding

What closes for Shabbat

Shabbat runs from a few minutes before sunset on Friday until nightfall on Saturday, about an hour after sundown. In that window the light rail and city buses do not run. The light rail ends service before sunset on Friday and stays off the streets all Saturday.

Trains stop too. Israel Railways runs trains to Tel Aviv hourly on Friday only until early afternoon, and then nothing until Saturday night. The Mahane Yehuda market closes for Shabbat and so does Yad Vashem, which is closed every Saturday. Many shops and cafes in the more observant neighbourhoods shut as well.

• Light rail: ends before sunset Friday, no service Saturday
• Buses: no service Saturday
• Trains to Tel Aviv: hourly Friday morning, then nothing until Saturday night
• Mahane Yehuda market and Yad Vashem: closed Saturday

What still runs

Churches in the Old City stay open through Shabbat, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, so a Saturday Old City day works well. Taxis operate all week and are the standard way to move around on Saturday, which is also when many visitors take a coach tour with hotel pickup, since the tour bus does the driving.

Plan around it rather than fighting it. Put museum and market days on Sunday to Friday morning, keep Saturday for the Old City on foot or a guided day tour, and check sunset times on your dates because the Friday shutdown moves with them. Our Jerusalem itinerary is built around this order.

Yitzhak Navon station

Israel Railways trains from Tel Aviv terminate at Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon station, next to the Central Bus Station. The journey takes about 35 to 45 minutes from Tel Aviv stations, with trains every 30 minutes from Sunday to Thursday and hourly on Friday until about 14:30. There are no trains from Friday afternoon until after dark on Saturday. The same line serves Ben Gurion Airport, so arrivals can ride straight into Jerusalem without changing.

The station is the deepest heavy-rail passenger station in the world, with its platforms about 80 m below street level reached by long escalators. Leave a few extra minutes for the ride up, especially with luggage. From street level the light rail and city buses are steps away, and the fare is not published here.

• About 35 to 45 minutes from Tel Aviv stations
• Every 30 minutes Sunday to Thursday, hourly Friday morning
• No trains Friday afternoon to Saturday night
• Same line serves Ben Gurion Airport
• Deep platforms, allow time for the escalators

Driving and parking instead

Renting a car in Jerusalem is rarely worth it. The Old City is car-free, parking near the centre is difficult, and the train plus light rail covers arrivals and sightseeing better. For the Dead Sea and Masada without a car, the Egged bus 486 leaves from the Central Bus Station for the Dead Sea beaches, Ein Gedi and Masada, about an hour to the first public beach, and does not run on Shabbat.

Israeli taxis and cars rented in Israel cannot cross into Bethlehem.

What walking there is like

The lanes inside the walls are ancient stone, stepped in places and busy at midday, with smooth worn paving that turns slippery when wet. Wear shoes with grip. Distances are short, in our estimate most pairs of sights are 10 to 20 minutes apart on foot, but the steps and crowds slow you down.

The main route runs from Jaffa Gate through the Christian Quarter to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, then on to the Via Dolorosa and down to the Western Wall at Dung Gate. The City of David excavation lies just outside Dung Gate, so you can indeed walk from the City of David area up toward the Temple Mount plateau and the wall plaza, with a climb back up through the Jewish Quarter.

• No cars inside the Old City walls
• Stepped, uneven stone lanes, wear grippy shoes
• Most sight-to-sight walks are 10 to 20 minutes in our estimate
• Jaffa Gate to the Western Wall is the classic spine

Walking further out, and when to take a tour

West Jerusalem beyond the walls is walkable in strips. Mamilla Mall leads from Jaffa Gate toward the modern centre, and the market and the Nachlaot lanes sit within reach of Jaffa Road. The Mount of Olives sites across the Kidron valley, Yad Vashem on Mount Herzl and Mea Shearim are too far for most visitors and better reached by light rail or taxi.

A guide changes the Old City from a maze into a story. Our pick is the four-hour Old City walk from Jaffa Gate, which strings together the Wall, the Via Dolorosa and the Holy Sepulchre in one morning and spares you the navigation.

Using taxis

Taxis are plentiful around the city centre, the Old City gates and the train station, and they are the default choice on Saturday when nothing public runs. Israeli taxis and cars rented in Israel cannot cross into Bethlehem, so for a Bethlehem day trip you use the checkpoint buses or a tour.

Fares are not published here. Agree the price before you get in, or insist the meter runs, and have cash as well as a card. Ask your hotel to write the destination in Hebrew if the driver does not know it. For a full day of door-to-door sightseeing, compare a taxi day with a private Jerusalem tour, where a licensed guide drives and narrates for a per-group price.

Bethlehem and the checkpoint

Buses 231 and 234 leave from Sultan Suleiman Street near Damascus Gate for Bethlehem, a Palestinian city in the West Bank about 10 km south of Jerusalem. Bus 234 stops on the Jerusalem side of Checkpoint 300, a ride of about 30 minutes. You walk through the checkpoint with your passport, then cover about 2 km to Manger Square on foot or by local taxi, and the passport is shown again coming back. Israeli citizens cannot cross at Checkpoint 300.

A guided trip removes every step of this. The Jerusalem and Bethlehem day trip includes hotel pickup, a local Palestinian guide in Bethlehem and entry fees, with a passport the only thing you must carry.

Dead Sea, Masada and the rest

For the Dead Sea on your own, Egged bus 486 runs from the Central Bus Station to the Dead Sea beaches, Ein Gedi and Masada, about an hour to the first public beach and about an hour and a half to Ein Gedi, with no buses on Shabbat. By car it is about 1 hour 20 minutes to the Dead Sea shore. Coach tours such as the Masada and Dead Sea day trip include both the cable car and a beach stop, so the Shabbat bus timetable stops mattering.

For Petra and the Galilee, browse our day trips from Jerusalem.