Things to do in Jerusalem

Landmark · Walled city, east of the centre

A single square kilometre containing the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and four distinct quarters.

Local tip: Enter through a different gate each time — Damascus, Jaffa, Lions' and Zion gates deliver you into completely different cities. Go early on a weekday morning when the alleys belong to residents and deliveries rather than tour groups.

Food · City centre, off Jaffa Street

The city's great produce market by day, which since the 2010s turns into its busiest bar and restaurant district once the stalls roll their shutters down.

Local tip: Two entirely separate visits. Come Thursday or Friday morning for the pre-Shabbat crush and the best produce in the city, then again on a weekday night when the shutter art is visible and the bars are open.

Culture · Givat Ram

Israel's national museum, holding the Dead Sea Scrolls and a large model of Jerusalem as it stood in the Second Temple period.

Local tip: See the scale model before you walk the Old City rather than after — it makes the geography of the walls, valleys and gates click in a way no map does.

Neighborhood · South-west of the centre

A 19th-century Templer settlement turned leafy café street, at the heart of the city's largest English-speaking neighbourhood.

Local tip: The most soft-landing part of Jerusalem for an Anglo newcomer, and the reason so many of them never leave the southern neighbourhoods. Walk south into Baka for the quieter, cheaper version of the same thing.

Nature · South-western edge of the city

A stone village of churches, springs and terraced hillsides folded into a valley below Hadassah hospital, technically inside the city but nothing like it.

Local tip: Twenty minutes from the centre and almost entirely missed by visitors on a fixed itinerary. Walk the valley path, eat lunch on a terrace, and you will forget which city you are in.

Nature · South of the centre

A stone promenade along a ridge with the single best panorama of the Old City, the Judean Desert and the hills beyond.

Local tip: Go at sunset, when the limestone turns gold and the whole city lines up below you. Locals come here to walk after work; almost no visitors do.