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Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. It is the city ​​of three religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) considered to be the center of the spiritual world. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Within the walls of the Old City, there is a number of holy places of key importance situated within a walking distance from each other: the Temple Mount (accessible for people with disabilities and equipped with ramps) and its preserved Western Wall – the Wailing Wall (accessible for people with limited mobility, they can visit it on their own, riding up to it by bus, there are accessible parking places, restrooms, and a step-free entrance) for anyone who wants to touch her incredible energy and insert a note between the stones of the Wailing Wall. Such notes are believed to have a great power of making your wishes come true since the Wailing Wall is one of the walls of the Ancient Temple built by Solomon. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is for Christians (it’s partially accessible, you’ll need an assistant to descend the ancient ramps), The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat as-Sakhra) and the Al-Aqsa Mosque (on top of the Temple Mount) are for Muslims (accessible owing to a huge ramp). 

Jerusalem is very hilly, so it is better to rent a scooter or an electric chair here. The sidewalks are equipped with tactile marking and audio traffic lights for visually impaired persons throughout the city, except for its old part. 

Jerusalem has always been very important for Christians because of the places where Jesus served and, most importantly, where he died and resurrected. 

One of the important Christian shrines of the Old City is the Via Dolorosa – the Way of the Cross of Jesus Christ – from the Lion's Gate of the Old City to Golgotha, or Calvary. The way was marked by Franciscans in the XIV century along the remains of Decumanus, the Roman road of the II century. It starts in the Muslim Quarter and ends in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. You can walk this way together with our guides or companions, they know all the possible routes for wheelchair users, elderly and visually impaired people. At the bottom of the page, you can go to the section of Jerusalem Guides. 

The Old Town is traditionally divided into four quarters. 

You should not miss visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, the Israel Museums, the Biblical Museum, the Music Museum, the Botanical Gardens, and Bloomfield Science Museum for children where they can touch everything. 

Jerusalem hotels are not cheap, their prices can be compared to Paris, but on our website, in the “Hotels” section, at the bottom of this page, you can find all the accessible hotels in Jerusalem. 

In the “Where to Eat” section, at the bottom of the page, you will find many affordable restaurants and cafes in Jerusalem. 

As our website’s user, you can help other tourists and mark accessible hotels and restaurants or write a review. Also, you can book an accessible room avoiding a language barrier: we will send a letter to the hotel with the properties you’ll choose in your profile. 

Modern Jerusalem lives a rich cultural life. Here there are several theaters, such as the fully accessible Jerusalem Theater, its performances are broadcast in Russian and English through headphones. Art galleries and Cinematheque are accessible too. International film festivals take place here. 

Next to the Jaffa Gate, there is a famous Tower of David (it’s fully accessible, including accessibility for people with visual or hearing impairments). Jaffa Street starts at Jaffa Gate, you can easily walk and ride in a wheelchair, it’s not hilly. It is the oldest street outside the Old City and  the longest and the most important street of Jerusalem. There are tourist shops, cafes and interesting places in this street, 90 percent of them are accessible. One of the must-see attractions is the Mahane Yehuda market (accessible, with parking spaces for disabled people). 

Transport 

Recently, tram has become the main peculiarity of the transport communication of the Jewish capital. (Trams are fully accessible for people with disabilities including visually impaired ones). However, bus remains the main means of transport. Buses and trams of Jerusalem are fully accessible to passengers with limited mobility. 

The capital of Israel is connected with other cities in the country via the bus and train routes, intercity buses are not accessible yet, unfortunately. Passengers with limited mobility can get from Ben Gurion International Airport, located in Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem by a high-speed train in an accessible carriage. To book an assistance to get you on and off the carriage on a wheelchair platform, you need to call *5770 from your local phone number at least two hours before your trip. You can speak English or ask a Russian employee (not guaranteed). The station from which you can get to the airport is called Yitzchak Navon Train Station. On the site of the Israeli Railways, you can plan a route and find necessary information, the site is in Russian and English too https://www.rail.co.il/ru, https://www.rail.co.il/en. The trip from the airport takes only 20 minutes. Pay attention! Public transport does not work on weekends (the second half of Friday and the whole Saturday), so it’s better to choose weekdays for the trip from and to the airport. 

For the convenience of passengers in Israel, a traveling smart card Rav Kav for all types of transportation is used. This card, which is also an electronic wallet, allows you to get discounts for transportation and visiting tourist sites. A special Rav Kav for foreign tourists called Israel Pass, https://citypass.co.il/en/accessibility can be purchased in the passenger service center Al-Hakav in Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 3 and in the tourist centers in any party of the country. This is an anonymous smart card that can be deposited without the need to provide personal data. Besides traveling on public transport with a discount, you can visit three or six objects of The Israel Nature and Parks Authority with this card, many of them are accessible for tourists with UNlimited abilities. Following this link https: // www.parks.org.il/en/accessibility/, you can find information on accessible natural and historical parks.