The 7 Best Bakeries in Israel (2026)

Updated August 2026 · 7 picks

The best bakeries in Israel run on a Friday rhythm: challah for Shabbat, burekas from the Balkan bakeries, Yemenite kubaneh and jachnun, and the sesame-crusted Jerusalem bagel. Lehamim in Tel Aviv, the Machane Yehuda bakeries in Jerusalem and the Wadi Nisnas ovens in Haifa are the benchmarks. Seven worth the queue, below.

1. Lehamim Bakery — Tel Aviv

Uri Scheft's bakery — the one that exported Israeli baking to the world.

₪₪ Mid-range

Lehamim is the Tel Aviv bakery founded by Uri Scheft, and it is the most internationally influential Israeli bakery of the last two decades — the parent of Breads Bakery in New York and the source of the chocolate babka that became a global phenomenon.

The range covers European technique applied to Israeli ingredients: sourdough and laminated pastry alongside challah, burekas and halva-laced things, with a level of consistency that the neighbourhood bakeries do not attempt.

It is a bakery and a cafe, so you can sit, and it gets extremely busy on Friday morning when the challah comes out.

Good to know: The chocolate babka is the famous item, but the Friday challah is the reason locals queue.

Google Maps Website

2. Marzipan Bakery — Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem

The rugelach that Jerusalem argues about, sold warm by the kilo.

₪ Budget

Marzipan, near Machane Yehuda market, is famous in Jerusalem for one thing: chocolate rugelach, sold warm and glossy by weight, sticky with syrup and eaten immediately rather than taken home.

The argument in Jerusalem is not whether they are good but whether the queue is worth it, and the answer depends entirely on whether you catch a fresh tray. Ask when the next one is coming out; they will tell you.

It is a takeaway counter, not a cafe. Buy a bag, eat them in the market, buy more.

Good to know: Warm from the tray is a different food from cold. Wait for a fresh batch if you can.

Google Maps Website

3. The Wadi Nisnas bakeries — Wadi Nisnas, Haifa

Arab bakeries with stone ovens, za'atar manaqish and Saturday opening.

₪ Budget

Wadi Nisnas in Haifa is the best bakery neighbourhood in the country's north — a cluster of Arab bakeries turning out flatbreads, manaqish with za'atar or cheese, ka'ak, and trays of syrup pastries.

The bread comes off stone ovens and is meant to be eaten within the hour, which is why the shops sell it hot and unwrapped. Manaqish straight from the oven, folded and eaten walking, is one of the best cheap meals in Israel.

The quarter also holds Haifa's best hummus and its main market, and it is walkable from the German Colony below the Baha'i Gardens.

Good to know: Open on Saturday, when most Jewish-owned bakeries in Haifa are shut.

Google Maps Website

4. The Balkan bureka bakeries of Levinsky — Levinsky, south Tel Aviv

Proper burekas — flaky, heavy, served with egg and pickles, as intended.

₪ Budget

Levinsky market was built by Balkan and Greek Jewish immigrants, and the bureka bakeries along it are the real thing: hand-laminated pastry, filled with salty cheese, potato, spinach or mushroom, sold by the piece.

The correct order is a bureka with a hard-boiled egg crushed over it, a spoon of chopped tomato salad and a pickle, which is how they have been eaten in Israel since the 1950s and remains the standard breakfast.

Levinsky is also the country's spice street and worth an hour regardless of what you came for.

Good to know: Order it 'with everything' — egg, salad and pickle — and eat it standing up.

Google Maps Website

5. The Jerusalem bagel carts — Old City and Damascus Gate, Jerusalem

A sesame-crusted bread ring, a twist of za'atar, and nothing else needed.

₪ Budget

The ka'ak al-Quds — the Jerusalem bagel — is sold from carts around Damascus Gate, inside the Old City and along the streets of East Jerusalem: a long oval ring of soft bread, crusted in sesame, handed over hot in paper with a sachet of za'atar.

It is one of the defining street foods of the city and one of the cheapest, and it is only good fresh, which is why the sellers move constantly rather than holding stock.

Eat it within minutes, dipped in the za'atar, standing in the street. It does not travel.

Good to know: Available every day including Shabbat, which makes it a useful Saturday breakfast in Jerusalem.

Google Maps Website

6. The Yemenite bakeries of Kerem HaTeimanim — Kerem HaTeimanim, Tel Aviv

Kubaneh, jachnun and malawach, in the neighbourhood that brought them here.

₪ Budget

The Yemenite Quarter sits between the Carmel Market and the sea, and it is where Israel's Yemenite baking tradition is most concentrated: kubaneh, the slow-baked pull-apart bread; jachnun, the rolled overnight pastry; and malawach, the fried flaky flatbread.

Kubaneh and jachnun are Shabbat foods — cooked overnight at low heat and eaten on Saturday morning with grated tomato, hard-boiled egg and skhug — and several places in the quarter sell them through the week now.

It is a small, low-rise neighbourhood of old houses in the middle of Tel Aviv and it is worth walking regardless.

Good to know: Jachnun is traditionally a Saturday morning food. Ask what is available on the day you visit.

Google Maps Website

7. Abulafia — Jaffa

The Jaffa bakery that never closes, feeding everyone since 1879.

₪ Budget

Abulafia has been baking at the edge of Old Jaffa since the nineteenth century and is one of the few genuinely famous bakeries in Israel that operates around the clock, which has made it a fixture for night workers, night owls and everyone in between.

The signature is the range of open flatbreads — za'atar, cheese, egg, sometimes topped in combinations that have drifted well past tradition — sold hot from the window.

It is open on Shabbat and it stays open during Pesach, when it becomes something of a pilgrimage site for people who want bread. Jaffa's flea market and the port are a short walk away.

Good to know: Open around the clock and through Shabbat — the reliable answer at any hour.

Google Maps Website

Frequently asked questions

When should I go to a bakery in Israel?

Early morning, and especially Friday morning. Israeli bakeries bake for the day rather than holding stock, so the best things are gone by mid-morning. Friday is the biggest baking day of the week — challah for Shabbat — and it is also when they close, usually by mid-afternoon.

What should I actually buy?

Challah on a Friday, burekas any day, and a Jerusalem bagel if you are in Jerusalem. Add rugelach — the small chocolate ones, ideally still warm — and, if the bakery is Yemenite, kubaneh or jachnun. Skip the international-style patisserie unless the place is specifically known for it.

What is a Jerusalem bagel?

Nothing like a New York bagel. It is a large, oval, soft-crusted bread ring crusted heavily in sesame, sold from carts and bakeries in and around the Old City, and traditionally eaten with za'atar in a paper twist. Best within about ten minutes of purchase.

Are Israeli bakeries kosher?

Most Jewish-owned bakeries are certified and close from Friday afternoon to Saturday night. Certification also means they are separated into dairy and parve, so a dairy bakery cannot sell you a meat-filled bureka. Arab-owned bakeries in Haifa, Jaffa, Akko and East Jerusalem stay open on Saturday.

What does bakery food cost?

Roughly ₪12–₪20 for a bureka or a filled pastry, ₪18–₪30 for a good challah, and ₪8–₪15 for a Jerusalem bagel from a cart. It is one of the cheapest ways to eat well in an expensive country, and a bureka with a hard-boiled egg is a legitimate breakfast.

What happens to bakeries at Pesach?

Most kosher bakeries close entirely for the week or switch to matzah-based baking, since leavened bread cannot be sold. This catches visitors out every year. Arab-owned bakeries and some non-kosher places continue as normal, so bread is still findable — just not where you expect it.

1. Lehamim Bakery — Tel Aviv

2. Marzipan Bakery — Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem

3. The Wadi Nisnas bakeries — Wadi Nisnas, Haifa

4. The Balkan bureka bakeries of Levinsky — Levinsky, south Tel Aviv

5. The Jerusalem bagel carts — Old City and Damascus Gate, Jerusalem

6. The Yemenite bakeries of Kerem HaTeimanim — Kerem HaTeimanim, Tel Aviv

7. Abulafia — Jaffa

Frequently asked questions

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