Israel Stay Hotels

The 8 Best Hotels in Israel (2026)

Updated July 2026 · 8 picks

The best hotels in Israel in 2026 include The Norman and The Jaffa in Tel Aviv, the King David and Mamilla in Jerusalem, and Beresheet over the Ramon Crater. Israel is small enough that you can stay in a restored Ottoman mansion, a Bauhaus townhouse and a desert lodge inside a single week. Below are eight hotels worth building a trip around.

1. The Norman Tel Aviv — Nachmani Street, off Rothschild, Tel Aviv

Two restored 1920s townhouses, and the best-run luxury hotel in the city.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Solo

The Norman occupies two meticulously restored 1920s buildings on a quiet street just off Rothschild Boulevard, and it has been Tel Aviv's benchmark luxury hotel since it opened.

It is small by luxury-hotel standards, which is the point — the service is personal, the rooms are individually shaped by the buildings rather than laid out on a grid, and the rooftop pool and garden feel private rather than institutional. The location puts you in the middle of the city's best eating and walking without being on the noisy stretch of Rothschild.

It is expensive, and it is the hotel most people who know Tel Aviv would choose if someone else were paying.

Good to know: Ask about the rooms in the second building — they are quieter and several have private terraces.

Google Maps Website

2. The Jaffa — Old Jaffa

A nineteenth-century French hospital and chapel, turned into a remarkable hotel.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples

The Jaffa occupies a converted nineteenth-century French hospital complex in Old Jaffa, complete with a preserved chapel that now serves as the hotel's lounge, alongside a contemporary wing designed by John Pawson.

The contrast between the restored stone and the new build is handled unusually well, and the excavated Crusader remains in the grounds are part of the hotel rather than an exhibit beside it. The pool courtyard is one of the more beautiful spaces in any Israeli hotel.

Jaffa is a fifteen-minute walk from central Tel Aviv and a completely different atmosphere — older, quieter and more layered. Staying here rather than on the seafront is a deliberate choice worth making.

Good to know: Have a drink in the chapel lounge even if you are not staying — it is worth seeing.

Google Maps Website

3. The King David — Jerusalem

Jerusalem's grand hotel since 1931, and still the address that carries weight.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Families · Couples

The King David opened in 1931 and has been Jerusalem's most prestigious hotel ever since, hosting most of the heads of state who have passed through the city. Its pink limestone facade and 1930s interiors have been maintained rather than modernised away.

The garden looks across to the Old City walls, and the whole place has a formality that has largely disappeared elsewhere. It is a hotel with a genuine sense of occasion, which is not something you can build from scratch.

It is not the most contemporary hotel in Jerusalem and does not try to be. If you want history and gravity, this is it.

Good to know: Ask for a room on the Old City side — the view is the reason to stay here.

Google Maps Website

4. Beresheet — Mitzpe Ramon, Negev

Villas on the edge of the Ramon Crater — the most dramatic hotel setting in Israel.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Families

Beresheet sits directly on the rim of the Ramon Crater at Mitzpe Ramon, built as low stone villas that step down toward the edge, many with private pools looking straight out over a forty-kilometre geological formation.

The setting is the entire proposition and it delivers completely. The crater changes colour through the day, the night sky is among the darkest and clearest in the country, and the desert silence is genuinely startling if you have come from Tel Aviv.

It is a three-hour drive from Tel Aviv and worth every minute. Two nights is the minimum that makes the journey make sense.

Good to know: Book a villa with a crater-facing private pool, and stay two nights — one is not enough for the drive.

Google Maps Website

5. Mamilla Hotel — Mamilla, Jerusalem

Contemporary design a few minutes' walk from the Jaffa Gate.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Groups

The Mamilla Hotel sits at the edge of the Mamilla district, a short walk from the Jaffa Gate, and it is the most convincingly contemporary of Jerusalem's luxury hotels — Piero Lissoni interiors, stone and glass, and a rooftop restaurant facing the Old City walls.

The location is the strongest of any hotel in the city for exploring on foot: the Old City in one direction, the city centre and Mamilla's shopping street in the other. For a short Jerusalem stay that is worth more than anything else.

The rooftop is open to non-residents and books out, so reserve it early in your stay rather than leaving it to the last night.

Good to know: Book the rooftop for sunset on your first evening — it orients you to the whole Old City.

Google Maps Website

6. The American Colony — East Jerusalem

A nineteenth-century pasha's palace, and the most atmospheric hotel in Jerusalem.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Solo

The American Colony occupies a nineteenth-century Ottoman pasha's house in East Jerusalem, and it has spent more than a century as the city's most atmospheric hotel — a neutral meeting ground for journalists, diplomats and everyone else passing through.

The courtyard, the cellar bar and the gardens have a lived-in quality that no new hotel can manufacture, and the building itself is worth the stay. It sits slightly outside the tourist centre, which is part of its character.

It is a hotel with a long institutional memory and a genuinely distinctive atmosphere. If you have read anything written about Jerusalem in the last hundred years, some of it was probably written here.

Good to know: The Saturday brunch in the courtyard is a long-standing Jerusalem institution — book it.

Google Maps Website

7. Efendi Hotel — Old City, Akko

Two Ottoman palaces restored over eight years, inside the walls of Akko.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples

The Efendi is the result of an eight-year restoration of two Ottoman-era palaces inside Akko's walled Old City, carried out by Uri Jeremias of Uri Buri with conservation specialists.

The detail is extraordinary — painted ceilings, restored frescoes, a Turkish hammam in a 400-year-old Crusader cellar, and a rooftop looking over the sea and the Old City rooftops. There are only a dozen or so rooms, each different.

Akko is an under-visited UNESCO site an hour and a half north of Tel Aviv, and staying inside the walls rather than day-tripping is what makes it work. Combine it with dinner at Uri Buri, a few minutes' walk away.

Good to know: Book the hammam and book Uri Buri for dinner — both are a short walk and both need reserving.

Google Maps Website

8. The Scots Hotel — Tiberias, Sea of Galilee

A converted Victorian mission hospital on the shore of the Kinneret.

₪₪₪ UpmarketBest for Couples · Families

The Scots Hotel occupies a nineteenth-century Scottish mission hospital on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in Tiberias, built in black basalt and set in gardens running down toward the water.

It is by some distance the most characterful place to stay on the Kinneret, and it makes a much better base for the Galilee than the resort hotels along the lakefront. The gardens and the historic buildings are a genuine pleasure to spend time in.

Tiberias is a practical centre for the whole Lower Galilee — Nazareth, the Golan wineries, the Jesus Trail sites and the lake itself are all within easy reach.

Good to know: Ask for a room in the original stone buildings rather than the newer wing.

Google Maps Website

Frequently asked questions

How expensive are hotels in Israel?

More than most visitors expect. Israel is an expensive country and its hotel market is small, so rates in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are comparable to Western European capitals. Prices spike sharply around Pesach, Sukkot and Rosh Hashanah, when domestic demand is at its highest, and drop noticeably in winter outside Eilat and the Dead Sea.

Are Israeli hotels kosher?

The large majority are, including nearly all the well-known ones, which is why hotel breakfasts in Israel are dairy and dinners are typically meat. It also means the kitchens close for Shabbat, with meals arranged in advance. A handful of boutique hotels, mostly in Tel Aviv and Jaffa, are not kosher.

When is the best time to visit Israel?

Spring, roughly March to May, and autumn, September to November, are the most comfortable. Summer is hot and humid on the coast and genuinely severe in the desert and the Dead Sea. Winter is mild on the coast, cold and occasionally snowy in Jerusalem, and the best time for Eilat and the Negev.

Should I stay in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem?

Both, if you have the time — they are an hour apart and completely different cities. Tel Aviv for beach, food and nightlife; Jerusalem for history, the Old City and the museums. Splitting a week between the two is the standard approach and it works.

Do Israeli hotels include breakfast?

Almost always, and the Israeli hotel breakfast is a genuine feature rather than a formality — an extensive dairy buffet of salads, cheeses, fish, eggs, breads and pastries. It is substantial enough that most guests skip lunch, which is worth factoring into a day's planning.

1. The Norman Tel Aviv — Nachmani Street, off Rothschild, Tel Aviv

2. The Jaffa — Old Jaffa

3. The King David — Jerusalem

4. Beresheet — Mitzpe Ramon, Negev

5. Mamilla Hotel — Mamilla, Jerusalem

6. The American Colony — East Jerusalem

7. Efendi Hotel — Old City, Akko

8. The Scots Hotel — Tiberias, Sea of Galilee

Frequently asked questions

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