Top in Israel
Plan a trip
Israel Stay Luxury Hotels

The 17 Best Luxury Hotels in Israel (2026)

Updated August 2026 · 17 picks

The best luxury hotels in Israel are Beresheet over the Ramon Crater, the King David in Jerusalem and Cramim in the Judean Hills. The top end offers entirely different things depending on where you are — Jerusalem trades on history and Old City views, Tel Aviv on design and the Mediterranean, the desert and the hills on silence. Seventeen, below.

1. Beresheet — Mitzpe Ramon, on the crater rim

The desert entry on any Israeli luxury list — plunge pools over the crater.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples

Beresheet is the hotel that made Mitzpe Ramon a destination rather than a stop, and it remains the only genuine luxury property built on the rim of the Ramon Crater.

Rooms with private plunge pools look straight out over the crater; the setting supplies what no city hotel can — silence, gazelles on the paths and some of the darkest skies in the country.

It books out months ahead for weekends and festivals.

Good to know: A crater-view room with a plunge pool or nothing — the interior rooms miss the point entirely.

Google Maps Website

2. The King David — King David Street, Jerusalem

The most famous hotel in Israel, facing the Old City walls since 1931.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Families · Solo

The King David has hosted heads of state, signed agreements and survived a bombing, and it wears all of it lightly. The 1931 pink limestone building, the Art Deco lobby and the garden looking across the valley at the Old City walls are the reason to book it.

Rooms vary more than at a newer hotel — the Old City–facing rooms on the higher floors are worth the premium, and the standard rooms on the street side are simply a good hotel room. The service is old-school and genuinely excellent.

It is kosher, with the full Shabbat operation, and it sits five minutes from Mamilla and ten from Jaffa Gate.

Good to know: Specify an Old City–facing room at booking, not on arrival — they are allocated early.

Google Maps Website

3. Cramim — Judean Hills, west of Jerusalem

The luxury retreat option — Judean Hills quiet, twenty minutes from the Old City.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples

Cramim is the only hotel in the Jerusalem orbit that offers what the city hotels structurally cannot: silence, hill views and space, on the vineyard slopes west of the city.

At the top end it competes not on Old City proximity but on the opposite — you drive in for the sites and drive back out to a spa, a heated indoor pool and a wine boutique.

It needs a car, and that is the whole trade.

Good to know: The better luxury booking if you have already done Jerusalem once and want the hills rather than the walls.

Google Maps Website

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

Two restored 1920s townhouses, and the best-run 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 since opening it has been the benchmark against which other Tel Aviv luxury hotels are measured.

It is deliberately small, and that is the whole proposition: the service is personal, the rooms are shaped by the original buildings rather than laid out on a grid, and the rooftop pool and garden feel private. There is no sea view and it does not need one.

The location is ideal for eating and walking — Rothschild, Lev Ha'ir and Neve Tzedek all within a few minutes, without the noise of the boulevard itself.

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

Google Maps Website

5. Orient — German Colony, top of Emek Refaim

The most contemporary of Jerusalem's top-tier hotels.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Groups

At the top end Jerusalem is dominated by hotels trading on age; the Orient trades on design, which is why it suits people who find the King David heavy.

It carries what the category demands — indoor and rooftop pools, a spa, Old City views — inside restored Templer houses that give the property genuine character rather than borrowed history.

The German Colony position puts restaurants outside the door, which the Old City-adjacent hotels cannot claim.

Good to know: The Templer heritage rooms cost more than the modern wing and are the only ones worth the premium.

Google Maps Website

6. The Jaffa — Old Jaffa, Tel Aviv

A 19th-century French hospital and chapel, converted with real conviction.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples

The Jaffa occupies a converted nineteenth-century French hospital complex in Old Jaffa, with a preserved chapel now serving as the lounge and a contemporary wing designed by John Pawson alongside it.

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

Jaffa is a fifteen-minute walk from central Tel Aviv and a completely different atmosphere — older, quieter, more layered. Choosing it over the seafront is a deliberate and usually correct decision.

Good to know: Even if the room rate is out of range, the chapel bar is open to non-residents and worth a drink.

Google Maps Website

7. Mamilla Hotel — Mamilla, Jerusalem

Piero Lissoni interiors, a rooftop restaurant facing the walls, and the best location in the city.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Solo

The Mamilla sits at the top of the Mamilla promenade, about three minutes' walk from Jaffa Gate — the shortest distance from a luxury hotel bed to the Old City anywhere in Jerusalem.

The interiors are contemporary rather than heritage, and the hotel's signature is its rooftop restaurant and bar, which looks straight at the Tower of David and the walls. Non-guests can use it, which tells you it is genuinely good rather than a captive amenity.

Rooms are on the compact side by luxury standards. What you are paying for is the location and the roof.

Good to know: Book the rooftop for about 45 minutes before sunset even if you are not staying.

Google Maps Website

8. Carmel Forest Spa Resort — Carmel Forest Reserve, above Haifa

The country's best-known retreat hotel, inside a forest reserve.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Solo

Carmel Forest is luxury of a different kind from the city hotels — remote, adults-oriented and organised entirely around the spa and the reserve it sits inside.

Rates typically bundle meals and some treatments, so the comparison with a city five-star is not like for like; the full package is what to price.

There is nothing outside the gate, which is the entire idea.

Good to know: Compare the inclusive package against a city hotel plus separate spa and meals — it usually wins.

Google Maps Website

9. The Setai Tel Aviv — Jaffa, by the sea, Tel Aviv

A restored Ottoman prison on the seafront — the most dramatic conversion in the city.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Groups

The Setai occupies the Kishle, a nineteenth-century Ottoman fortress and later prison at the edge of Jaffa on the water, restored around a central courtyard with the original stone left very much on show.

It manages to be both a serious seafront resort hotel — rooftop pool, spa, sea views — and a genuine historic building, which is a combination almost nothing else in Tel Aviv pulls off. The courtyard is the heart of it.

It sits between Jaffa and the southern end of the promenade, which puts the beach, the flea market and the Old City all within a short walk.

Good to know: The rooftop pool faces west over the water — go up for sunset whether or not you swim.

Google Maps Website

10. Kayma — Ein Bokek, on the beachfront

The only genuinely new luxury build on the Dead Sea shore.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples

Ein Bokek is a strip of large hotels mostly built decades ago, which makes Kayma unusual: an all-suite resort with an infinity pool over the water and its own beachfront, finished to a current standard.

It is the Dead Sea entry on any luxury list in Israel, less because it competes with Jerusalem or Tel Aviv at the top end and more because nothing else on the shore is in the category at all.

Short stays suit it better than long ones.

Good to know: Two nights here plus a night at Masada makes a better trip than four nights on the shore.

Google Maps Website

11. Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem — Agron Street, Jerusalem

The grandest rooms in Jerusalem, behind a restored 1929 façade.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Families

The Waldorf occupies the rebuilt Palace Hotel building on Agron Street, and the arched, high-ceilinged lobby is the most theatrical hotel space in the city.

Rooms are large — noticeably larger than the Jerusalem average — with marble bathrooms and a level of finish that is more international-luxury than local. If the King David feels like history and the Mamilla feels like design, this feels like money well spent.

It is kosher, has a proper spa and indoor pool, and is a short walk from both Mamilla and the city centre.

Good to know: The afternoon tea in the lobby is open to non-guests and is the cheapest way to see the room.

Google Maps Website

12. Royal Beach Tel Aviv — Seafront, north of the marina

The seafront half of Tel Aviv's top tier — full facilities and a sea view.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Groups

Tel Aviv's luxury market splits between restored inland townhouses and seafront blocks with facilities; the Royal Beach is the strongest argument for the second group.

It carries a full spa, a gourmet restaurant, a business lounge and event space, which the boutique conversions inland cannot fit into a listed building.

What you give up is intimacy and service ratio. What you get is the Mediterranean out of the window.

Good to know: If a sea view is the reason you are booking, pay for the room category that guarantees one.

Google Maps Website

13. The David Kempinski Tel Aviv — Seafront promenade, Tel Aviv

The newest of the big seafront hotels, and the most polished.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Families · Groups

The David Kempinski sits directly on the promenade and is the most recent addition to Tel Aviv's seafront luxury tier, built tall with the sea views that implies and finished to a standard the older neighbours have had to respond to.

It offers the full large-hotel package — spa, pools, several restaurants, proper conference capability — with a level of finish that is closer to a European grand hotel than the Israeli seafront norm.

For visitors who want a sea view, a pool and a hotel that simply works, rather than a restored building with character, it is the strongest option on the strip.

Good to know: Higher floors on the sea side are a meaningful upgrade here — the building is tall enough for it to matter.

Google Maps Website

14. The American Colony — Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem

A 19th-century pasha's palace in East Jerusalem, and the most atmospheric hotel in the country.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Solo

The American Colony has been a hotel since the 1900s, in a stone house built for an Ottoman pasha, and its courtyard, cellar bar and garden have been the neutral ground of Jerusalem journalism and diplomacy for a century.

It is not the most modern luxury hotel in the city and does not try to be — the appeal is the stonework, the courtyard fountain, the library and the sense that the building has seen a great deal.

It is in East Jerusalem, about fifteen minutes' walk from Damascus Gate, and it is not kosher, which makes it one of the few genuinely non-kosher fine-dining options at this level in the city.

Good to know: The Saturday brunch in the courtyard is a Jerusalem institution — book it well ahead.

Google Maps Website

15. Royal Beach Eilat — North Beach, on the promenade

The benchmark Eilat five-star — huge pool complex, directly on the promenade.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Families · Couples

The Royal Beach is Isrotel’s flagship Eilat property, sitting directly on the North Beach promenade with one of the largest and best pool complexes in the city.

It is the hotel most Israelis name first when they think of an Eilat holiday, and it earns that through consistency: extensive facilities, a good spa, several restaurants, and a position that puts the beach, the promenade and the shopping within a short walk.

It is expensive by Israeli resort standards, particularly over festivals, and worth comparing against its own sister properties nearby.

Good to know: The pool complex is the reason to book here — in Eilat’s heat it matters more than the beach.

Google Maps Website

16. The Drisco — American-German Colony, Jaffa, Tel Aviv

An 1866 hotel brought back to life, with one of the city's best restaurants inside it.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Solo

The Drisco reopened a hotel that first operated in 1866 in Jaffa's American-German Colony, following a long and unusually careful restoration of the original building.

It is small, quiet and considerably grander in feel than its size suggests, and it houses George & John, among the most ambitious kitchens in Tel Aviv. The colony around it is a strange and lovely pocket of nineteenth-century timber-framed houses.

It suits travellers who want history and calm rather than a pool deck and a sea view, within walking distance of both Jaffa and the promenade.

Good to know: Book George & John for at least one dinner — it is one of the reasons to stay here.

Google Maps Website

17. The David Citadel — King David Street, Jerusalem

Old City views, a large pool and the most family-capable luxury hotel in Jerusalem.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Families · Couples

The David Citadel sits on King David Street between the King David and Mamilla, and it splits the difference between them — contemporary Moshe Safdie-influenced interiors, but a big hotel with big-hotel facilities.

It has the largest outdoor pool of the central luxury hotels and a substantial kids' club, which is why it fills with families over the holidays. The upper floors on the east side look across at the walls.

It is kosher and runs a full Shabbat operation, and its lounge is a standard meeting spot in the city.

Good to know: Ask for a high east-facing room — the Old City view is the whole difference in price.

Google Maps Website

Frequently asked questions

Which is the best luxury hotel in Israel?

The King David in Jerusalem, if you weight history and location facing the Old City walls. The Norman in Tel Aviv, if you weight service and room quality in a small hotel. The Jaffa is the most beautiful building of the three. They are genuinely different propositions rather than three rankings of the same thing.

How much does a luxury hotel in Israel cost?

Roughly $450–$900 a night for a standard room at the top tier in normal season, and considerably more over Pesach, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah and Christmas, when the best hotels sell out months ahead and rates can double. January and February are the cheapest months by a wide margin.

Should you stay in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem?

Both, if you have the nights — they are 45 minutes apart and completely unalike. Jerusalem for history, the Old City and the desert day trips; Tel Aviv for the beach, the food and the nightlife. Splitting a week three nights and four nights between them is the standard and correct answer.

Are luxury hotels in Israel kosher?

In Jerusalem, almost all of them, which means separate dairy and meat kitchens, no cooking on Shabbat, a Shabbat elevator and a cold Saturday buffet. In Tel Aviv it is mixed — the older Israeli-owned hotels tend to be kosher, the newer design hotels generally are not.

Which Israeli hotel has the best view?

For the Old City, the King David's garden-facing rooms and the Mamilla's rooftop. For the sea, the Setai in Jaffa and the Hilton and Carlton on the Tel Aviv beachfront. The Setai arguably wins outright, because it looks back at the Tel Aviv skyline as well as out to sea.

When should you book a luxury hotel in Israel?

Three to six months ahead in normal season. For Pesach, Sukkot, Rosh Hashanah and the Christmas week, six to twelve months — the top hotels in Jerusalem in particular sell out that far in advance and the festival rates are set early and do not soften.

Related lists

Israel · Photographers & Videographers

The 9 Best Wedding Photographers & Videographers in Israel (2026)

Read the list Israel · Ulpan & Hebrew Courses

The 9 Best Ulpan Programs in Israel (2026)

Read the list Israel · Private Tour Guides

The 7 Best Private Tour Guides in Israel (Licensed & English-Speaking, 2026)

Read the list Israel · Glamping & Desert Lodges

The 7 Best Luxury Glamping Sites & Desert Lodges in the Negev and Arava (2026)

Read the list Israel · Food Tours

The 7 Best Guided Market Food Tours in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (2026)

Read the list

More in Israel · More Luxury Hotels across Israel · All Stay