The 6 Best Cafes in Jerusalem (2026)

Updated July 2026 · 6 picks

The best cafes in Jerusalem in 2026 are Tmol Shilshom, Cafe Yehoshua and Kadosh. Jerusalem's café culture is quieter and more rooted than Tel Aviv's — these are neighbourhood rooms and literary institutions rather than specialty-roaster showcases — and almost all of them close for Shabbat. Below are six worth sitting in.

1. Tmol Shilshom — Yoel Moshe Salomon Street, Nachalat Shiva

A bookshop café in a nineteenth-century courtyard — Jerusalem's literary institution.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Couples · Solo

Tmol Shilshom hides down a stone courtyard off Yoel Moshe Salomon Street in Nachalat Shiva, and it has been the city's literary café since 1994 — walls of books, a warm dim room, and a long history of readings by Israeli writers including Amos Oz and David Grossman.

The name comes from an Agnon novel, and the place takes its literary identity seriously without being precious about it. The food is a proper dairy menu rather than a token one.

Finding it the first time is part of the experience; the entrance is easy to walk past.

Good to know: It is down a courtyard off the street and genuinely hard to spot — look for the sign rather than a shopfront.

Google Maps Website

2. Cafe Yehoshua — Ben Maimon Boulevard, Rehavia

The Rehavia neighbourhood café where the city actually sits.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Couples · Solo · Families

Cafe Yehoshua sits on Ben Maimon Boulevard in Rehavia, and it is the classic Jerusalem neighbourhood café — a shaded terrace on a tree-lined street, a solid all-day menu, and a regular clientele who treat it as an extension of their living rooms.

There is nothing gimmicky about it. It does breakfast, coffee, salads and a proper lunch well, from morning until late, and the outdoor tables under the trees are among the pleasantest in the city.

Rehavia is a fifteen-minute walk from the centre and worth the detour to see how Jerusalem lives away from the Old City.

Good to know: Sit outside under the trees on Ben Maimon — that is the whole point of this one.

Google Maps Website

3. Kadosh — Shlomtzion HaMalka Street, city centre

A 1967 patisserie run by the same family — the best pastry in Jerusalem.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Couples · Solo

Kadosh opened on Shlomtzion HaMalka Street in 1967, founded by Meir Kadosh and now run by his son Itzik and Itzik's wife Keren, and it is the city's benchmark for patisserie.

Everything is made in house — the bread, the pasta, the pastries — and the dairy menu covers fresh pasta, fish, quiches, salads and sandwiches alongside the baking. The queue out of the door most mornings is for the pastries.

It is kosher and closed on Shabbat. Central, small, and busy at peak times.

Good to know: Go for the pastries first and the meal second — the baking is what has kept this place famous for nearly sixty years.

Google Maps Website

4. Nocturno — Betzalel Street

The art-school café — open late, mixed crowd, and a real programme of events.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Solo · Groups · Couples

Nocturno sits on Betzalel Street near the art academy and functions as café, bar, cultural space and unofficial common room for the students, artists and activists around it.

It stays open far later than most Jerusalem cafés, runs live music and events, and has one of the most mixed crowds in the city — which in Jerusalem is a meaningful thing to say about a room.

The food is dairy and good, and it is one of the few genuinely late-night options in West Jerusalem.

Good to know: One of the few places in West Jerusalem that is still going at midnight.

Google Maps Website

5. Cafe Rimon — Ben Yehuda and Mamilla

The reliable central institution — kosher, everywhere, and open when you need it.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Families · Groups

Cafe Rimon has been a fixture of central Jerusalem for decades, with branches around Ben Yehuda and Mamilla, and it is the default meeting point for a large share of the city.

It is not a specialty coffee destination and it is not trying to be. What it offers is a reliable kosher menu, both dairy and meat branches, generous portions, and a central location where you can always get a table and always find it open on a weekday.

That reliability is genuinely valuable in a city where half the good places are closed half the time.

Good to know: Check whether the branch you are heading to is the dairy or the meat one — they have both.

Google Maps Website

6. Machane Yehuda market cafes — Machane Yehuda

Not one café but a dozen — the best coffee cluster in the city, in the market lanes.

₪ BudgetBest for Solo · Couples · Groups

The Machane Yehuda market has filled with small coffee counters and cafés over the last fifteen years, tucked between the produce stalls and the spice merchants, and collectively they are the best place to drink coffee in Jerusalem.

They range from standing counters serving a fast, excellent espresso to small rooms where you can sit through the afternoon, and the market's transformation means the same lanes turn into bars after the stalls shut.

Weekday mornings are for coffee and shopping; Thursday and Friday are chaos in the best sense.

Good to know: Come mid-morning on a weekday for coffee, or after dark when the shutters come down and the bars open.

Google Maps Website

Frequently asked questions

Are Jerusalem cafes open on Shabbat?

Most in West Jerusalem close from Friday afternoon until Saturday evening. Cafés in East Jerusalem, in the German Colony's non-kosher minority and in some hotels stay open. Friday morning before the closure is one of the busiest and best times in a Jerusalem café.

Are Jerusalem cafes kosher?

The large majority in West Jerusalem are, and most are dairy, which is why the menus lean toward shakshuka, pasta, quiche, cheese and pastry rather than meat. Certification is displayed; standards vary between Rabbinate and mehadrin.

Where do locals go for coffee in Jerusalem?

The residential neighbourhoods rather than the tourist centre — Rehavia along Azza and Ben Maimon, the German Colony along Emek Refaim, and Nachlaot around the market. The cafés in those areas are where people actually sit for two hours.

Can I work from a cafe in Jerusalem?

Yes, and it is common on weekdays, particularly in Rehavia and around Betzalel and the art academy. Weekend mornings are for eating rather than laptops, and on Friday everything is busy and turning tables before the early close.

What should I order in an Israeli cafe?

A hafuch — literally 'upside down', the local cappuccino equivalent, milky and strong — is the default. For food, shakshuka or a full Israeli breakfast plate of eggs, salads, cheeses and bread, which arrives as a spread rather than a plate and is the best value meal of the day.

1. Tmol Shilshom — Yoel Moshe Salomon Street, Nachalat Shiva

2. Cafe Yehoshua — Ben Maimon Boulevard, Rehavia

3. Kadosh — Shlomtzion HaMalka Street, city centre

4. Nocturno — Betzalel Street

5. Cafe Rimon — Ben Yehuda and Mamilla

6. Machane Yehuda market cafes — Machane Yehuda

Frequently asked questions

Related lists

The 6 Best US Tax Accountants in Jerusalem (2026)

The 7 Best Tours in Jerusalem (2026)

The 6 Best Sukkot Hotel Programs in Jerusalem (2026)

The 6 Best Places to Buy Souvenirs in Jerusalem (2026)

The 6 Best Markets in Jerusalem (2026)