Lev Yerushalayim Apartment Hotel

I stayed here for three weeks for a volunteer program. The common area in the four person room was spacious with a kitchenette. The rooms did not get cleaned when they were supposed to but the housekeeping is responsive when we would ask for more towels. The walls are quite thin and we could hear everything in the neighbouring room. It is in a fantastic location!!!! Many bus stops, the shuk and Ben Yahuda all within a 5-8 minute walk. The wifi isn’t always good in the room but great from the lobby. Nice area outside where we could drink and hang out with friends.

I'm in Israel usually twice a year, and each time I spend several days in the Lev Yerushalayim Hotel. What it lacks in plushness it gains in being functional and smack in the middle of Jerusalem. Step outside, either to the front on King George Street or back to Eliash Street, and there are a plethora of buses which stop there. It's a 10-minute walk to the Shuk (open-air market), which not only is legendarily lively during the day, but transforms into a night scene of restaurants. It's a couple of blocks to Jaffa Road and the light rail, and walkable to the Old City's Jaffa Gate. The Great Synagogue and many other synagogues are a few blocks away. The Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall is across the street. The hotel, as before, can supply you with a physical room key if you don't want to use your electronic key on the Sabbath. The breakfasts, if you include them, aren't fancy but filling with veggies, cereals, cheeses, eggs and more. (An alternative are the many shops around where you can get a breakfast.) The internet is free and works in rooms, and the tv's are flatscreens. Walk a few blocks down King George Street, and right on Keren Kayemet Street a block to #11 to Hamerkaz Laundry if you want your wash done. I pay 50 shekels (about $14) and get same-day laundry service, thus not having to lug two weeks worth of clothing with me to Israel. The rooms have microwaves and minifridges. My second day in Israel was Holocaust Memorial Day. A few minutes before 10 am I stepped outside the Lev Yerushalayim to the very busy street. At the stroke of 10, a siren went off. Hundreds of us stood stock still in respectful silence; all traffic stopped. After two minutes, the sirens fell quiet and we all resumed our normal activity. Only in Israel....