Day 2 - Train to Jerusalem, Israel

Some people book online for tours to Jerusalem and to some other nearby cities. While booking tour group is good for convenience and peace of mind, if there is only 1 destination, I usually like to find my own way. Going to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv is super easy. There is a train that connects the 2 cities and commute is about 55 minutes. The trains runs every 30 minutes or so.

For us, we were staying at Crowne Plaza City Center Hotel, which is connected to Hashalom Station (Others 2). To save time and money on train and light rail to and from Jerusalem, it is best to get a day pass on your Rav Kav. Rav Kav is the tranportation card that people use to beep in and out of trains and buses. To make sure we can hop on and off trains and buses for the entire day, we got ourselves a day pass. The card itself is a non-refundable 5 NIS. After getting the Rav Kav, we loaded up a one day contract for train and buses up to 40 km, which can take us to Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon Station (Others 4). It is important to get a day pass because the Jerusalem city can be explored around with light rail, which the day pass will cover.

So, just load up your card, ask people which platform you need to go to and wait for the train to come!

Seriously, this country isn't very tourist friendly. Many of the signs aren't in English. Only in Hebrew and Arabic, but it's OK. People are friendly. Just ask any random person when in doubt. 100% of the time, people will stop and help. But still have good judgement on whether the person is creepy or not.

Luckily, this time we caught the glimpse of English notification and we can see we need to hop onto train 729 heading to JLM Navon!

Here it is!

Seats are not reserved, so sit anywhere you want.

After about 50 minutes, we arrived! The station is burried deep underground! It's huge too. If there a bomb drops, this feels like it would be a safe place.

Escalators after escalators. From the ground to the platform, it takes around 10 to 15 minutes of walking. So, prepare a lot of time if you need to catch a train.

Finally to the ground level.

The light rail Central Station (Others 5) is just outside of Yitzhak Navon Station. With the day pass Rav Kav, we could just hop on and off the light rail, cutting down the 30+ minutes walking time to 5 min train ride.

Points on map:

Others 2 - Hashalom Station

Giv'at HaTahmoshet St 10, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

Others 4 - Yizhak Navon Station

Others 5 - Central Station

Day 1: Flying on Emirates, Crowne Plaza Tel Aviv City Center, Jaffa City, Jaffa Flea Market, Seafood Restaurant Sultan Ibrahim, Park Hatachana and Vicki Cristina

Day 2: Azrieli Center, Food court in Azrieli Mall, Train to Jerusalem, Light rail in Jerusalem, Mahane Yehuda Market, Jerusalem Old City, Pita in Jerfusalem, demonstration in Azrieli Center

Day 3: Cafe Xoho, Carmel Market, Dizengoff Center, Hamosad Burger

Day 4: Free bus on Shabbat, Turkish shawarma, salad time, Gordon Beach, grocery store, Sarona Market, outside of Sarona Market

Day 5: Bahadunas hummus bar, Greg Cafe

Day 6: Breakfast at DNA, Greek food at Greco

Day 7: Beach Promenade to Tel Aviv Port, Just Beef