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Please see Jerusalem for other available Jerusalem hostels and accommodations.
Please see Jerusalem for other available Jerusalem hostels and accommodations.
The Hostelz.com Review
The Al-Arab Youth Hostel in the Old City of Jerusalem has a poor reputation for its rather basic creature comforts abnd amenities. To be frank, this place is pretty spartan, and more than one traveller has called it a "dive", a place to be avoided at all cost. This was the opinion of more than one person who stayed at the hostel and didn't enjoy it. However, while the Al-Arab Youth Hostel in Jerusalem can seem scuzzy to some people who stay there -- the dirty rough blankets on the bleak cot-like beds in its windy dormitories must be enough to give some people panic attacks -- this is an amazing hostel with a hearty atmosphere which is 100 percent Arab. For all its aesthetic crudeness, there is something fascinating in the Al-Arab's basicness -- it has a kind of authentic Holy Land, Baby Jesus-in-the-manger kind of appeal. The building seems literally hundreds of years old, and that is a real thrill for the more adventurous backpacker. As one visitor has described "it's run down but full of atmosphere."
This is the real Jerusalem, near the Damascus Gate in the bustling Arab Market, and you can hear the sounds of the streets wafting up when you wake in the morning -- the braying crowds and the donkey carts, the calls of the falafel vendors, the confrontations between Palestinians and young Israeli Army conscripts. It has to be set in the one of the most exotic locations in the world, with the holy sites of three major world religions literally "up the road", some of them (like the gold-roofed mosque, the Dome of the Rock) visible from the upper dormitories. Jerusalem is packed with narrow alleys, steps, twists and turns, markets, suicide bombers, would-be prophets, and tourists in search of the plethora of religious sites and sights. Al-Arab Youth Hostel on Khan el-Zeit St is in the thick of it, not far from the Holy Jewish Wailing Wall, and surrounded by attractive shops and restaurants. For this and other reasons, the hostel is to be recommended -- it has location, it has character, and it has something else, something they don't usually talk about in the tourist guide books -- it has politics.
Perhaps the most compelling attraction for visitors to the Al-Arab Youth Hostel is its educational agenda. The staff at Al-Arab make no apologies about their commitment to the Palestinian Intifada and their resistance against Israeli rule. The walls of the youth hostel are adorned with the portraits of martyrs -- Palestinians either imprisoned or killed by the Israeli Occupation. Staff regularly show anti-Jewish, anti-American propaganda which would put even Michael Moore to shame. If you can take it all with a grain of salt, this is will give you an invaluable insight into the politics of the Middle East. This place will give you the Palestinian side of the Israeli/Palestinian dispute. The hostel staff also organise tours of the Occupied West Bank and Gaza, taking in refugee camps of displaced Palestinians, universities with bullet holes in the walls, and some truly magical old mosques and churches.
Al-Arab Youth Hostel is a cheerful place, despite the rather bleak decor -- and the even bleaker politics being discussed over small Turkish glasses of tea and Arabian checker boards in the common room. Going to this hostel makes you feel like you have gone a thousands years back in time, and that is an experience that money can't buy.
How to get there: Al-Arab Hostel is located on Khan el-Zeit Street in the Arab Market. If you enter the famous Damascus Gate from the New City, take the steps down until you reach a fork. One road heads left, towards the Muslim Quarter and the Wailing Wall, the holiest site in the world for the Jewish Faith. The road forking off to the right is Khan el-Zeit St, and that is the one you want to follow. Walk a couple of hundred yards and you will see Al-Arab Youth Hostel on your left. Be prepared: Khan el-Zeit St can be pretty crowded, especially after Muslim prayer time, and this walk can take some time. Outside the Al-Arab premises, a sign proclaims: "Internet Cafe". Walk up some small stairs, cut like a passage-way through rock up to the first floor reception.
This is the real Jerusalem, near the Damascus Gate in the bustling Arab Market, and you can hear the sounds of the streets wafting up when you wake in the morning -- the braying crowds and the donkey carts, the calls of the falafel vendors, the confrontations between Palestinians and young Israeli Army conscripts. It has to be set in the one of the most exotic locations in the world, with the holy sites of three major world religions literally "up the road", some of them (like the gold-roofed mosque, the Dome of the Rock) visible from the upper dormitories. Jerusalem is packed with narrow alleys, steps, twists and turns, markets, suicide bombers, would-be prophets, and tourists in search of the plethora of religious sites and sights. Al-Arab Youth Hostel on Khan el-Zeit St is in the thick of it, not far from the Holy Jewish Wailing Wall, and surrounded by attractive shops and restaurants. For this and other reasons, the hostel is to be recommended -- it has location, it has character, and it has something else, something they don't usually talk about in the tourist guide books -- it has politics.
Perhaps the most compelling attraction for visitors to the Al-Arab Youth Hostel is its educational agenda. The staff at Al-Arab make no apologies about their commitment to the Palestinian Intifada and their resistance against Israeli rule. The walls of the youth hostel are adorned with the portraits of martyrs -- Palestinians either imprisoned or killed by the Israeli Occupation. Staff regularly show anti-Jewish, anti-American propaganda which would put even Michael Moore to shame. If you can take it all with a grain of salt, this is will give you an invaluable insight into the politics of the Middle East. This place will give you the Palestinian side of the Israeli/Palestinian dispute. The hostel staff also organise tours of the Occupied West Bank and Gaza, taking in refugee camps of displaced Palestinians, universities with bullet holes in the walls, and some truly magical old mosques and churches.
Al-Arab Youth Hostel is a cheerful place, despite the rather bleak decor -- and the even bleaker politics being discussed over small Turkish glasses of tea and Arabian checker boards in the common room. Going to this hostel makes you feel like you have gone a thousands years back in time, and that is an experience that money can't buy.
How to get there: Al-Arab Hostel is located on Khan el-Zeit Street in the Arab Market. If you enter the famous Damascus Gate from the New City, take the steps down until you reach a fork. One road heads left, towards the Muslim Quarter and the Wailing Wall, the holiest site in the world for the Jewish Faith. The road forking off to the right is Khan el-Zeit St, and that is the one you want to follow. Walk a couple of hundred yards and you will see Al-Arab Youth Hostel on your left. Be prepared: Khan el-Zeit St can be pretty crowded, especially after Muslim prayer time, and this walk can take some time. Outside the Al-Arab premises, a sign proclaims: "Internet Cafe". Walk up some small stairs, cut like a passage-way through rock up to the first floor reception.
— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
December 2004
Al-Arab Youth Hostel Details
(To add or correct information for this listing, please use the Listing Update Form.)
Location/Contact| Address | Khan el-Zeit Street, Jerusalem (Arab Market), Jerusalem District, Israel |
| Location | |
| Website | None (if you know the URL of their website, tell us and we'll add it) |
| Telephone | (972 2) 628-3537 |
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Hostelz.com Guest Reviews
Al-arab -- wonderful memories I enjoyed my visit sometime late 80s. at the time if anyone could beat Abu (I think it was) at ping pong they could stay a night for free! & we all took him out one night to a large Israeli bar in the new town one evening for a happy hour session (buy one pint get second one free) -- he couldn't believe it! Ah, wonderful traveling memories. — davide , brit (2011-01-04) Pleasant life experience about 1989, loved it. — leo , dutch (2010-12-27) Wonderfully unforgettable! I too worked there, it was around 1989. Never a dull moment and the owners were the kindest people you could meet. I remember Abu hassan, Imid, and Joseph and the pictures of their family members held in prison. Always remember the announcement "Great news sheep meat for dinner tonight "(they used to feed me) was a sheeps head with eyes/brains! Only advice bring flip flops for the shower and toilets. You learn to do your business very fast! You'll love every second there. — siobhan , Ireland (2010-10-11) Magic The Al-Arab youth hostel is the central point of the most important trip of my life. And for many other budget travelers, who once there, tended to stay for weeks or even months. One couple even had their pregnancy and gave birth there. I did the cooking in late 1999 and had immediate success with the guests, and people started coming from other hostels just to eat my dinner. The atmosphere here was one of joy, love and trust. I didn't even notice the dirt. And Flea the cat was everybody's darling! Without this experience, I would not be the same person today. I was "homesick" for Al-Arab and Jerusalem for more than two years after coming back home. I still have very emotional dreams about it and spend the whole next day longing to go back. Abu Waheed has been wonderful to me and now that it's ten years since I saw him last, I might actually go back. — Andrea , Sweden (2009-10-02) No Place Like It on Earth I have known Abu Waheed and his family at the Al Arab Hostel since 1970. I lived there during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The hotel is unique in that it allows the visitor to share in the details of the everyday lives of normal Palestinian people and affords many insights into their plight and suffering. This is a hands-on experience for travelers that you are not going to get anywhere else in Jerusalem and I highly recommend this hostel to you. It is an experience that you will never forget -- and yes, posh hotels can be had later on in life! — Abu Waheed's Biggest Fan , UK (2009-07-07) Amazing I was in Al Arab hostel in 2001 only one night, but today it is great memory for me, because what happened that night in jerusalem will be never forgotten. it is amazing place -- (it was) very dirty, I believe since last crusaders no one tried to clean up there, but listening sounds of eight mosques in the morning is better than Dolby surround. and permanent shooting at night -- no problem. i hope, i will go there again. — stanislav Komarek , czech republic (2008-10-30) It was something else I was there in '96 and '97. i had so much fun there. it's the only place in the world that you can work for an arabic hostel, a jewish bar, and a christian petza place all at the same time. And thinking of going back at xmas to see what it's like. — english john , uk (2008-09-13) A One Off!! Filthy beds -- looked like they havent been cleaned since the last crusade! no privacy, but what an experience -- you're right in the old city so it kind of feels right. If you want clean beds like your mummy does for you, You in the wrong place, brothers and sisters, and you need to stay at home! but if you wanna get down and dirty and really feel jerusalem, This is the place. I was there in 1994, so it might have changed, but i dont think so! — Mark Webber , english (2008-06-21) a great hostel. i stayed there twice on two separate visits to israel. the atmosphere is amazing. probably not for the claustrophobic though, as everything feels very oppressive. the ceilings are low, the rooms are small and crowded. no privacy at all. however if you can get over this then the whole experience is amazing. just being in the centre of the old city is such a buzz with the sights and sounds just permeating every sense. i have stayed in other hostels out side the old city walls that were a lot cleaner, spacious, but for pure atmosphere the al-arab wins hands down. — darren guest, UK , UK (2007-05-08) I spent some nights sleeping on the crowded roof of Al-Arab youth hostel in 1990 -- a few months before Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The hostel gave me some experiences I'll never forget. One evening Israeli soldiers were carrying out searches in the streets below. Somebody let off tear gas and we had to evacuate the roof. The nice guy that ran the hostel then (sorry can't remember his name) handed out raw onion which works as an antidote. He also took a group of us on a trip into the West Bank, when we visited Deheesha refugee camp. At the time it made me question what I was doing supporting the Israeli economy by working on a Kibbutz. I seem to remember that a number of the people working at Al-Arab had been detained by the Israelis at some point. I was a wannabe photojournalist then so during one of the searches I went down and tried to photograph what was going on. That led to me having a gun pointed at me and being told to f**k off by the Israeli commander. Another night a slightly crazed, long term resident of the roof, who'd made a small camp out of sheets etc in a corner managed to set fire to it all. We escaped injury but his backpack went up in smoke and I think his passport as well. Then a female roof dweller started sleep walking (why a sleep walker would sleep on a roof is beyond me!) and ended up lying next to me with her arm around me. being the nice guy I try to be I just lay there wondering whether to wake her. when she did wake up she sat bolt upright and ran back to her end of the roof. She avoided me for the rest of my stay. Yes it was dirty and a bit scary and the mattreses we slept on stank of sweat but as a backpacker you have to face a bit of fear and take a few risks. there's plenty of time for sanitised hotels later in life. — Miles (2006-04-30) This hostel is a true and real classic! I was really between rating it with 5 stars or one as you need to be a specific type of person to enjoy this place. First of all my room was very tiny with an unstable door right next to a big and dusty loft with lots of rubbish piled up. A window was broken and stuffed with towels. The toilets were medium clean at that time So for the hostel rooms one star is too much already lol
but i still liked this place because of its original and very eccentric character. The staff is very helpful, and i dont remember how many glasses of tea i had with them discussing politics. If youre interested in an alternative view of the political situation then go there but remember that this is not the place to show off your love for bush or sharon ;o) jk
So altogether for its character id give it 5 stars. — Nicola Cordts (2006-02-10) Jerusalem is a great place, but for me this hostel was a shock! It was my first evening in Jerusalem and all I saw that night was Al Arab. Personally I prefer anything else. If you like extreme exitement and adventures, this is for you. It is cheap, ok, but there are other hostels with same price around there! — JA, Finland (2006-02-02) You know it just depends on what you're looking for. It is dirty. The toilets and showers do stink. The 4 a.m. call for prayer right outside your window pierces even the most deeply implanted earplugs. (However, we were there during Ramadan. I don't know if that happens all year round.) But we didn't mind much. It was all part of the experience. I didn't go to Israel to stay in 5-star hotels. I went to experience it. That I did. Location was great. Prices were dirt-cheap. I wouldn't take my girlfriend there, but unless you're a neat freak, I'd recommend it. — Ryan from California (2005-11-15) This hostel is not what it used to be. The rooms have ceilings that come down, the toilets are not cleaned and stink, there is no toilet paper and even the showers stink like urine. The hostel is not looked after anymore and the staff watch TV all day and lay on the couch. The location is pretty good, but the hostel itself is terrible. — Matt (2005-06-28) Worked here for a few month before being deported.. It's a wonderful place! The family that runs it has some really eccentric characters and the whole hostel is just too mad to be true. Hosting nothing but mad prophets and seemingly lost backpackers and the odd journalist/activist. It's cheap and in the most amazing location. Cold as hell in the winter months. — Michael Huijser (2005-05-10)