Israel · Jerusalem · Jerusalem
Holyland, Jerusalem — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Holyland is a residential quarter on a Jerusalem ridge, facing Malha and named for the hotel that once stood on its summit.
About Holyland
Where to stay in Holyland
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Beds here sit on the ridge itself, above the traffic on Begin Road. Two logics apply. The Bayit VeGan side to the north gives quiet residential streets and an easy walk off the complex, while the slope facing Malha points toward the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, the Israel aquarium and Pais Arena.
Rooms lean apartment-style. Ramat Sharett sits immediately west of the towers for anyone who wants a calmer street and a short ride back into Jerusalem.
About Holyland
What are the main landmarks in Holyland?
National institutions crowd the hills around Holyland. Yad Vashem, Mount Herzl Plaza and the Hall of Names sit together on the higher ground, with the Valley of the Communities cut into bedrock beside them as a memorial carved rather than built. The Israel Museum, the Shrine of the Book and the Bible Lands Museum form a second cluster.
The Monastery of the Holy Cross keeps the valley floor. Children get the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo instead.
What is the history of Holyland?
The name came from a hotel. Holyland Hotel took the summit in 1958, and its sign outlasted the building itself once the ridge was cleared and rebuilt with apartment blocks rather than guest rooms. Older traces sit under the slope.
Khirbet Arza is among them, a ruin field on the Jerusalem hills that long predates any hotel, any tower and the road running below the crest. The quarter kept the borrowed name.
Where is Holyland?
The complex crowns a ridge some 770 metres above sea level, with Bayit VeGan to the north, Ramat Sharett to the west and the Gazelle Valley below to the east.
Good for
More areas in Jerusalem
Updated September 2026