Before Sundown, the City Turns Outward
By mid-afternoon the light in Jerusalem has gone amber and the streets have filled with the smell of citron peel and myrtle. In the open-air markets of Mahane Yehuda, vendors stack the Four Species — the lulav of palm, the etrog, the hadassim and aravot — and the crush of buyers is loud, fast and entirely good-humoured. Everywhere you look, people are carrying them: down Jaffa Road, through the alleyways of the Old City, along the pavements of Rehavia. Sukkot has begun, and the city has moved, quite literally, outdoors.
This is the first day of the festival, a full public holiday in Israel. Buses run a reduced Shabbat-style schedule, many businesses close, and the rhythm of the day is set by the synagogue and the family table rather than by commerce. Plan accordingly — and then plan to be delighted, because what follows over the coming days is the largest annual public celebration in the country.
Build Your Own Sukkah, or Sit in Someone Else's
- The defining act of the day is the sukkah itself — the temporary booth with a roof of cut branches open enough to see the stars. Across the city, restaurants, hotels, community centres and private families erect them in courtyards, on balconies and in car parks.
- If you are staying in a hotel, ask whether they have a sukkah on the premises; many do, and meals are served inside it throughout the festival.
- Walking the neighbourhoods — Rehavia, the German Colony, Nachlaot, Katamon — you will see sukkot on every street, and the custom of ushpizin means guests are welcome. An invitation to eat in a sukkah is the most ordinary and most generous gesture of the week.
- For the Four Species, head to the markets before the holiday begins. Mahane Yehuda and the streets around Mea Shearim are the classic places to inspect, choose and bargain over an etrog. The market is at its most intense in the days leading up to the festival.
The Public Celebrations That Follow
- During the intermediate days of Sukkot — Chol HaMoed — Jerusalem hosts some of the largest public events of its year. The city fills with visitors, and the streets around the Old City, the Mamilla Mall and the downtown triangle become a continuous promenade.
- The Jerusalem March, a long-standing annual tradition, brings thousands of participants from Israel and abroad through the city streets during the intermediate days. It is a parade of flags, music and groups in national dress, and it is free for anyone to watch from the pavement.
- Concerts, street performances and family activities are staged across the city during Chol HaMoed, often in parks, at the First Station, and in the squares of the city centre. Specific line-ups change year to year; check the municipality's Sukkot programme when you arrive.
- Birkat Kohanim, the priestly blessing, draws enormous crowds to the Western Wall during the festival. It is one of the most striking gatherings of the Jewish year and is held on specified days of Chol HaMoed.
- The nights of Chol HaMoed bring street parties and live music, particularly around the Mahane Yehuda market and the downtown bars, when the post-holiday energy is at its peak.
What to Eat, and Where
- Sukkot food is festive and abundant: stuffed vegetables, slow-cooked meats, rice dishes and soups, often eaten in the sukkah with guests coming and going.
- In the markets, look for seasonal produce — pomegranates, dates, figs and the first citrus — piled high at Mahane Yehuda and the Arab market in the Old City.
- Because the first day is a full holiday, many restaurants close. The market area and the German Colony have the widest choice of places open during Chol HaMoed, when the city's eating-out scene returns in force.
- Rugelach, bourekas, halva and freshly squeezed pomegranate juice are the reliable street snacks of a Jerusalem autumn, and the stalls selling them stay busy all week.
When to Go, and How to Move
- Sukkot falls in the Hebrew month of Tishrei, in autumn. In 2026 the festival begins at sundown on Friday 25 September, and the first day — the full holiday — runs from that evening through Saturday 26 September.
- The intermediate days follow, running through the week, with the festival concluding at Simchat Torah. This middle stretch is when the city is at its most alive and when almost everything is open.
- On the first day, treat transport like Shabbat: reduced bus service, no trains in most cases, and taxis available but in demand. From the second day onward, normal service resumes.
- Stay centrally if you can — the Old City, Mamilla, the city centre or the German Colony — because the best of the week is on foot.
- Book accommodation well ahead. Sukkot is one of the busiest tourist weeks of the Israeli year, and prices and availability reflect it.
A Day Beyond the City
If you have a spare day in the intermediate days, the Dead Sea and Masada lie within easy reach of Jerusalem — a drive of roughly an hour and a half — and the Judaean Desert in autumn is at its most comfortable. Ein Gedi, the desert oasis with its springs and ibex, makes a natural half-day. Closer in, Bethlehem and the monasteries of the Judaean hills sit just south of the city. All of these fill up during the festival, so go early and arrange transport in advance.
Jerusalem in Sukkot is a city that has decided, for one week, to live outside. The sukkot go up on every balcony, the markets sell out of etrogim, the streets fill after dark, and the whole place takes on the atmosphere of a long, open house. Book your room, learn the blessing over the lulav, and let yourself be invited in — the festival rewards those who arrive ready to sit down at someone else's table.