Stand at the Foot of Herod's Wall
You approach through the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, and the street suddenly opens into a broad plaza. Ahead of you rises the Western Wall — the Kotel — the ancient retaining wall that holds up the Temple Mount. This is the western flank of the artificial hilltop the sources call the traditional site of the Jewish Temple, and it is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray outside the Temple Mount platform itself, because the presumed site of the Holy of Holies lies just above and behind it. The wall is open to visitors of all faiths, and that openness is part of what makes standing here so striking: everyone is at the foot of the same stones.
The scale is what stays with you. At the prayer section, just over half the wall's total height dates from the end of the Second Temple period and is believed to have been begun by Herod the Great. The first seven above-ground courses are Herodian meleke limestone ashlars, each framed by fine-chiselled borders, and they are enormous — most weigh between two and eight tonnes, and one stone near Wilson's Arch is among the largest blocks ever used in construction. Above the Herodian courses you can read the later history in the masonry: medium-sized Umayyad stones, then small stones of more recent date, especially from the Ottoman period. The wall is a document you can read with your eyes.
Pray, Read the Stones, and Leave a Note
What you do here depends on who you are. Jews come to pray — and for centuries they have also come to mourn the destruction of the Temple, which is where the name "Wailing Wall" comes from; it was used mainly by Christians, and its use by Jews became marginal. The Arabic name, Buraq Wall, refers to the tradition that the Prophet Muhammad tied his winged steed, the Burāq, here on his Night Journey before ascending to heaven. In the narrow sense, the Western Wall is the section set aside for Jewish prayer facing the plaza; in the broad sense it is the entire 488-metre retaining wall along the western side of the Temple Mount, most of which is hidden behind the medieval residential structures of the Muslim Quarter.
- Look for the notes. For hundreds of years, Jews have placed slips of paper bearing prayers into the cracks between the wall's stones. You will see them wedged into the joints at every height a hand can reach.
- Find the Herodian margins. The chiselled borders framing each ancient block measure only a few centimetres wide — get close and you can see the tool-work of the builders.
- Seek out the Little Western Wall. Near the Iron Gate, a short 8-metre section of the western retaining wall has never been fully obscured by medieval buildings and displays much of the original Herodian stonework. In religious terms it is presumed to be even closer to the Holy of Holies, and thus to the Shechina, the presence of God.
- Walk the length of the exposed wall. Beyond the prayer section, the southern part of the wall — the Robinson's Arch area — is separated from the prayer area by only a narrow stretch of archaeological remains and is well worth the short walk.
Time Your Visit and Go Deeper
The plaza is busiest around the Sabbath and Jewish festivals, when it fills with worshippers; come on an ordinary weekday morning if you want quiet and room to stand and look. Whatever the hour, dress modestly and treat the prayer section as a place of prayer rather than a photo set. Give yourself at least an hour at the wall itself — more if you want to sit and watch.
The single best way to understand what you are looking at is the Western Wall Tunnels tour. The guides are well versed in the history of the wall and in the explanation of the first two temples and the subsequent construction of the Dome of the Rock, and the tour creates a great picture of the conflict between the relevant cultures. Reservations are recommended, though individual walk-ins can sometimes be squeezed in. The tunnels also reach the underground Warren's Gate, which was out of reach for Jews from the 12th century until its partial excavation in the 20th century. At the plaza you will also find the Chain of Generations center.
Eat and Wander the Old City Around It
The wall sits in the Jewish Quarter, which was completely rebuilt in 1969 after it came under Israeli control in the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, and which still holds ancient masterpieces including Hezekiah's wall, the Burnt House, and the Cardo. Inside the quarter are the Hurba Synagogue, the largest synagogue in the Old City, and the Herodian Quarter museum. The nearby archaeological park, the Davidson Centre (the Ophel), is also interesting.
For a change of scene and a proper meal, walk to the Damascus Gate — the most elaborate of the Old City's gates, bordered by a vegetable market and near Jaafar, a renowned Jerusalem sweets store. Just outside it you can visit the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, the Garden Tomb, and the Tomb of the Kings. West of the Old City, Mahane Yehuda is the main outdoor market of West Jerusalem: large, loud, and labyrinthine, with fresh produce, pastries, spices, and salads, and after the shops close it becomes a destination for bars, restaurants, and music at night. If you have a spare half-day, the City of David water tunnels tour begins down the road from the Dung Gate, near the wall, and culminates in a walk through the water channel cut to bring fresh water into Jerusalem from a nearby spring.
Start With the Wall
Almost everything else in Jerusalem radiates from this one stretch of stone — the Temple Mount above it, the Jewish Quarter around it, the markets and gates a few minutes' walk away. Plan your days around a weekday morning at the Kotel, book the tunnels tour before you arrive, and leave the rest of the afternoon loose enough to follow the Old City where it leads. The wall has been read, touched, and wept at for centuries; give it a morning and it will set the tone for the whole trip.