The National Library of Israel – Visitors Guide

The National Library of Israel relocated to a stunning new building in 2023. You can explore it on your own or join a guided tour.

Map

The National Library of Israel is situated at Kaplan Street 1, Jerusalem, near the Israel Museum and the Bible Land Museum. We visited it after a tour of the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel (it is a short walk between the buildings).

Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit

Interactive map of the area:

The library has four floors. The main entrance is from Kaplan Street, on floor 0. The secondary entrance is from Ruppin Street, leading to floor -2. Here is the floor map:

Note: you can click on the images to enlarge them.

Opening Hours

The opening hours of the reading halls are:

Sunday – Thursday: 09:00 – 20:00
Friday: 09:00 – 13:00

Entrance Fee

Free entrance.

Note: If you book tickets to tours, workshops, or shows, the cost will be according to the selected event.

Parking

There are paid parking places (blue and white curbs) along Kaplan and Ruppin Streets (and there are entrances to the library from those streets). However, there are not many parking places along the street, and later in the day, it is hard to find parking.

We visited it after a tour of the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel. During that visit, we parked at the Israel Museum. Our tour was on Sunday, and the Israel Museum is closed on Sunday. Thus, you could park for free (and there were plenty of empty spaces).

Tours

There are many different tours in the library, including general public tours, self-guided tours, and others. You can find additional information about tours and events at the official site.

Notes:

• We wanted to join the tour for the general public, but all the tickets were sold out. The earliest available date was in six weeks. Hence, if you can, order tickets in advance.
• The library workers told us that some exhibits had been moved to a safe place due to the situation with Iran.

At the Library

We could not find tour tickets, but we decided to visit since we were in the area.

There were poufs on different floors of the library. Each pouf was decorated according to a book, and on floor 0, at the main reception, we received a free booklet with a story to read on each pouf.

Here are several photos from the library:

Cafeteria

I also wanted to mention that there is a cafeteria on different floors, and the biggest is on level -2. It serves baked goods, sandwiches, and salads. We had lunch there, and it was okay.

Summary

The National Library of Israel is a stunning building, and I recommend joining a tour. But even if you do not find places on tours for your dates, you can visit the library on your own. Since tours and self-visits are relatively short (about 90 minutes), I suggest combining them with nearby attractions. You can find them on the interactive map above.

Have you ever visited the National Library of Israel? If so, please tell us about your experience in the comments below.

That’s all for today, and I’ll see you in future travels!

Stay Tuned!

For additional points of interest nearby, check out Jerusalem.

Additional Resources

Here are several resources that I created to help travelers:

• Trip Planner with Attractions and Itineraries is the page that will help you create your perfect travel route.
• What is the Best Time to visit Israel? To answer this question, we will consider the weather, prices, holidays, festivals, and more.
• Information and Tips for Tourists to Israel will answer the most common questions tourists have about Israel (including safety, passports, weather, currency, tipping, electricity, and much more).
• Israel National Parks and Nature Reserves include a complete list, top ten, map, tickets (Israel Pass, Matmon, combo), and campsites.
• If you are looking for things to do, here are the pages for Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Sea Of Galilee, Akko (Acre), Eilat, Nazareth, Safed (Tzfat), and Makhtesh Ramon.