Western Wall Tunnels, Jerusalem – Visitors Guide

The Western Wall Plaza shows only a small part of the wall. The Western Wall Tunnels offer tours of the underground sections.

Map

Western Wall Tunnels are located by the Western Wall within the Old City Of Jerusalem. Dung Gate is the closest, but you can reach it from any entrance.

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

Interactive map of the area:

You can find the following map in several places in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Note: You can click on the map to enlarge it.

On the map above, the Western Wall is marked as #31 in square I10. And Western Wall Tunnels is located a little to the northwest (in the same square).

Directions

There are three entrances to the Western Wall plaza. And each entry is also an exit. Two of them are near Dung Gate, and one is in front of the Kotel (if you stand near the man’s area and turn around, you will see an entry on top of the stairs behind you). And though the Dung gate is the closest one, since you will probably visit other sites in the Old City, you can use any entrance to reach the Western Wall. For detailed directions, check the Old City Of Jerusalem.

Restrooms

There are big restrooms near the men’s entrance to the Wailing Wall. If the Western Wall is straight ahead, the toilets will be to your left.

Opening Hours

You must join one of the tours to visit the Western Wall Tunnels. Tours are available on Sunday – Thursday and half a day on Friday.

You can book a tour at the official site.

Entrance Fee

Adult: 38 NIS
Child / Soldier / Student / People with Disabilities / Senior Citizen: 25 NIS

Note: entrance fees were updated in July 2023.

Tours

Name	Operation Hours	Duration
The Great Stone Route – The Original Western Wall Tunnels Tour	Sunday – Thursday: 09:00 – 22:00 Friday: 09:00 – 13:00	About one hour
The Great Bridge Route	Sunday – Thursday: 07:00 – 23:00 Friday : 07:00 – 13:00	About one hour

As mentioned, you book a tour at the official site. And you should arrive at least ten minutes before the designated time. Several minutes before the start time, a local guide will come and call your group (group size is 18 – 35 participants).

Note: there are three different experiences. They are “The Journey to Jerusalem,” “The Chain of Generations Center,” and “A Look into the Past.” These are not tours with a guide but more “technological experiences” (like virtual reality).

Tours at the Western Wall Tunnels

Over the last fifteen years, I have probably joined five tours at the Western Wall Tunnels. On my first visit, we joined the classical tour (now called “The Great Stone Route”). We joined special tours during holidays several times, and in 2023, we participated in the Great Bridge Route.

And over time, you can see new findings and newly excavated areas. Moreover, I learned something new from each guide. Hence, we keep coming back every several years.

Another plus of the tunnels is that they are underground. Thus, you can visit all year round, regardless of the weather (both during the hot summer days or rainy winter days).

In the following sections, I will briefly describe some of the tours we participated in.

The Great Bridge Route

After years of development work and archeological preservation, we are happy to launch a new tour route in the Western Wall Tunnels: The Great Bridge route.

The Western Wall Tunnels will now include two fascinating tours –
The Great Stone tour (the classic route) includes a tour along the length of the Western Wall, a visit to the site closest to the Holy of Holies, and a visit to the Western Wall’s huge stone.

The new route – The Great Bridge Route – will take visitors one more level under the Old City, where you will see the Great Bridge that led to the Temple Mount. This route will showcase different rooms and halls that served the people of that time, new and exciting findings, and a first glimpse at newly exposed courses of the Western Wall.

This is a unique and fascinating route under the Old City below the tremendous bridge that led to the Temple during the Second Temple period. The route passes exciting sites and findings from the Second Temple period and includes a look at a new exposure to the Western Wall.

Source: official site

Here is a short official video about this route:

In 2023 we joined this new route, and during this visit, we saw the new lobby. We showed our order inside the lobby, received color-coded paper bracelets, and waited for our guide.

The Bridge

Our guide took us to the first stop, where we watched a short movie.

The story of the bridge is also the story of the luxury and destruction of Jerusalem. The aqueduct on the bridge is an engineering marvel. To transport the water from Solomon’s Pools in Bethlehem, the Hasmoneans built an aqueduct about 23 kilometers long that passes through Armon Hanatziv, Mishkanim Shananim, and the Jewish Quarter. This engineering marvel created with advanced technology for its time testifies to the splendor of Jerusalem. This aqueduct served as one of Jerusalem’s main water sources for almost 2000 years until the days of the British Mandate.

The destruction of Jerusalem can be seen through the destruction of the bridge, which occurred twice in history. The first time it was the Hasmoneans themselves who destroyed it. Queen Shlomzion’s sons destroyed the bridge during a fight between them. The second destruction of the bridge was done during the temple’s destruction. The bridge’s destruction is the destruction of Jerusalem as a whole, the destruction of the Temple, and the exodus. Since the destruction of the Temple, the bridge has not been rebuilt.

Source: thekotel.org

The bridge was not only for pedestrians but also served as an aqueduct. And since there was water, a fountain was constructed on the bridge.

Here is a map of the route:

We started on floor -1 and watched the movie. Then we went down another floor and passed through various rooms, like the Herodian hall, Hall of Ages, and Mikveh, till we reached the Western Wall. Then we climbed one floor up and saw the model of the Second Temple. And lastly, we visited the nearby synagogue.

Magnificent Building

After the movie, we headed down to the magnificent building (or, as one of our guides called it: The Herodian Hall).

The new excavations in the Kotel tunnels discovered a magnificent building from the Second Temple period that was well preserved.

A magnificent public building was discovered under the bridge, which carried water to the Temple during the Second Temple period. It is decorated with many impressive architectural items and has one of the largest mikveh found. The use of this room remains a mystery.

According to estimates, this structure was built by the Jews who lived in Jerusalem around 30 AD, about forty years before the destruction of the Second Temple. The room was built at the base of the large bridge that extended from the residential area on the western hill to the temple. The level of the building is located at the foot of the Temple Mount near the main street. This street was full of shops outside the temple gates and where the pilgrims passed before ascending to the Temple Mount.

This building has preserved many elements that characterize the magnificent construction from the time of the Second Temple.

Several years before the destruction, the building underwent several changes. The large space of the room was divided into smaller areas, and the bridge above was widened. Following the expansion, the arches of the connection rested on the walls of the building. A mikveh was built in one of the new rooms, one of the largest found in Jerusalem from this period.

Despite the beauty and splendor of the great room, after the destruction, the building was partially destroyed, and on its ruins, the Romans built a large and magnificent bathhouse. The bathhouse of the Romans, which symbolizes hedonism, stands in complete contrast to the mikvah of purity, which was part of the building until then, and symbolized the holy work of the temple. The wall of the bathhouse cuts off the building from the Second Temple period, leaving two spaces and a narrow corridor between them.

Source: thekotel.org

Let’s head to the grand hall of the magnificent building.