 Hello friends and subscribers, welcome back to my YouTube channel, my name is Daniel Rosal and today another guy to life in Jerusalem intended for visitors to this ancient and historic city. Jerusalem is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it's steeped in history, filled with tourist sites and a viewed significance to three major world religions. But what about nightlife? Unfortunately in this respect, Tel Aviv definitely has the upper hand, at least in my opinion, for a city of 1 million residents there aren't a ton of pubs and bars in Jerusalem and there is really only one nightclub and it's pretty much a staple for teenagers. Thankfully Tel Aviv is less than one hour away and you can get between the two cities pretty much 24-7 if you know where the charoots leave from. I'll leave a link to my video about transport between the two cities below. But all hope is not lost, if living in Jerusalem has taught me anything, it's that in this dusty noisy city at the center of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, sometimes a drink at the end of the day is a necessity. In this video I'm going to be sharing some of my favorite watering holes in the city, I'll also explain where the bars can be found and share any other info that might be helpful to know if you're planning on drinking in Jerusalem. There are two major centers of nightlife in Jerusalem, the first is Shuk Mahanehudah, a world-famous vegetable and fruit market which is also jam-packed full of restaurants and bars. Locals refer to this simply as the Shuk. Personally I used to like the bars in the Shuk a lot better and probably cried when Casino de Paris closed its doors. In recent years it's become very focused on appealing to the excited teenager demographic so I think lots of hole in the wall bar is blasting Mizrahi which is sort of like his really pop music as loud as they can. There are two bars in the Shuk that I still like however. One is a little place called Freddie Lemons where Bibi, that's Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, once unexpectedly delivered a speech ahead of a national election. They don't have an amazing tap selection or anything but it's a functional place to have a couple of drinks while soaking up the nighttime atmosphere of the Shuk. The second is a beer bazaar which is a craft beer bar although their premises in the Shuk is now really small and they have a larger branch just down the road on Yaffo. Being a craft beer bar they have a decent tap selection and this is a good place to check out some of their products. There are many more bars in Jerusalem but if I list all of them this video will end up being super long so I'll just leave those two and you can find more places to drink in the Shuk after a couple of drinks. The other major location for drinking in Jerusalem is a small patch of the city center that's affectionately known among teenagers as Crack Square. The actual location here is Yosef Rivlin Street probably the most iconic of the establishments here is a place called Zoli's which means cheap in Hebrew as in cheap drinks. This area is extremely popular with teenagers and those from the US and elsewhere studying in religious programs in Israel for a semester. As you can probably tell I feel like I grew these places when I turned 20 but if you're in the mood for just drinking somewhere that might have some decent prices you can check these places out. Be prepared to be enticed in the door by promoters making their way up and down the street. Now let's move on to specific bars and places that I do recommend. My long time vote for best bar in Jerusalem is Hataklis which is located on Helene Hamalka Street. I probably fell in love with this place because of the fact that they offer a daily happy hour. It's one plus one from five to nine but I stayed because it's a genuinely cool bar. They have a comfortable indoor seating area and tables outside which are great to sit at when it gets nice and sunny in Jerusalem which is a sizable chunk of the year. They have magners on tap which for anybody watching this from Ireland is what they call bullmers here. The tap lineup is about eight deep and changes from time to time. Currently they have Guinness, a Czech largar from Prague as well as the staples like Goldstar which is an Israeli largar and Shapira another Israeli beer. Next door to Hataklis is Hakasseta which is kind of a more grungy underground bar. Half Paris around the corner called an Hebrew Khetsi duke is also worth checking out. Mike's Place. Full disclosure Mike's Place isn't the kind of place I'd go out of my way to go to but if you're an American in Jerusalem trying to fulfill some nostalgia then this is arguably the best place to go. Mike's Place is a venerable institution of the Jerusalem pub scene at this point and has been there longer than I can remember but I also can't be bothered to look up their actual opening date. It's an American themed bar spread out over two floors and they have a frequent rotating lineup of local and visiting musicians. They also have a food and snack menu with all the classics you might expect to find on the menu of an American bar so yeah definitely fills a niche. Baruch Bar. Another bar worth checking out in the downtown area is a smaller place called Baruch Bar because I generally don't bring my camera when I'm going out drinking I'm pretty shamelessly using people's google maps photos without their permission to give a sense of what these places look and feel like. If I've used your photo in this manner and you're aggrieved please shoot me an email and I can either remove the photo or give you credit in the description. Anyway back to Baruch Bar. As the photos show it's a pretty small bar and their iris can be somewhat fickle however they have good taste in music as well as a small floor which can be used for dancing and a nice outdoor area for sitting in. Sierra Pub. Hasira means the boat in English and is another staple of the Jerusalem bar scene. Like the other ones I've mentioned this place is located in the center of town. Again the bars are pretty grungy feel which seems to be the decor of choice for Jerusalem bars that aren't located in the Shuk. They have a medium variety Israeli tap lineup which includes the staples as well as a few imports. If you're trying to conserve your expenditure because alcohol is very pricey in Israel then I can personally recommend a beer called Alma. It's usually a few shekels cheaper than other largers on the menu and in my opinion is absolutely delicious. Bissarabia. Mixing things up a little I couldn't post a roundup of bar options in Jerusalem without giving a shout out to Bissarabia. This is an intriguing drinking spot which is located just across from the top of Ben Yehuda Street. You need to descend a metal staircase in order to find this bar which is located in the basement of a building. Although I've been there plenty of times I'm never quite sure about the details it's run by whom I presume to be Russians and is very popular among the Russian speaking community. It's dimly lit, it feels vaguely like the kind of place you'll want to hide out in during the apocalypse and most importantly they have horseradish vodka on the menu. Besides all that cool stuff they consistently have makabi 7.9% on tap. This is a strong version of makabi which is one of the standard Israeli largers and is pronounced in Hebrew Sheva Teisha which just means 7.9%. Prices are reasonable and again this is a popular venue for gigs in the city. If cocktail bars and spirits are more your thing then Gatsby cocktail room on Hillale is the long-standing recommendation however Zuta within the 1868 restaurant on King David Street is also definitely worth calling into. Both have a mixologist on hand who can serve a wide variety of cocktails. Much more interesting in my opinion is rabbit hole which specializes in serving gin. This is one bar that is absolutely deserving of the title hole in the wall because it's barely big enough to accommodate a few people sitting in a bar. This is a true heaven for gin connoisseurs. They produce several types of their own tonic and have an enormous variety of gins in stock and they love guiding gin newbies through the process of choosing the best one for their mood and appetite. Israel being on the Mediterranean we're currently unfortunately seeing more wine bars opening their doors in Jerusalem. This is probably the bar trend that I'm personally most excited about in the city because who doesn't love good wine and it's one type of bar that the teenagers don't seem to have infiltrated yet. My favorite wine bar in the city is a place called Wino in Rechavia. It's a little bit outside of the city center and Rechavia is just about the only neighborhood outside of downtown Jerusalem that has anything like its own bar scene. I've been married for years but if I were still dating and my date didn't mind the fact that it's not a certified kosher establishment this would be one of my top choices. It's dimly lit, serves red wine by the carafe, sells cheese plates and has a small food menu. Service can be very slow but I like buying wine by the carafe and on tap as it makes it wonderfully easy to have just a little too much. If you are concerned about kosher then there's a nice wine bar on King George Street called Margo JLM which recently opened its doors. It has an accompanying restaurant and I also recorded a video there a few months ago which I will leave the link to in the description. I also like Chanut Yain on Ben Shira Street which isn't kosher and for another kosher option you have Yain Vechavarim which means wine and friends and who doesn't love wine and friends. Unfortunately as you venture out of Jerusalem's fairly small city center there are far less bars but there are some options and other parts of town that I will mention for the purpose of being thorough. The first is the first station complex which is a sort of entertainment complex rather than a specific venue. Personally I've never liked the first station but there are a couple of bars there. The larger one is called Habuteka and they recently got magners on tap which is a major plus on my book. The second is another branch of Biritainu a small chain of craft beer bars in the city. Biritainu at the first station hasn't been open regularly for the past few months and I really have no idea what's going on so consider it only a very cautious recommendation. Just around the corner is the Orient Hotel. They have a restaurant on the lobby floor which is open to anyone however personally I recommend saving your money and checking out one of the dedicated wine bars and tines instead the ones I just mentioned. The prices and the atmosphere are both usually better. To the best of my knowledge there aren't any bars in the old city Jerusalem that's using a pretty strict definition of what a bar means however there are plenty of restaurants and hotels that also serve alcohol. One that I do enjoy is called Taboon and Wine. It's an Armenian restaurant and they have Taiba beer on tap. This is located just inside of the new gate. There's also Albabuniya and the nearby Notre Dame guest house which is a church property which was opened to serve the needs of pilgrims but nowadays it has a nice wine and cheese bar with a commanding view over the old city on its upper floors and needless to say this particular venue is Nakhosha certified. Finally all the way south in the city is a little community run pub called Barmon. I recorded a video here a few months ago and it's a community run bar staffed by volunteers although if you're a tourist visiting the city then it's unlikely you'll be staying in this part of town. I hope that round up a drinking options in the city of Jerusalem has been helpful if you're visiting here bear in mind there are lots of places I've left out as well as the fact the bar is open and closed somewhat frequently both here in Jerusalem as in any other city. Whatever bar you wind up in ask if they have 2B60 on the menu in Hebrew that's 2B Shishim. It's a special citrus-based liquor that is made in Israel and I think it's an amazing and totally underrated drink. Best of luck subscribe for more videos about Jerusalem and Israel