Jerusalem

Jerusalem is a city in the Middle East, under dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, both claiming it to be their capital city.

Hitching out

To the Dead Sea and to Amman (Jordan)

From the city center you have two options:

1. You can either take service taxi ("Sheirut") Number 36, from Damascus gate of the old city, in the direction of Abu Dis, a ride of 5 NIS only. Go down in Maale Adumin junction and continune hitchiking west. If you take this ride you get directly to road #1, from which you need to continue hitchiking westwards towards the Deas Sea and Jordan.

2. Or take buses 25, 4 or 4A from West Jerusalem to get to Har Ha'tsofim Junction, (French Hill). The place is usually crowded with hitchhikers, and drivers stop often. Most likely they will go only half ways, in which case you should ask to go down in the entry junction to their settlement, and continue hitchhiking from the bus station.

When reaching the Beit-HaArava junction, next to the border with Jordan, the road turn south and from there you can ask to get off in any location at the shore of the dead sea.

If you destination is Jordan, and assuming you have a foreign (Non-Israeli) passport, you can continue to Jordan through the Allenby Bridge border terminal. From Road 1, you can hitchike to Jericho (Search for the Palestinian green license plate) and from there take a bus or hitchike out of the western exit of the city. Your other option is to hitchike to the Beit-HaArava junction, and from there stand and hitchike northwards, the next turn right is to the Allenby border crossing (you can walk it from the main road).

To Eilat, Aqaba (Jordan), Taba (Egypt)

Follow the direction to go to the Dead Sea, but continue south on Highway 90 until its end. From there you can continue east towards Jordan, or south towards Egypt.

To Tel Aviv

Take a bus to the main bus station in Jerusalem. Go on walking further on Jaffa road, till you get to the main junction where you can see the "Begin" highway. go on walking straight and pass this junction, and on your right (after the petrol station) you will see a bus station, the best spot to hitchike. Most likely you will see other hitchikers standing there too. If you get bored or want to burn some time, just behind you there is an ancient Palestinian village (Lifta), which was deserted in 1948. go down the stairs and find your way to the local spring.

To Tiberias and the Golan Heights

Your first goal is the Beit HaArava Junction, which connects Highway 1 going west from Jerusalem, to Highway 90, which goes north to the Kinneret.

From the city center you have two options:

1. You can either take service taxi ("Sheirut") Number 36, from Damascus gate of the old city, in the direction of Abu Dis, a ride of 5 NIS only. Go down in Maale Adumin junction and continune hitchiking west. If you take this ride you get directly to road #1, from which many rides will take you straight to Beit HaArava Junction.

2. Or take buses 25, 4 or 4A from West Jerusalem to get to Har Ha'tsofim Junction, (French Hill). The place is usually crowded with hitchhikers, and drivers stop often. Most likely they will go only half ways, in which case you should ask to go down in the entry junction to their settlement, and continue hitchhiking from the bus station.

From the Beit HaArava Junction, head north on Road 90 until you reach the Tsemach Junciton at the bottom of the Kinneret. From there, You can either hitchike to Tiberias by going westwards on Road 90, or use the Trempiyada (hitching spot) up to the Golan. People either drive up to Road 92 or Road 98 from there. Road 98 goes right up to the Golan, and Road 92 runs along the west coast of the Kinneret from where you can pick up Roads 789 or 87 to the Golan. Highway 789 connects to Road 98 from where you can chose to either continue north or head south. Road 87 also connects to 98, but a bit later, and it also turns west over the Kinneret or east through the center of the Golan until it picks up 98 at its end.

To Rammallah, Samaria (near North)

Take a city bus (25, 4, or 4a) to the Har Ha'tzofim Junction and stand there. Rides from here are available to the Ramallah area (Ramallah, Ofra, Beit El, etc.) As well as further in, towards Nablus, via "Tapuach Junction" (Ariel, Salfit Kedumim, Buddya etc.)

However, due to the lack of rides to this area, it is probably best to take a service taxi (very cheap) to this area from Damascus gate in Jerusalem.

To Betlehem, Judea (near South)

Take the #31 bus to Giloh (you'll have to ask people how to get to the trempiada). From there you can hitch rides to Betlehem andGush Etzion areas,(Efrat, Betlehem, Alon Shvut), etc, as well as further south, to the Hebron area of Hebron, Kiryat Arba, Tarqumia, Yatta, etc. To get to the latter area, however, it is better to hitch a ridge to Gush Etzion Junction, and try from there.

Sleep

Free Hospitality

In projects such as Hospitality Cluband CouchSurfing you can find many Jerusalemic members who will host you for a night or two in their homes...

Hostels and cheap accomodation

As a rule of thumb, the Western part of the city is much (much!) more expensive than the Eastern part, especially when it comes to hostels. In the old city and around Damascus gate you can find a dorm bed for as little as 20 NIS (4 Euro) for a night. Check Wikitravel for more details.