City of David Jerusalem: Hezekiah's Tunnel, the Pool of Siloam and How to Visit

The ridge where Jerusalem began

Most scholars identify the City of David as the original settlement core of Jerusalem during the Bronze and Iron Ages. It sits on the southern part of the eastern ridge of ancient Jerusalem, west of the Kidron Valley and east of the Tyropoeon Valley, immediately south of the Temple Mount and separated from it by a saddle called the Ophel. The whole reason a city grew here was water. The Gihon Spring, at the foot of the eastern slope, is the only reliable spring nearby, and Bronze Age fortifications around it still survive.

That geography decides your route today. You walk downhill from the visitor centre, past the excavations, to the spring, then through the water systems to the Pool of Siloam. The park is part of the Jerusalem Walls National Park, managed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and operated by the Ir David Foundation.

What the Bible and the archaeology say

Two monumental Iron Age structures, the Large Stone Structure and the Stepped Stone Structure, were found on the ridge. Scholars debate whether they can be identified with the period of King David or date to a later era, so treat any guide's claim about them as one view among several. The site is nonetheless central to biblical archaeology, and Jewish tradition connects it directly with the reign of David.

The Siloam Tunnel, better known as Hezekiah's Tunnel, carries the strongest link to a named king. The common hypothesis dates it to the reign of Hezekiah of Judah in the late 8th century BC, matching the conduit mentioned in 2 Kings 20, where the Bible says Hezekiah blocked the waters of the upper Gihon and led them down to the City of David before an Assyrian siege. Radiocarbon and uranium-thorium dating supported that date, though excavations in 2011 suggested a possible earlier origin in the late 9th or early 8th century BC.

City of David or Bethlehem? Clearing up the name

Searchers often ask whether the City of David is in Jerusalem or Bethlehem. Both names exist, and they are different things. Bethlehem, a Palestinian city in the West Bank about 10 km south of Jerusalem, is called the City of David because David was born there, and you can visit it on a Bethlehem tour from Jerusalem. The City of David archaeological park, the one with Hezekiah's Tunnel and the Pool of Siloam, is in Jerusalem, and that is what this guide covers.

If your goal is the tunnel walk, the excavations or the Pilgrimage Road, you want this site, reached on foot from Dung Gate in minutes. If your goal is the Church of the Nativity, you want Bethlehem instead.

Visitor centre and the viewpoint

You start at the City of David visitor centre, where tickets are sold and the 3D film or the spring presentation can be added for $4.85 (15 NIS) on top of entry. The rooftop lookout gives you the layout in one glance. Below you lies the ridge, the Kidron Valley to the east and, across the saddle to the north, the Temple Mount plateau and the domes above the Western Wall plaza.

Take three minutes here before descending. Every trench and wall below makes more sense once you can see the ridge line and the two valleys that protected it.

The excavations and the great structures

The descent crosses the excavation area, where the Large Stone Structure and the Stepped Stone Structure dominate. These are the monumental Iron Age remains that started the debate about the scale and date of early Jerusalem. Interpretation signs set out the competing readings, and a guide will give you their own view.

From here the route heads down towards the Gihon Spring, passing remains of the defensive network that ringed the spring from the Middle Bronze Age onwards. The spring stayed in use through every later period, which is why the water systems below grew so complex.

Hezekiah's Tunnel or the dry Canaanite channel

At the spring you choose. The wet route runs through Hezekiah's Tunnel itself, about a 30 to 40 minute wade through a hand-carved rock tunnel where the water reaches 70 cm deep in places. You need water shoes and a change of clothes, and a flashlight is used on guided visits. The tunnel leads from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam.

The dry route follows the older Canaanite channel, a water system dating back to the Bronze Age that partly served the same purpose of keeping the spring's water inside the defended area. It skips the wading entirely, which makes it the right pick for anyone with camera equipment, small children in pushchairs or no spare clothes. Both routes end at the same place.

The Pool of Siloam and the Pilgrimage Road

The Pool of Siloam is a set of rock-cut pools southeast of the Old City walls, fed by the waters of the Gihon Spring through the tunnel. In the early Roman period the pool served pilgrims, and the Stepped Street, also called the Pilgrimage Road, climbed from the pool up to the Temple Mount. Excavated sections of that street are now walked on guided tours.

The self-guided ticket does not include the Davidson Archaeological Park, which sits at the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount near the top of the street. If the Pilgrimage Road is your priority, a guided City of David tour or the Biblical City of David guided walk covers the full line of the street.

When to go

The last entry to the water tunnel is 2.5 hours before closing, so a Friday visit in winter means reaching the tunnel by 10:30. What we can say with confidence is what happens around you. The site fills with school groups and coach parties through the middle of the day, so our estimate is that the first hour after opening and the later afternoon are the calmest slots in the tunnels.

Shabbat shapes the week across Jerusalem. From Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall Israeli public transport stops, so plan how you reach the site on a Friday and do not count on buses or the light rail on Saturday. The two full-day tours here run on set days with hotel pickup, which removes the transport question entirely.

Dress and what to carry

This is an outdoor archaeological park, so dress for walking and sun rather than for a holy site. The decisive item is footwear for the wet route. Water shoes or sandals with a grip are the difference between an easy wade and a slip, because the tunnel floor is cut rock and the water reaches 70 cm. Pack a full change of clothes or at least shorts and a towel, and a small flashlight is useful even on self-guided walks.

Leave anything that cannot get wet in a locker or with a non-wading companion. The dry Canaanite channel route needs none of this, so if you would rather not wade, say so at the ticket desk and take the dry path.

On foot from the Old City

The shortest approach is through Dung Gate in the southern wall of the Jerusalem Old City. From the Western Wall plaza it is a short walk downhill to the gate and the park entrance beyond it, our estimate is ten to fifteen minutes from the plaza at an easy pace. Coming from Jaffa Gate, allow around 25 to 30 minutes through the Armenian and Jewish Quarters, and treat that as an estimate since walking distances in the alleys vary with your route.

Combining the two in one morning works well. See the Wall plaza and the view over the Temple Mount plateau first, then drop through Dung Gate for the tunnel. If you are following a wider plan, the three-day Jerusalem itinerary slots the City of David neatly against an Old City day.

By tour, and from further out

Both City of David tours here solve the journey for you. The City of David and Underground Jerusalem Day Tour picks up at Jerusalem hotels and the nine-hour version meets at the David Citadel Hotel on King David Street, a few minutes walk from Jaffa Gate. If you are coming from the coast, the Tel Aviv to Jerusalem train reaches Yitzhak Navon station next to the Central Bus Station in about 35 to 45 minutes, from where a taxi or the light rail gets you to the Old City walls.

On foot from the station area is not realistic, so use transport for that leg. Read our page on getting around Jerusalem for the light rail and Shabbat timetables before you fix a day.

Choosing your slot length

Allow about an hour and a half for the self-guided entry, which suits all ages. Add time for the 3D show or the spring presentation at $4.85 (15 NIS), and add more if you take the wet route, since changing clothes and moving at tunnel pace stretches the visit. A guided Biblical City of David tour runs three hours and includes site admission and the tunnel by flashlight, which is the deeper option if the archaeology is the reason you came.

Half a day on site is our estimate for doing the tunnel, the pool and the Pilgrimage Road without rushing. That leaves the rest of the day for the Western Wall and the Jewish Quarter above, which is exactly how the full-day tours sequence it.

Three ways to route your visit

The table below sets out three practical routings. The walking times are our estimates and the prices are as published.

Both full-day tours combine the site with the Jewish Quarter, the Cardo and the Mount of Olives viewpoint, so they replace the routing question with a fixed plan.

The list

• The wet and dry routes end at the same pool, so choosing the dry Canaanite channel costs you nothing but the wade. facts pack
• The tunnel's dating is genuinely debated. Radiocarbon and uranium-thorium dating supported Hezekiah's late 8th century BC reign, but 2011 excavations suggested a possible origin in the late 9th or early 8th century BC. Wikipedia
• The pool at the end served Roman-era pilgrims, and the Stepped Street they walked from the pool to the Temple Mount is now excavated as the Pilgrimage Road. Wikipedia)
• A guided Biblical City of David tour costs from $14.56 (45 NIS) and includes the tunnel by flashlight, so a guide costs little more than entry. cityofdavid.org.il
• The Hallelujah night show starts from $16.50 (51 NIS), a completely different way to see the site if daytime heat puts you off. cityofdavid.org.il