4 Jerusalem Festivals You’ll Go Wild For

A festival is like a party to which everyone is invited, and everyone can bring a friend. The brightly colored lights, the sounds, the tastes, and the smells: all mix together to create an ecstatic atmosphere for those hungry for excitement, inspiration, and a good time.

After you’ve had your fill of ancient archeological sites, if you’re up for some fun and for creating memories, any one of these festivals in Jerusalem will make for the perfect evening.

Jerusalem Wine Festival

The annual Jerusalem Wine Festival is where you want to be if you love wine-tasting, great food, and live music.

Receiving more than 20,000 visitors over four evenings in the summery month of July at the Israel Museum, it is every wine lover’s dream. With the wine glass, you’ll be given to take home as a souvenir, you can sip on liquors and bubbly champagnes or swirl the richest and finest of Israel’s more popular and boutique wines. You can also get a bite to eat from the food stands, sample a cheese-and-bread platter, and buy smooth chocolates, local olive oil, condiments, jams, or other mouth-watering specialties.

Grab your favorite bottle of wine and enjoy the night with your date or your friends. Feel perfectly carefree as you dance the night away to live music.

As a bonus, the festival offers a festival-museum combo ticket, so you can roam the museum as well. Give all your senses a feast!

Jerusalem Film Festival

Films are best watched with other film lovers, and this 11 day festival in July is dedicated to doing precisely that. It delivers non-stop screenings of more than 200 Israeli and international feature films, documentaries, and shorts. You’ll get to know the city as you visit the different indoor and outdoor cinemas and watch the most talked about, prestigious, and award-winning films.

The festival does a great job of incorporating all the aspects of film that made you fall in love with it and isn’t short on international and Hollywood guests such as directors, actors, and producers.

Among many one-of-a-kind highlights, each year the festival chooses a film (one of the classics like ‘Jaws’ or ‘Back to the Future’) and gives the audience a musical experience like no other. While you watch the movie, the Jerusalem Orchestra plays the full soundtrack live, in front of you. You’ll feel the emotion behind every scene as the strings, percussion, and brass resonate louder than any home speaker.

Jerusalem Festival of Light

The Festival of Light takes full advantage of every wall, corner, building, and alleyway of the Old City and uses it as a creative canvas. High-tech light projectors tell stories on the stone buildings, and artistic structures surprise you at every turn. Actors dressed up in lighted costumes walk around to create a magical, ethereal experience. Come between June and July and take full advantage of the city.

Sound of the Old City

Come March, another exciting festival takes place. The Sound of the Old City – that’s a night to remember! Follow different routes to the diverse music areas and you’ll find musicians playing everything from rock to pop to jazz – even ethnic-sounding music from the Far East. Visitors can let loose at a silent dance party or create their own music at various creative stations. All this music is made even better by the food vendors selling cotton candy and popcorn.

If there’s anything that you should take away from your visit to Israel, it’s the culture that makes the country so unique. You deserve to have the full experience of all Israel has to offer, and our daily tours can give you just that. Let us be your guide into all things cultural and memorable!