Rehavia - The Complete Guide to Jerusalem's Aristocratic Garden Suburb

Anyone walking through Rehavia for the first time tends to slow down without noticing. The streets curve, the buildings are low and white, and the shade of old trees falls across quiet pavements - right in the heart of west Jerusalem. That feeling is no accident: Rehavia was planned this way from the start, and that is what makes it one of the most rewarding neighbourhoods in the city to explore on foot.

A garden suburb with a history

Rehavia was founded in the early 1920s on land leased from the Greek Orthodox Church, and was planned by the architect Richard Kauffmann as a "garden suburb" modelled on the European example - small streets, private plots, and as little commerce and noise as possible. It quickly became a magnet for Zionist public figures, intellectuals and academics - among its first residents were Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Gershom Scholem and Hugo Bergmann - and for well-known architects who left a real mark on it. The result is an unusual concentration of buildings in the Bauhaus and International styles: clean facades, rounded balconies, small canopies above doors and windows and decorative iron gates - so much so that the neighbourhood is sometimes called an "open-air museum" of modernist architecture.

What to see and do

The main route for a walk is Ramban Street and Aza Street, alongside Alfasi Street and Ben Maimon Street - lined with historic houses that reward nothing more than strolling past and looking. At the end of Balfour Street, on the corner of Smolenskin Street, stands Beit Aghion, the official residence of the Prime Minister and one of the best-known examples of Bauhaus architecture in the city. Not far from there is Gymnasia Rehavia, one of the oldest and best-known Hebrew schools in the country, built on the neighbourhood's main pedestrian axis together with the Yeshurun Synagogue. This mix of educational, cultural and religious institutions gives Rehavia the character of a quiet, academic neighbourhood, very different from the bustle of the nearby city centre.

Cafes and atmosphere

Aza Street, which begins at the junction with Ben Maimon near Paris Square, is the commercial and culinary heart of the neighbourhood, with cafes and restaurants alongside local shops. Cafe Yehoshua, which sits somewhere between a cafe and an American-style diner, is one of the oldest and best-known cafes in Jerusalem and a regular meeting point for local residents. In the area you will also find other cafes and patisseries worth stopping at for a coffee between the historic sites.

Getting there

Rehavia stretches just south-west of the city centre, close to Keren Hayesod Street and King George Street, and not far from the Old City - a pleasant walk through the centre of town. To the north it borders the Nachlaot and Sha'arei Hesed neighbourhoods, so only a short walk separates it from the bustling Mahane Yehuda Market - a nice pairing of a quiet architecture walk followed by a dive into the crowded market. To the south, Rehavia borders the Talbiya and Kiryat Shmuel neighbourhoods.

Rehavia is a neighbourhood best experienced on foot and at a slow pace - every turn reveals another house with a story. And before you set out, it is worth checking livejlm.com for running updates on events, shows and activities happening in the area in real time - so you can pair the walk through the neighbourhood with something happening in Jerusalem that same evening.