Things to Do in Jerusalem in November
November weather, activities, events & insider tips
Low Season · Budget Friendly
November Weather in Jerusalem
Long-run averages for November
67°F (19°C)
High Temp
55°F (12°C)
Low Temp
2.0 inches (51 mm)
Rainfall
61%
Humidity
4
Rainy Days
4
Sunny-Day UV
⚠ Flash floods in Judean Desert wadis. November's rains can trigger sudden, powerful floods in the dry riverbeds east of Jerusalem, including popular hiking destinations like Wadi Qelt and Ein Gedi. These floods arrive with little warning and have killed hikers. Never enter a wadi when rain is forecast anywhere in the watershed, and check with park authorities before any desert canyon hike. Stay safe.
⚠ Wet limestone surfaces in the Old City. The polished stone streets and steep stepped passages become dangerously slippery after rain. Falls requiring medical attention are common enough that locals consider it an obvious hazard. Wear shoes with rubber grip soles whenever rain is possible. No exceptions.
Making the most of November in Jerusalem? Browse tours and activities in Jerusalem on GetYourGuide.
Is November Right for You?
Weigh the advantages and considerations before booking
Advantages
- + Summer's brutal heat has vanished. Jerusalem sits at 800 meters (2,625 feet) above sea level, so July and August regularly hit 30°C (86°F) with relentless sun bouncing off limestone in every direction. November's average high of 19°C (67°F) is ideal walking weather. You'll want to be outside all day rather than ducking into air-conditioned shops by 11 AM.
- + Crowds thin dramatically between October's Jewish holidays and December's Christmas rush. The Western Wall plaza, shoulder-to-shoulder in peak season, finally has breathing room. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where summer visitors queue an hour just to enter the Edicule, typically has waits under fifteen minutes. You get the same city with far less competition for space.
- + First rains transform the Judean Hills from summer brown to pale green, and the olive harvest continues into early November. Fresh-press olive oil fills Mahane Yehuda Market with its peppery, sharp aroma. Pomegranates, persimmons, and dates hit peak quality simultaneously. This is arguably the best food month in the city.
- + Autumn light here is extraordinary. The lower sun angle catches the Old City's golden limestone at oblique angles that overhead summer sun never achieves. Late afternoon from the Mount of Olives, the Dome of the Rock appears to generate its own glow. Photographers who know Jerusalem time their visits for exactly this window.
Considerations
- − Rain comes real but intermittent. Four days of measurable rainfall across the month sounds manageable, and usually is. When Jerusalem rains, it arrives in short, heavy bursts rather than gentle drizzle. Ancient limestone streets turn slick enough to send people large. Some stepped alleyways near the Western Wall become minor waterfalls.
- − Daylight shrinks noticeably. Sunset hits around 4:40 PM by mid-November, cutting your outdoor sightseeing window to roughly eight hours if you start at 8 AM. This matters more than expected. The last light on the Old City walls is the best light. Losing it at quarter to five means reorganizing your entire day around afternoons.
- − The Judean Desert turns flash-flood territory. Rains that green up Jerusalem funnel through narrow desert canyons east of the city with lethal force. Wadi Qelt and Ein Gedi hikes, both popular day trips, face closures after heavy rain. Desert hikers face genuine uncertainty in their planning.
Settled on November? Compare hotel prices in Jerusalem for your dates on Trip.com.
Best Activities in November
Top things to do during your visit
The first rains of autumn have already darkened the limestone by the time November settles over Jerusalem. After five bone-dry months stretching from June through October, the city receives roughly two inches of rainfall across the month. That is enough to slick the flagstones of the Old City's narrow lanes. It sends the sharp mineral smell of wet Meleke stone rising from every wall and staircase. Daytime temperatures hover near 19 degrees Celsius. Cool enough for a light jacket in the shade of the alleys. Warm enough to sit comfortably on a sun-warmed bench in the Jewish Quarter at midday. Nights drop to around 12 degrees. The air after dark carries the clean, flinty edge of a Mediterranean hill town shifting toward winter. For anyone wondering about Jerusalem weather in November, the short version is this: it is the quietest shoulder season the city offers. It sits wedged between the last of the autumn holidays and the December chill. Enough sun to walk all day. Enough rain to keep a compact umbrella in your bag. November mornings in Jerusalem begin with the low drone of the muezzin echoing off the walls of the Old City. The sky lightens from slate to a pale, almost metallic blue. Shopkeepers along the Via Dolorosa roll up their steel shutters with a clatter. They stack pyramids of za'atar, sumac, and dried sage. A peppery, herbal perfume drifts across the cobblestones. The temperature in Jerusalem in November sits in a range that rewards walkers. You can cross from the Damascus Gate to the Western Wall without breaking a sweat. Then loop through the Armenian Quarter and up to the Citadel. You won't need more than a sweater. The summer crowds that overwhelm the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have thinned. The light inside the Rotunda shifts from the harsh white of July to a softer, amber glow. November's lower sun angle filters it. On Shabbat, the city takes on an even deeper stillness. Restaurants in the western neighborhoods close. The streets of Mea Shearim empty to a hush. Only footsteps and the rustling of liturgical pages break it. Travelers looking for things to do in Jerusalem on Saturday will find that the Old City's Muslim and Christian quarters remain open. A long walk along the Ramparts offers views of both the Dome of the Rock and the Judean Hills. They fade to brown and olive green under the autumn sky. For those considering day trips, the Dead Sea sits barely an hour east. It remains swimmable in November. Masada is far more comfortable to climb when the desert air has cooled from its summer furnace. Jerusalem in November is not a city performing for tourists. It is a city going about its life. It lets you in closer because of it.
Best seller! Jerusalem old city four quarters tour
guided_experienceA single, structured walk that decodes the layered architecture and living culture of all four Old City quarters with a guide who knows which doorways open to hidden chapels and which turns dead-end at a monastery wall.
Start as early as the tour allows, ideally by eight in the morning, when the souks are still being set up and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is occupied only by clergy performing matins rather than tour groups jostling for position at the Edicule.
Insider tip: 3-4 hours
Private Tour Jerusalem Old City
private_tourThe density of Jerusalem's Old City rewards a guide who can read your interests and reroute on the fly, turning a standard circuit into a conversation with three millennia of continuous occupation.
Ask your guide to include the Broad Wall in the Jewish Quarter, an eighth-century BCE fortification exposed during modern construction, which most tours bypass but which physically demonstrates the depth of Jerusalem's archaeological layers beneath the current street level.
Insider tip: 4-5 hours
Full-Day Private and Guided Tour of the Jerusalem's Old City
day_tripThe full-day format is the only way to experience the Old City at the pace its complexity demands, with enough time to sit, absorb, and ask the questions that only surface after an hour of walking.
Wear shoes with rubber soles that grip wet stone, as November rain on the Old City's polished limestone creates slippery stretches that leather-soled shoes handle poorly, and some of the steepest descents near the Western Wall tunnel have no handrails.
Insider tip: Full day (7-8 hours)
Magical Walking Tour in Old City of Jerusalem
walking_tourA walking tour scaled for intimacy rather than coverage, designed to make you see the Old City's textures, sounds, and spatial rhythms rather than simply cataloguing its monuments.
Bring a small, refillable water bottle even in November. The Old City has very few public water fountains, and the walking pace, while relaxed, covers enough ground over uneven terrain that dehydration can sneak up on you.
Insider tip: 2-3 hours
Explore Jerusalem's Old City
otherA format that treats you as a traveler rather than a tourist, giving you the local knowledge to explore independently while providing the narrative spine that makes the Old City's layered history legible.
Ask to visit the Ethiopian Orthodox monastery on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a cluster of small huts and a painted chapel where monks have lived since the seventeenth century, accessible via a low doorway that is easy to miss and rarely on standard tour routes.
Insider tip: 4-5 hours
Israel Museum Must See High-Lights
culturalThe only place where you can stand before the oldest known biblical manuscripts and then walk outside to see a scaled reconstruction of the city those manuscripts describe, with the actual city visible beyond it.
The outdoor Model of Jerusalem is best viewed in the morning when the low November sun rakes across it from the east, throwing long shadows from the miniature colonnades and walls that make the topography dramatically legible in a way that flat midday light erases.
Insider tip: 3-4 hours
Where to Stay in Jerusalem in November
Hand-picked hotels across price tiers for November travellers.
Packing Checklist
Bookmark this page — your progress is saved between visits
Need the full list with shopping links?
Climate-specific gear, brand recommendations, and what to leave at home.
View Jerusalem Packing List →Essential Tips
Insider knowledge and common pitfalls to avoid
Insider Knowledge
Shabbat reshapes Jerusalem more dramatically than in any other city. From Friday at roughly 4:30 PM through Saturday evening, Jewish-run shops close, public buses stop running, and the western part of the city goes quiet in a way that catches first-time visitors off guard. Plan around this: stock up on food Friday morning, schedule your Old City exploration for Friday or Saturday in the Muslim and Christian Quarters (which stay open and active), and use the light rail, which also shuts down. The upside is that Shabbat morning at the Western Wall, with families walking through empty streets in their best clothes, is Jerusalem at its most authentic.
Jerusalem has no beaches and is not a coastal city. It sits in the Judean Hills, roughly 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Mediterranean and an hour's drive from the Dead Sea. If beach time matters to you, a day trip to Tel Aviv's Mediterranean shoreline or the Dead Sea covers it. But Jerusalem itself is a hill city of stone, olive trees, and dry mountain air.
The Temple Mount, known as Haram al-Sharif, is open to non-Muslim visitors only during limited morning hours, typically Sunday through Thursday, and the Dome of the Rock interior is closed to non-Muslims entirely. The visiting hours shift without much notice, and during periods of tension access closes altogether. Arrive at the Mughrabi Gate entrance near the Western Wall by 7:30 AM for the best chance of entry, and do not bring any religious items or symbols. This is the single most access-restricted major site in the city.
After 8 PM on weekday evenings, Mahane Yehuda Market transforms completely. The produce stalls shutter and reopen as bars, with cocktails served on the same counters that held eggplants that morning. Street art covers the closed metal shutters, musicians set up in the lanes, and the crowd shifts from grandmothers haggling over tomatoes to twenty-somethings. This is where Jerusalem goes out at night, and it is more interesting than any conventional bar district.
Avoid These Mistakes
Arriving on a Friday afternoon without understanding Shabbat. First-time visitors who land expecting to explore, eat out, and take public transit from Friday evening through Saturday evening find a city that has largely shut down around them. Restaurants in non-Jewish neighborhoods stay open. But options narrow dramatically, and getting around without buses or light rail means walking or expensive taxis. Build your itinerary around this rhythm rather than fighting it.
Packing for Middle Eastern heat. The phrase 'trip to Israel' triggers mental images of desert sun, and travelers arrive in November with shorts and sandals. Jerusalem at 800 meters (2,625 feet) elevation gets properly cold at night, dropping to 12°C (55°F), and rain is a real possibility. Locals wear jackets and scarves in November. You should too.
Wearing smooth-soled shoes in the Old City. The limestone paving stones have been polished by millions of feet over centuries, and after rain they become slick enough that falls happen regularly. The steep stepped descents near the Western Wall and the Damascus Gate ramp are the worst offenders. Proper grip soles are a safety issue, not a preference.
Short on time? See day trips around Jerusalem on GetYourGuide.
Ready to plan your trip to Jerusalem?
Now that you've got the research covered, here's where to go next.
Explore More Activities in Jerusalem
Didn't see anything interesting yet?
Browse Viator's full catalog of tours, day trips, food experiences, and private guides in Jerusalem.
See All Jerusalem Tours on Viator