A changing draw for the City of Awe

One of the world's most spiritual destinations, Jerusalem has never been known for good times. If you want to party like Armageddon is nigh, hike it to Tel Aviv instead.

While the contrast between Israel's sacred and profane cities won't likely ever change, a little bit of Tel Aviv is creeping into Jerusalem's ancient hills, little pockets and fillips of cool that hedonist and pilgrim alike would not have imagined two decades ago.

Sprouting around the tour-bused mega-properties are boutique hotels such as the intimate, Ottoman-inspired Villa Brown (where we stayed), the Gordonia Private Hotel with its private chefs and personal butlers or the grander Herbert Samuel, which has 137 guest rooms and a panoramic 11th-floor rooftop restaurant. There are cocktail bars where the expensive voodoo of mixology has taken over: Zuta Cocktail Bar or Gatsby which, speakeasy-like, has a secret, unmarked door.

The restaurant scene, too, is more secular-friendly. Not so long ago, tourists would seldom find a restaurant in West Jerusalem open on the Sabbath, let alone an establishment that serves cheeseburgers or those non-kosher bottom feeders called crustaceans. But nowadays, the enchanting and stately Mona offers a calamari salad with chipotle corn cream and mango and oysters. Oysters! Or Adom, noted for its seafood, and not just fish, but treyfe and true standbys such as mussels and clams. Located in the city's newly restored train station since 2013, it's also one of Jerusalem's top-rated restaurants (But heathens beware: book ahead).

Subtle as it may be, the Tel Aviv influence will keep rolling in. Next year, an Ottoman-era railroad line will be replaced with a Tel-Aviv-to-Jerusalem express, shrinking the commute between the country's two major hubs from 78 to 28 minutes. So if the City of Awe still doesn't float your boat, you can leave on the fast train.

STAY

At one time the 19th-century mansion of a wealthy doctor, the 24-room Villa Brown is an arresting oasis of hip in the city centre. A beguiling veranda welcomes visitors, a serenity of light, limestone and soft techno that leads to a seating area and check-in desk with an atmosphere that you could almost call neocolonial: Ottoman-influenced, with neoclassical flourishes and velvety touches. At the top of the Brown, there is a hot tub and lounge chairs that overlook the sweep of the Holy City, a perfect site for a late-afternoon wind-down, provided you can find some booze. (When we were there, there was no phone at the top and you had to go all the way back down to the front desk to order a drink.) Later in the evening, visit the Cave bar, a former water cistern that exudes a funky, grotto-like atmosphere. In the morning, breakfast is both high-quality and high-volume, and the waiters push like textbook Jewish grandmothers to get you to eat until you plotz. It's well worth it. One of the best breakfasts you'll have in the country, period.

The rooms are a little sparse, especially the bare walls, and our entry-level accommodation could have used more than two shelves of storage. But the beds were extremely comfortable and the temperature control exact. The bathrooms featured Molton-Brown products.

The sibling of Tel Aviv's Brown TLV Hotel, the Villa Brown's centrality makes it a huge draw, a 15-minute walk to the thrilling bustle of Machane Yehuda Market, the same time it takes to get to the outdoor mall, Mamilla, or just a little further, the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. If walking in Middle Eastern heat isn't your bag, the hotel is also right up the road from the light-rail line that shuttles riders across town.

The service at Villa Brown itself, however, is not terribly accessible. While always courteous and polite, staff was still on training wheels when we were there in July. We arrived by rental car, and when I asked the desk over the phone what to do with it on arrival, we were told to park in a lot down the street, and we ended up, after an overseas flight, dragging our luggage up a long hill. No one met us at the gate to help heave our things up the stairs. One night, when we asked how to walk to the Machane Yehuda, the clerk just pointed down the road.

All in all, some kinks, but worth the stay.

54 Ha-Nevi'im Street; rooms from $259 (U.S.); brownhotels.com/villa.

EAT AND DRINK

It's hard to find a restaurant more raucous, delicious and appealing than Machneyuda. Ancient Kurdish pastries, "fattoush salad like you never tried before," and delicious shakshukit (minced lamb, spices and sauces) are just a sampling of the menu. Wait staff, when not dancing on tables to the pumped-up strains of Syrian musician Omar Souleyman, are filling your glasses with free arak. Well-known but well-earned. A must.

On the more formal side, Satya is more a sedate, intimate bistro kind of atmosphere that stresses seafood – sashimi and mussels but also meat dishes such as veal schnitzel with concasse tomatoes and Parmesan cheese and/or spicy pork chorizo sausages. Inspired by Jerusalem's most famous chef, Yotam Ottolenghi, we followed in his footsteps to the delicious Pasha's, where fattoush (bread and fresh vegetable salad) and baba ghanoush can't be beat. Rachmo is where you go for your fix of Kurdish food.

Machneyuda, 10 Beit Ya'akov Street.
Satya, 36 Keren HaYesod Street.
Pasha's, 13 Shimon Hatzadik Street.
Rachmo, 5 Ha-Eshkol Street.

SHOP

While Jerusalem has nowhere near as many funky enclaves as its cousin city down Route 1, stroll down the Emek Refaim, the main drag of the German Colony in southern Jerusalem. Arguably the city's trendiest street, it also happens to be in one of its most striking areas. The influence of German architecture, mostly from the Templars who founded the area, gives the area an exotic feel. Also have a look out for the Farmers' and Artists' Market, which offers anything from artisan cheese to hand puppets.

LOCAL SECRETS

Literary pilgrims should head to Tmol Shilshom, a bookstore cafe (remember those?) tucked into a downtown courtyard and a destination for the country's major secular thinkers such as Amos Oz, David Grossman and Etgar Keret; it is also the landmark where Nathan Englander wrote his breakthrough collection of short stories, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges.

5 Yo'el Moshe Salomon Street, Jerusalem.

The writer stayed as a guest of Villa Brown. It did not review or approve this article.