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Prima Palace Hotel – reviews, photos

3.0 of 5
2 Pines Street, Jerusalem 91280, Israel
Hotel amenities
Prima Palace Hotel
Prima Palace Hotel
Prima Palace Hotel
Prima Palace Hotel
Prima Palace Hotel
Prima Palace Hotel
Ranked #30 of 84 hotels in Jerusalem
4.0 of 5 stars 52 Reviews
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52 reviews from our community

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Date Rating
Israel
1 review
“Pleasant and quiet stay. Would love to go back.”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 14 January 2012

We stayed over the weekend/Shabbat, and it was our second visit in the past three years. I was using a voucher for two that I had been given, so I cannot comment on price or value for money. The overall design is pleasant and minimal. It reminds me more of a European city hotel where you expect a clean room and minimal luxuries because the Palace has a great location center of town and is not a 'destination hotel' with many activities at the hotel and luxuries to waste your time in the room. Since the hotel caters mostly to Jewish Orthodox patrons, the tv (as of Jan 12) was a smallish CRT tv with the free local channels as well as BBC, CNN, and Israeli kids' channel . If you are Jewish and do not watch TV, ask the staff to remove the 'box'.

Check-in was pretty quick, and we also did pre-checkout. The hotel offers regular keys for the observant Jew on Shabbat. The food was plentiful and fine, even bordering on great for some dishes. While the meals were buffet-based, the waiters did visit our table and anticipated cleanup and water refills. The mashgiach (kosher supervisor) was very nice grandfather-type who spoke at least three languages and updated the guests at each meal with times and guidelines. We sat nearby during the meals and he ate in gulps between speaking with guests, some singing, and overlooking the dining room and kitchen staff.

Shabbat prayer services were fine, and I assume because of the wide variety of guests, somewhat simple and 'non-denominational' without much singing at all. I think most guests came for both evening services, though it seemed many chose to visit other synagogues in the morning.

We only had one problem we noticed minutes before Shabbat of the room safe having a low battery, and it was rectified promptly by an older maintenance man who was nice. When he noticed that he could not fix it after a few minutes, he replaced the entire door to save time and tinkering. I was really impressed with the entire situation because I has been downstairs at the front desk when I remembered to complain (admittedly late) and the maintenance man was already at our room when I got back upstairs.

I think our walk to the old city took 25 minutes. Though HaNeviim St is more historical and architecturally interesting, if you are walking to the old city, I recommend going by Yafo St, which is now closed to wheeled vehicles due to the new tramway, because it is more direct and you avoid the downhill and then uphill part on HaNeviim.

We would gladly stay again.

In reply to a previous guest, I think that the Shabbat timetable handed out now had some English translation as well.

Room Tip: There are large rooms at the extremities of the floors and regular rooms in the middle. I think that...
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  • Stayed January 2012, travelled as a couple
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Ask 123Josh about Prima Palace Hotel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Senior Reviewer
9 reviews 9 reviews
Reviews in 7 cities Reviews in 7 cities
8 helpful votes 8 helpful votes
“A Stranger amongst Strictly Religious Jews”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 13 January 2012
3
people found this review helpful

I stayed here for 3 nights during my time in Jerusalem.

Location was in the Jewish Quarter.

The rooms were carpeted and they only have single beds, so if you order a double, you get twin beds

Staff can all speak English and are helpful, they helped me book the Prima in Tel Aviv.

I stayed in a double room, which had 2 twin beds. The room was carpeted and clean. Plenty of room for a solo traveler. The room was decorated in retro green and needed some modernisation, but that did not bother me. The room also had a water tap with a bowl - which fascinated me. Apparently it for Jews to wash after "powdering their nose". Thoughtful.

I booked thru booking.com and I find out chatting to other guests that I had got the room very cheap indeed. I also heard the price the staff was giving to walk in guests. Book in advance is my suggestion. Obvious.

The hotel has a nice walk in garden with steel gates at the entrance. They also had a guard 24/7 - so security was good. Not that I felt I needed it.

Breakfast was amazing. Choice galore!

I was the only non-Jew staying at the hotel. So walking around in vibrant clothes, shorts and flip flops got some looks. However, I found the Jewish people very friendly and had some great conversations with men of varying ages.

Do note, if you are a non-Jew, please respect their customs and dont strike up conversations with Jewish women.Simply smile, be friendly and the men will start chatting to you once they have weighed you up.

Overall, an interesting experience and one I would do again, as I found mixing with Strict Jews very enjoyable indeed. Nice people.

One tip on staying in Jerusalem.
During Shabat, don't expect the hotel to pick up the phone. Everything stops in Jerusalem,

My advice, dont stay in Jerusalem during Shabat if you are not a practising Jew.

  • Stayed December 2011, travelled solo
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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Ask MatthewESQ about Prima Palace Hotel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Helsinki, Finland
Contributor
12 reviews 12 reviews
Reviews in 7 cities Reviews in 7 cities
6 helpful votes 6 helpful votes
“Good location but the service in English needs improving”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 5 January 2012
2
people found this review helpful

To start with the positives: The location is really central, just off the Jaffa street. You can walk to both the old city and the central bus station, and the HaDavidka trail stop fo the new Jerusalem light trail is just two-minutes walk from the hotel.
We had a room on the topmost floor, on the streetside, and it was quiet. Only disturbing noise was on Sabbat because the Sabbat elevator was located opposite our room and it kept making a beeping noise all through the night at regular intervals. Room was clean and generally ok, except for the air conditioning which at the beginning of your stay was broken. It was however fixed when we complained in the reception.
Another good point in the hotel was the breakfast, which had a large selection.

However there was one problem which made things far harder than they should have been. The hotel seems to cater mainly for the Hebrew-speaking crowd, as most of the info was only provided in that language. For example, there were no Sabbat timetables available in English, and when we asked we were told that the breakfast is as normal in Sabbat – we has no way of knowing about the special meal arrangements (when the brunch is served) which in this case turned out to be so late we ended up just drinking a cup of coffee before leaving for the day. Another puzzling thing is that the info binder in the room which in most hotels contains all the basic info about the hotel, here included only stationery. No information about where everything is located in the hotel, how to use the phone (it had only labels in Hebrew), in-room-safe, air conditioning or when and where the meals are served…
This was the only hotel in all our stays in Israel where we have encountered this problem, and it left us feeling a bit unwelcome.

  • Stayed December 2011, travelled with family
    • 3 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 2 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Veyka about Prima Palace Hotel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
New York City, New York
1 review
“Excellent hotel”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 27 October 2011

My family and I stayed at the Prima Palace during Succos 5772--2011. I highly recommend the hotel to one and all. The location cannot be beat---just a few blocks from Geula, Meah Shearim, Rechov Yaffo, Machne Yehudah, etc. While the hotel rooms are a bit small, they were nice and clean, and the service was very friendly and helpful. The hotel was completely renovated a few years ago, and the hotel lobby, the large dining rooms and wedding halls, and the guestrooms are all in very good condition and are very pleasing to the eye. The food was plentiful and very tasty. The waiters were nice and efficient. All in all, we had a wonderful experience.

  • Stayed October 2011, travelled with family
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Ask David821 about Prima Palace Hotel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Yafit Cohen, Manager at Prima Palace Hotel, responded to this review
30 October 2011
Wow!
Thank you for taking the time to post such a detailed and wonderful review.
We are glad that you enjoyed your stay with us at the Prima Palace and that you enjoyed your time in Jerusalem.

Hope to see you again soon in Jerusalem!
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Manchester
Senior Reviewer
8 reviews 8 reviews
Reviews in 8 cities Reviews in 8 cities
3 helpful votes 3 helpful votes
“Strictly kosher hotel in great position”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 24 October 2011
1
person found this review helpful

Perfectly situated hotel for the charedi visitor who wants a good hechsher (Agudas Yisroel) and to be near to Malchei Yisroel and Geula (5-10 minutes walk) and only around 20-25 minutes walk away from the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. Lovely peaceful outdoor lobby, too, perfect for resting/learning/reading etc.
Room was a bit small but clean, comfortable and perfectly adequate.
Generally very friendly and helpful staff, but would recommend sorting out and clearly reserving your table for Shabbos/Yom Tov well in advance (I was very disappointed with the initial mix-up I happened to experience, though everything was sorted out basically OK in the end).
Was also surprised that the cleaning staff had mistakenly turned on certain lights in my room which had specifically been left OFF for Yom Tov/Shabbos (this was rectified in due course, but, although mistakes can always happen, it was quite a hassle and I didn't expect something like this to be encountered in this sort of hotel).
Food was always very tasty and filling (especially the delicious choice at breakfasts) though probably rather too many salads for my personal liking, and perhaps more imagination could have gone in to the deserts. Main grumble here was simply that the meals were way overpriced.
All in all, though, the small negatives very much outweighed by the positives.

Room Tip: Rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors could be a bit of a climb if you don't want to use the Shabbos l...
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  • Stayed September 2011, travelled solo
    • 2 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
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Ask dlp6666 about Prima Palace Hotel
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Yafit Cohen, Manager at Prima Palace Hotel, responded to this review
25 October 2011
Thank you for taking the time to post a detailed and helpful review.
Your comment about the housekeeping service is very helpful as we are always trying to make our service better.
We are glad you enjoyed the amenities and your stay in Jerusalem.
We hope that you will stay with us again!
Report response as inappropriate
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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Additional Information about Prima Palace Hotel

  • Prima Palace Jerusalem
Address: 2 Pines Street, Jerusalem 91280, Israel
Price range (per night):* INR7,781 - 15,562

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