City walk Acre (Akko) — Old City, Israel

Old City of Acre: Crusaders, Khans and the Sea Walls

One easy day inside a walled port city where a Crusader fortress hides underground beneath an Ottoman capital, ringed by sea walls that stopped Napoleon.

Old City of Acre: Crusaders, Khans and the Sea Walls — Photo: israeltourism from Israel · CC BY 2.0

Duration: 1 days
Distance: 2 km
Difficulty: Easy
Best season: March–May and October–November

Few places pack as much history into so small a footprint as the Old City of Acre. The Ottoman town you walk through was built directly on top of the Crusader city of the Knights — so above ground you move through the mosques, khans and bazaars of Jazzar Pasha’s 18th-century capital, while a flight of steps takes you down into vaulted Crusader halls that lay buried for centuries. The whole walled old town has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001.

This loop threads the essentials together so you rarely double back: the great mosque, the underground Hospitaller fortress, the Crusader Templar tunnel, the columned Khan al-Umdan by the port, the covered Turkish bazaar, and finally the ramparts and the working fishing harbour.

Getting there. Acre is on the coastal railway; trains from Haifa and Nahariya reach Akko station in a few minutes, and it is about a 20-minute walk (or short bus/taxi) from the station to the Old City gate.

Permits & tickets. A combined ticket to the Old Acre visitor sites covers the Hospitaller Fortress (Knights’ Halls), the Templar Tunnel and other monuments; the mosque, the khans, the bazaar and the ramparts are free to walk. Buy the combined ticket at the Enchanted Garden visitor centre by the Hospitaller Fortress.

Good to know:

Al-Jazzar Mosque is an active mosque — dress modestly (covered shoulders and knees) and avoid prayer times.
The Old City is a living Arab town; the seafront fish restaurants by the harbour are the classic place to end the day.

Day 1

Above and below the walled city

Al-Jazzar Mosque → Fishing harbour 2 km

Navigate this day

A single easy loop through the Old City, from Al-Jazzar Mosque down into the Crusader halls and out along the ramparts to the fishing harbour.

Segments

Al-Jazzar Mosque 0.3 km 📍 Map

Old City land gate → Al-Jazzar Mosque courtyard

City streets

Start at the largest mosque in Israel outside Jerusalem, built in 1781 by Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar, the Ottoman governor who rebuilt Acre. Its green dome, slender minaret and arcaded courtyard set the tone for the whole town. A shrine inside is said to hold a hair from the Prophet Muhammad's beard, and al-Jazzar and his successor Sulayman Pasha are buried in the adjoining graveyard. Allow about 30 minutes.

About this place

The el-Jazzar Mosque, also known as the White Mosque of Acre, is located on el-Jazzar Street inside the walls of the old city of Acre, Israel, overlooking the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and is named after the Ottoman Bosnian governor Ahmad Pasha el-Jazzar.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Amos · CC BY 2.0
The Hospitaller Fortress (Knights' Halls) 0.2 km 📍 Map

Al-Jazzar Mosque → Hospitaller Fortress underground halls

Stairs and vaulted halls

Descend some eight metres below today's street level into the citadel of the Knights Hospitaller, the great crusading order that made Acre its base. Walk the vast pillared refectory, the halls with barrel vaults up to ten metres high, and a courtyard once ringed by arcades — a whole medieval fortress that the Ottoman town was later built on top of. About 60 minutes.
The Templar Tunnel 0.4 km 📍 Map

Hospitaller Fortress → Templar Tunnel exit near the port

Underground tunnel with boardwalk

Follow a 350-metre tunnel cut and vaulted by the Knights Templar, running from their fortress in the west of the city down to the port. Rediscovered by chance in 1994 beneath the modern streets, it was a strategic underground passage half-hewn from the bedrock. About 20 minutes to walk its length.
Khan al-Umdan 0.2 km 📍 Map

Templar Tunnel exit → Khan al-Umdan courtyard

City streets

Step into the grandest of Acre's caravanserais, the 'Inn of the Columns', built beside the harbour at the end of the 18th century by al-Jazzar. Merchants stored goods around the pillared courtyard on the ground floor and lodged in the rooms above. The clock tower over the gate was added in 1906 to mark the 25th year of Sultan Abdul Hamid II's reign. About 20 minutes.

About this place

Khan al-Umdan is the largest and best preserved caravanserai in Acre, Israel. Located in the Old City of Acre, it is one of the prominent projects constructed during the rule of Ahmed Jezzar Pasha in Galilee, under the Ottoman era.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Berthold Werner · Public domain
The Turkish bazaar 0.3 km 📍 Map

Khan al-Umdan → Turkish bazaar (souk)

Covered market lanes

Wind through the covered Ottoman-era market, still the beating heart of the Old City. Spice stalls, sweet shops, fresh fish and hummus counters crowd the narrow lanes — a good place to graze on knafeh or a plate of local seafood before reaching the walls. About 30 minutes, more if you eat.
Sea walls & the fishing harbour 0.4 km 📍 Map

Turkish bazaar → Fishing harbour

Rampart walkway and quayside

Finish on the massive sea walls that al-Jazzar reinforced between 1775 and 1799 — ten to thirteen metres high and thick enough to turn back Napoleon's siege of 1799. Walk the ramparts out to the old fishing harbour, a working port for well over two thousand years, and watch the boats come in against the Mediterranean. A perfect place to end the day.