🇮🇱 Israel
Castles near Jerusalem
36 castles, fortresses, palaces and ruins within 100 km of the city centre — every one on the interactive map, with photos, distances and directions.
Within 25 km of Jerusalem
- Tower of David
1 km west · Fortress · #207 worldwide
The Tower of David, also known as the Citadel, is an ancient citadel and contemporary museum, located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of…
- Golden Gate
1 km north-east · Fortress · #279 worldwide
The Golden Gate or Gate of Mercy is the only eastern gate of the Temple Mount, and one of only two Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem that used to…
- Walls of Jerusalem
1 km west · Fortress · #308 worldwide
The Walls of Jerusalem surround the Old City of Jerusalem. In 1535, when Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent…
- Damascus Gate
1 km north-west · Fortress
The Damascus Gate is one of the main Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is located in the wall on the city's northwest side and connects to a…
- Antonia Fortress
1 km north · Ruin
The Antonia Fortress was a citadel built by Herod the Great and named for Herod's patron Mark Antony, as a fortress whose chief function was to…
- Jaffa Gate
1 km west · Fortress
Jaffa Gate is one of the seven main open gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. The name Jaffa Gate is currently used for both the historical Ottoman…
- Lions' Gate
1 km north-east · Fortress
Lions' Gate, also St Stephen's Gate, is one of the seven open Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. It leads into the Muslim Quarter of the Old City.
- Hisham's Palace
24 km north-east · Ruin
Hisham's Palace, also known as Khirbat al-Mafjar, is an important early Islamic archaeological site in the city of Jericho, in the West Bank in…
- Dung Gate
1 km south · Fortress
The Dung Gate, also known as Bab al-Maghariba, Mughrabi Gate, Moroccan Gate or Silwan Gate, is one of the Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem.
- Mukataa Ramallah
15 km north · Palace & château
Mukataa is an Arabic word for headquarters or administrative center, particularly in Palestine.
- Zion Gate
1 km south-west · Fortress
Zion Gate (Hebrew: שער ציון, Sha'ar Zion, باب النبي داود, Bab an-Nabi Dawud), also known in Arabic as Bab Sahyun or Bab Harat al-Yahud, is one of the…
- Herod's Gate
1 km north · Fortress
Herod's Gate is one of the seven open Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. It connects the Muslim Quarter inside of the old city to the eponymic…
+ 3 more in this range — every one is on the interactive map.
Day trips: 25–60 km
- Masada
53 km south · Ruin · #26 worldwide
Masada is a mountain-top fortress complex in the Judaean Desert, overlooking the western shore of the Dead Sea in southeastern Israel.
- Machaerus
44 km south-east · Ruin
Machaerus was a Hasmonean hilltop palace and desert fortress, rebuilt by Herod and now in ruins, in the village of Mukawir in modern-day Jordan.
- Alexandreion
41 km north-east · Ruin
Alexandreion, or Alexandrium, called Sartaba in the Mishna and Talmud and Qarn Sartaba in Arabic, was an ancient hilltop fortress constructed by the…
- Qula
39 km north-west · Ruin
Qula was a Palestinian village in the Ramle Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine, located 15 km northeast of Ramla.
- Migdal Afek
43 km north-west · Ruin
Migdal Afek, also Migdal Tsedek, is a national park on the southeastern edge of Rosh HaAyin, Israel.
- Minat al-Qal'a
58 km west · Ruin
Minat al-Qal'a is a medieval coastal fort protecting the port known as Ashdod-Yam, which was historically separate from Ashdod proper but whose…
Farther afield: 60–100 km
- Kerak Castle
80 km south-east · Castle
Kerak Castle is a large medieval castle located in al-Karak, Jordan. It is one of the largest castles in the Levant.
- Amman Citadel
69 km east · Ruin
The Amman Citadel on Citadel Hill is an archaeological site on an L-shaped hill towering over Downtown Amman, in the central part of the capital of…
- Arsuf
62 km north-west · Ruin
Apollonia, known in the Early Islamic period as Arsuf and in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem as Arsur, was an ancient city on the Mediterranean…
- Belvoir Fortress
95 km north · Ruin
Belvoir Castle, also called Coquet by the Crusaders, also Kochav HaYarden and Kawkab al-Hawa, is a Crusader castle in northern Israel, on a hill on…
- Ajlun Castle
77 km north-east · Castle
Ajloun Castle, medieval name Qalʻat ar-Rabad, is a 12th-century Muslim castle situated in northwestern Jordan.
- Qasr Mshatta
74 km east · Ruin
Mshatta, also known as Qasr al-Mushatta, is the ruin of an Umayyad winter palace, probably commissioned by Caliph Al-Walid II during his brief reign.
- Raghadan Palace
70 km east · Palace & château
Raghadan Palace, the first Hashemite structure in Jordan, was built by King Abdullah I, the founding monarch of the country.
- Qasr al-Basha
79 km west · Ruin
Qasr al-Basha, also known as Pasha's Palace Museum, Radwan Castle, and Napoleon's Fort, was a historic building in the Old City of Gaza, Palestine.
- Qasr Bshir
86 km south-east · Fortress
Qasr Bshir is an ancient Roman fortification in what is now Jordan. Isolated in an area of the desert rippled with shallow valleys that drain into…
- Betthorus (El-Lejjun)
85 km south-east · Ruin
Betthorus was a Roman legionary fortress on the Limes Arabicus. It is located in today's El-Lejjun, Karak Governorate, Jordan, north-east of Al-Karak.
- Cafarlet
100 km north · Ruin
Cafarlet or Capharleth or Kafr Lam is an Early Muslim coastal fortress of the Roman castrum type.
- Watchtower in Rujm Al-Malfouf
66 km east · Fortress
Rujm Al-Malfouf is an ancient structure consisting of a round stone tower and several adjacent storerooms, located in the northern side of the Jabal…
+ 3 more in this range — every one is on the interactive map.
Distances are straight-line from the city centre. City coordinates and population: Wikidata Q1218.
Frequently asked questions
How many castles are near Jerusalem?
The Castlemap atlas maps 36 landmarks (3 castles · 11 fortresses · 2 palaces & châteaux · 20 ruins) within 100 km of the centre of Jerusalem, measured straight-line — a curated selection of well-documented landmarks, not a count of every fortification ever built.
What is the closest castle to Jerusalem?
Dung Gate, a fortress 1 km south of the city centre.
What is the most famous castle near Jerusalem?
Masada, ranked #26 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's fame ranking — 53 km south from Jerusalem.
What is the oldest castle near Jerusalem?
The oldest dated landmark in the circle is Amman Citadel, founded 1800 BC — 69 km east. Earlier structures may have existed; this is the oldest with a documented founding year.
Nearby city guides: Yatta (39 km) · Nablus (49 km) · Tel Aviv (55 km) · Ashdod (55 km). See also medieval castles · all rankings · castles by country.