A Little House in Bakah
"Classically designed, city fringe, boutique hotel."
REVIEW A friendly boutique hotel, with spacious rooms, an excellent cafe, high ceilings and a retro spin back to the 1920s, this is certainly one of the top picks in this price range. The main drawbacks are the slightly ambitious prices and the city fringe location.
Right on the road to Bethlehem, A Little House in Bakah, with its unique stone facade, is easy to spot. All rooms have carpeted floors, soft pillows, TV, desk and twin or queen beds. A highlight of the place is the Little Café in Bakah, located in the basement, which serves lasagne, quiche and seven types of sandwiches; try the 'Bulgarian', which comes with sun-dried tomatoes, basil and Bulgarian cheese. You can sit and relax here for hours, surfing the Internet, playing backgammon or kicking back with a book.
Reviewed by Michael Kohn
I just got back from Israel, spending my first 4 nights at the Little House in Bakah and really loved my stay there.
Ok, so if you're looking for a 4-star hotel this is definitely not it. That said, let me tell you what I loved about the place.
The room was spacious and clean. The bathroom was updated and spotless. The bed was very comfortable. The room had a powerful AC unit which is important in Israel. There was even a nice flat panel TV in the room.
While they didn't have free internet, there were several cafes in walking distance that did. Speaking of which, Little House is in a residential area so there were some terrific cafes, restaurants and a wonderful bakery all within walking distance.
While you can find some of this stuff at other hotels in Jerusalem, what I really liked about the Little House is that it felt like home. This was my first trip to Israel and the Little House was my first destination.
The staff there went out of their way to provide me with helpful options for dining, shopping, finding my way around, etc. They were friendly, chatty and more than just courteous. They were genuinely concerned with my needs and did their best to see to them.
The best example of this was their help in finding me a hotel in Tel Aviv. I decided to leave Jerusalem a day early and needed a last-minute one-night hotel room in Tel Aviv. The woman at the desk spent 45 minutes on the phone and internet to find me a room. They had nothing to gain by doing this and, in fact, by her helping me, they were losing a paying customer one day early.
If you want something cozy, homey, and want to feel like you're living IN Jerusalem and not just stationed at some generic hotel, then I strongly urge you to stay at A Little House in Bakah.
Shalom!
Dan Gordon
