Sublets in French Hill, Jerusalem

The neighbourhood sits on a hill 838 metres up, the highest in the north of the city. To the north lie Route 1 and the Shuafat neighbourhood, to the west Route 60, and across the junction, Givat HaMivtar. To the south stretches the Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus, and to the east Tzameret HaBira. Counting Tzameret HaBira, about 7,000 people live here.

French Hill was founded in 1971, after the Six-Day War, and its official name is Givat Shapira, after the minister Moshe Haim Shapira. Almost nobody uses it. And you can forget the story about a British general named French: the land belonged to St Anne's, a French church, so the British called the place French Hill.

Unlike many Jerusalem neighbourhoods, French Hill was built tall: most homes are in six- or seven-storey apartment buildings. The city approved the plan in 1969, originally as a neighbourhood for immigrants from North America, at the initiative of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel. In a building like that, the first things to ask are which floor the apartment is on and whether there's a lift.

There's little new construction. In 2003 work began on Brosh HaGiva, two terraced 12-storey luxury towers on the neighbourhood's last vacant plot. Three years later the university opened its Student Village, and the students living there make the neighbourhood younger than its buildings suggest.

Safe rooms? The rule requiring a protected space in all new construction came only after the Gulf War, some twenty years after the neighbourhood went up. In the original buildings, a safe room (mamad) inside the apartment is not a given. Ask the host whether there is one and, if not, where the building's shelter is and how long it takes to get there.

You walk to campus, because the neighbourhood borders it to the south. On the light rail's Red Line, the closest stop is Givat HaMivtar, right at the junction, and the next one towards town is Ammunition Hill (Givat HaTahmoshet). Those are the two stops the university points people to when they head for the Student Village.

From the junction the Red Line runs down Bar-Lev Boulevard, stops at Damascus Gate and City Hall, crosses the city centre along Jaffa Road and carries on past the Central Bus Station to Hadassah Ein Kerem. Some bus lines from Mount Scopus to Givat Ram pass the Student Village and the Central Bus Station, so you can get between the campuses without changing.

Driving? The French Hill junction, officially the Sha'ar Mizrah interchange, links Pisgat Ze'ev and the communities north of the city with the centre and Route 1, and it's jammed for much of the day. Looking ahead, the light rail's Green Line is due to reach Mount Scopus via Givat Ram and connect the two campuses by rail. Planning around it? First make sure it actually runs all the way up the hill.

If you study or work on Mount Scopus, on campus or at the nearby Hadassah Mount Scopus hospital, living here saves you the daily commute. The Rothberg International School's website lists French Hill among the neighbourhoods popular with students, and many university staff live here too. The population is mixed: long-time secular residents, religious and Haredi communities that have grown since the 2000s, and Arab families. The main synagogues are on HaHagana Street, and 150 metres from the Student Village's north exit there's a shopping centre with restaurants, a bank and a large supermarket.

Now the other side. This is an edge-of-town neighbourhood: quiet, with few bars, and for a night out you head into the centre. And it isn't cheap: the socio-economic level here is medium-high, with quite a few luxury apartments.

Ask for the exact address and check on a map how long the walk is from there to the campus gate and to the light rail. Ask what heats the apartment in winter, since the neighbourhood sits high, and if you have a car, where you'll park.

And money? On Home Sublet renters pay no fees, rent and deposit go straight to the host at the key handover, and a sublet needs the landlord's consent, so ask to see it.