JoyceL

Do you know of any hotels located near Ben Gurion airport?

My return flight to the USA will be leaving at 5:30AM, so I want to spend the previous night in a hotel near the airport.

eri

There is no hotel near BG airport. There used to be one - Hotel Avia and it was a dump. It might be still operating but don't even think of using it. Tel Aviv is 30 min drive from the airport. At night it will be even quicker, stay in a TA hotel!

AlexA

Just remember that you need to be at the airport at 2:30am (leave hotel at 2 am)for that 5:30 flight, so you probably won't be getting much sleep
I saw that some hotels had very late checkout deals for the flights that leave at midnight. I doubt that it would work for the 5:30 am flights, but you can certainly ask.

eri

Alex,
You are exaggerating. I always arrive at the airport 2 hours before departure and still have plenty of time to wait in thee terminal or go through the shops. 3AM is my suggestion for leaving Tel Aviv.

AlexA

eri, you are right that 2 hours should be enough time, but some of the airlines, including El Al have a policy that you must be at the airport 3 hours in advance of the flight. If you are not there in time, they do not guarantee that you will be allowed on the flight. I have seen people who are there about 2 hours in advance but then have to have their luggage searched,or there is a problem with ticketing or seating, and suddenly the time is gone... I agree that there will probably be a lot of time to spare at the airport, but I do not want to take the chance of being stuck. I'd rather spend the extra hour at the airport,leisurely, and watch everyone else be in a rush!

JoyceL

Thanks for the information.

It is amazing to me that a country's main airport would not have a single hotel, especially when there are so many people needing to get early flights. But maybe, this being Israel, there are security reasons for this situation.

Mamamia

You are right, JoyceL, it seems weird, but I don't think it's a security issue. I can only GUESS that such a hotel would not make too much sense from a business point of view, 'cause unlike most other airports, TLV is not the typical one where travelers TRANSFER thru to other flights...

eri

Joyce,
There is a simple explanation. Hotel Avia was built about 35 years ago as a nice hotel fit for international tourists like you. But as mentioned by Mamamia tranfer travellers are almost non existing and those who travelled in early hours preferred staying their last night in Israel in Tel Aviv. So the hotel was doomed from start and deteriorated fast. Staying in Avia also was not such a big time saver. So stay in Tel Aviv and enjoy your last night.
And Alex... I know that ElAl specifies 3 hours prior to arrival. I travel a lot! NEVER arrived earlier than 2 hours before flight and always have too much time to wait!