maggie323

We are travelling to Israel for our 1st time at the end of April. Our daughter will be studying abroad at the Univ. of Tel Aviv. Can you suggest an itinerary for us? We have 10 days and will start in Tel Aviv. We would like to hire a guide or go with a small group. All suggestions are welcome!

KatPen

How many of you are there? Hiring a private guide is great if you don't want to drive but not cheap. And any good guide will plan an itinerary base on your interests (Jewish or Christian sites?) There are some threads below that give options of day tours, but I don't know how you find a small group. Basically the main focuses are usually a few days Jerusalem, a day in Masada, and a few days in the north. Your daughter will surely be able to show you the main sites in Tel Aviv, and you can add a day trip to Caesarea or do it on the way north. Akko is also worth a visit (sometimes spelt Acre or numerous other variations). Enjoy.

StanKase

A private licensed guide/driver will cost between $375-$500/day. for a 9 hour day which includes lunch time. If well planned you can travel from Tel Aviv to Massada & the Dead Sea and at least 1 more major destination in the 9 hours if you have lunch sort of on the run (20-30 min.). It seems the practice to pay for the guides lunches and they often take you to good plces they frequent regularly but I do not think commissions are involved, maybe a few free dinners for them and their families at times but not "kick-backs". The guides that charge a rate for a certain number of killometers(km) and then a small amount for each additional km probably work out equal to the guide you may charge a little more with no "nickel-diming", in other words unlimited km. The country is just not that big. The firm we used charged about $440/day and we toured for 8 days. I truly believe we could have visited all the same places in 7 days but the only major destination we did not visit was Eilat.