Car camping in Israel?
 

My husband and I are going to Israel in Dec. and I've been reading this board, travel books, and history books to try to determine an itinerary. Most of all, I'm in a greater quandary than when I started. We were thinking of renting a car, but, after reading this board, I wonder if we'd be more comfortable and enjoy travel more if we went by sherut (sp?), group bus, or train. I had originally planned to stay in Jerusalem and do day trips, but the distances and messages on this board suggest difficulty in highway travel. The only trip I definately want to make is to Petra. I know we'll have to stay in Eilat and arrange the tour from there. I'd like to ride a horse into or around Petra. After looking at the prices of hotels, we wondered if it would be safe to spend more money on the car and car camp. (We did that for five weeks in Eastern Euope during the break up. Of course, we were a lot younger then.) We'll be in Israel for ten days and then have to go back to work. We aren't especially religious so are more interested in historical sites than relegious sites although I know the region is closely tied to religion. You're advice on this board is so knowledgeable I hope those of you who have experienced Israel can help us. Thank you.

Camping is not developed enough in Israel. There are few spots in the northern touristic area, not cheap (20 USD+), but generally most of the country is not covered. There are no camping near big cities, except for camping in the Sea of the Galilee, which is near Tiberias.

Regarding car, standard of driving in Israel is a bit crazy, it's roughly as bad as New Zealand, but better than France and Italy, but much worst than the US. If you drive carefully and expect every car to change lanes without signalling or stop suddenly in the city, then you should be doing fine.

Eilat is pretty far, about 5-6 hours of driving from the center of Israel, better take a flight.

Not sure which parts of the country you want to visit, but Jerusalem makes a good center of visiting the immediate surroundings, but not northwards, since you can't go north/south from there, without back-tracking west first (due to the west bank enveloping jerusalem).

Tel Aviv makes a much better jumping-point (although there is some traffic going in-out, like every other big city), plus you have zillion of places to go out to until the small hours of the night.

Ayalon Freeway #20 connects from Tel-Aviv quickly to coastal freeway #2 and (via freeway 5) to highway 4 and/or the Israel cross-divider freeway #6 (this is a toll road, check out ahead what are the rental agency charges for this, since they might double up the prices. Standard prices are about 5USD for 5+ sections). Through the above routes (2,4,6) you can access most of northern Israel about to about the Haifa line.

Train goes through mainly the big coastal cities (Ashkelon, Ashdod, Tel-Aviv , Netanya, Haifa and northwards) , Jerusalem (Separate line) and Beer-Sheva.

Bus covers most fairly sized towns and cities, and some smaller ones on the way.

Service Taxies ("Moniot Sherut") are mini-buses which overlaps bus lines, and cost the same. Usually they are more frequent, but many are unlicensed, and they tend to be overcrowded, and the drivers' standard of driving is pretty poor (I keep dodging these maniacs on a daily basis when I drive to work) although accidents are infrequent.

Can't tell you which way to go, this depends on how confident you are in your driving skills.
If you go by public transportation, Train is the most comfortable (but covers only parts of the country, so you might have no combine with another form of transportation, but check first if there is a bus covering the entire distance), followed by group tour bus, buses and service taxis ("Moniot Sherut").



Hope this helps a bit.

Elad.

Elad, Thank you so very much. My husband and I like the freedom of a car; normally I drive and he navigates. In addition to Petra, I've added the Negev and Masada to our itinerary. Jerusalem and the old city are also a must. I'm going to keep working on this. It sounds as though I may want to book hotels in Tel Aviv, Eilat and Jerusalem. Thank you again.

In addition to the 3 cities you mentioned for booking hotels in, if you intend to visit Masada you might want to look for a hotel / accomodoation nearby - either in the dead sea (where you can combine visiting Masada with bathing in the dead sea and a SPA treatment) or in Ein Gedi (Ein Gedi is located 18KM north of Masada), where you can visit the nearby nature reserve as well.

The dead sea has an array of more luxurious hotels, while Ein Gedi has smaller, "Zimmer" (e.g. self contained unit) style, more rustic kind of accomodations.

More Masada info:
http://www.parks.org.il/BuildaGate5/...1118904599.pdf

For visiting the Negev desert, your best shot is probably looking for a accomodation (mostly Zimmers) / hotel in Mitzpe Ramon.
There is also an option for camping there (not sure about December), but December is winter in Israel, and temperatures in the Negev desert drop to freezing in the night, so you will need a good 3-seasons sleeping bag rated to 20F for comfort to sleeping in tents there on December.

Elad.

Thank you, eladn. We're currently also searching through the Fodors guide book. Your help in invaluable.