We would like to take an escorted tour to Israel & Jordan sometime in 2011. We would like an upscale trip---small group, good hotels. American Express has a tour through Globus Tours. We are unfamiliar with this company. Does anyone have experience with Globus or have you taken an excorted tour that you can recommend? We are looking at about 15 days as the time frame.

You may want to look at www.affordabletours.com where you can do a search of various tour companies, their itineraries, pricing, etc.

How small do you want your tour group? Sometimes arranging a private tour can cost the same or less as packaged tour.

We used Tauck for Russia and loved them. Check their tours for Israel and Jordan.

I've never traveled with Globus, but from what I've read I wouldn't consider it upscale. Geographic Expeditions, Tauck, Abercrombie and Kent, Cox and Kings, Smithsonian, R. Crusoe all come to mind. For the ME I'd also look at Bestway Tours, although they'll be a bit cheaper. But for that kind of money I'd definitely consider a tailor-made independent trip. Lots of recs on this site for local outfits that can arrange a trip, or most of the outfits I listed will do a FIT (independent travel).

We are touring Israel and Jordan with Tauck this May. They are considered upscale--Globus is not.
Go to Tauck's site and check the itinerary. That is why we chose them. They include all the places we want to see. We have traveled with Tauck in the past and their tours are wonderful.

Many thanks for all of the good leads. We will definitely look into Tauck as well as a private, independent tour.

Hi Spearfish,
My DH and I have just returned from a Tauck tour of Israel and Jordan and it was wonderful.
We stayed at very nice hotels, had great guides, ate at fun, different restaurants. The service that Tauck provided was the best and Mark the Tour Director was alot of fun.
We loved this tour. It was our first Tauck tour and as with so many others, we will do more with this company.

marsig,
Since you just took the Tauck tour do you have any special tips for us? Special things to bring that we may not think of, things to see when on our own (we have two full days on our own in Tel Aviv before the tour starts),any great restaurants you discovered, etc.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.