Help plan 2 weeks in Israel
 

Doing a family trip July 2006 with husband wife, 22 and 25 year old adult children. 3 have been to Israel before husband has not. We want to do it ourselves and not do a tour so we have some flexibility. Is this a bad idea? We still want to do all of the sights. Will omit Eilat since there is so much to see. How should we split up our time? Need clean, decent well located hotels. We will need 2 rooms so places like the King David are out of the budget since it is high season. Help with the itinerary first and then I see there are hotels suggested on the website. We will hire guides once we are there. Will this be more expensive than a tour? Should we tour for a week and then do our own thing for a week? Help!!!Thanks

Me

Greetings: hope you don't mind me joining in on your inquiry. I am also planning a first time trip to Israel in July- we'll be meeting up with our teenage daughter who will be with a youth group tour (her 2nd time to Israel). I have already posted a few months ago and had received good advice-Labatt gives excellent advice here and on Frommers website. We also plan to rent a car and do our own touring (coupled with local tours) and end in Jerusalem. And I have the same hotel issues. Here is my itineray and some hotel suggestions based on advice from previous postings:
Tel Aviv- Four nights (meeting our daughter)- hotels of interest are Yamit Park Plaza, Melody hotel, Dan Panarama, Metropolitan Hotel.I am going to check with regent tours for hotels as was recommended on this site and on frommers.
Will rent car and drive to Haifa- stopping in Casarea first.
Haifa- spend two or three nights at Dan Gardens.(with tours in and out of Haifa)
Drive to Akko- then on to Safed.
Spend three nights in Safed- want to stay at Ruth Rinamin Inn.
Then one night on the Kinneret- Maybe Nof Ginosar. Heard good things about that.
Then on to Jerusalem for a week. Get rid of the car- do day tours, tour Masada and Dead Sea. Spend last Shabbat in Jerusalem and then head home. Hotels of interest- Dan Panorama
I would like a hotel in Jerusalem with a pool.

Here are three websites that I have found helpful:
www.regent.co.il
www.israelpoint.com
www.inisrael.com

Good luck. Maybe we'll cross paths.

thanks

Me

risab - we like the Yamit in TLV. In Jerusalem you might check out the YMCA - across the street from the King David, so well located, clean and quite affordable.

L'shanah tovah.

Lots of people tour Israel on their own. I'm sure you will have a great time. I find the advantage of having a guide is that he/she knows so much more about the sites than I do and I get an excellent education right then and there. It is what works well for me. And, I have been blessed to have the best of guides, truly. I think you will like Nof Ginosar....just bear in mind that it is not "luxury" by any means. I have stayed there twice and will stay there twice again this next year and find it is just fine. Stay away from the Park Plaza in Jerusalem....my only truly horrid hotel experience in Israel was there. It was "barely passable" and when I say that I am being very charitable. *smile* Will stay in Jerusalem Tower Hotel next year....better location and good price. I go for the best price and don't need luxuries...just clean room and good food.
As for hiring guides once you get there....I would suggest that you do this in advance in order to get somebody really good. Just my thoughts. I'm going in both March and September next year and can hardly wait.

Kathy

Paragon, Indiana, USA

I love this ssite. I am so excited to do this trip. Our kids can't wait to show their dad. We can't wait to spend some time together. Where is the best place to spend a day or two on the beach? We are not going to Eilat because we want to see the sites. I know Tel Aviv will be one place. Where else?

Thanks

Me

Hi -
It is a good idea to avoid Eilat in the summer because of the heat. You will probably find the Galilee/Golan more comfortable. Every kibbutz/moshav has a lot of B&Breakfasts - look at www.zimmeril.com. I suggest touring by yourself - look for a good guidebook !

Teach905,

If you want to use Safed (Tzfat) just to sleep and a good access for day tours in the Galillee, that's OK.

Otherwise, Tzfat is a very conservative and "sleepy" town. Not a tourist attraction. Very Orthodox also.

Agree about Safed. Fine if you like that kind of thing, otherwise there's lots of nice accommodation around Rosh Pina.

thanks for all of your help

Debby

I would recommend to go to:
TEL AVIV & JAFFA (3 DAYS)
JERUSALEM AND SURROUNDINGS(2 DAYS)
HAIFA (2 DAYS)
NORTH - GOLAN AND THE GALIL -3 DAYS
HAIFA, KEISARYA, AKO - 2 DAYS
DEAD SEA-2 DAYS

Don't think you;ll need a guide, everybody here speaks english, there are signs in English all over. all you need is a good book.

in the north I would recommend not taking hotel, and taking a "zimmer" instead. these are lovely country side little houses, very indulging. it will cost 300-800 shekels for a night, depending on number of rooms, and day of week.

The YMCA has rooms for less than 100/night and it looks wonderful from their website. I have reservations at the Scottish Presbyterian church guest house for $65/night and am looking forward to it.

If you mean St Andrew Church of Scotland in Jerusalem, ask for room 11.

Have you stayed there?

I haven't. But my sister loves it and gave me the information. But, as far as I know they do not have A/C in the rooms and Israel from June (sometimes even May) till October is really hot!

The YMCA is very tolerable - the rooms aren't the most modern but they're completely adequate, and the location is tops - across the street from the King David and a short walk to the old city etc. The restaurant (non-Kosher IIRC) is also very good.

I'm going in a few weeks, so I won't miss the a/c. I know we're getting off of our original teacher's post, but has anyone been to Bethlehem lately, and how is the best way to tour it from Jerusalem? Will I find tours from the local tourist office?
I couldn't plan my trips without this forum!

If you check Elaine's report she went to Bbethlem. Her Israeli guide dropped her off and she was picked up at the border by a Palestinian guide and her Israeli guide met her at the border when they were done. I was told it can be arranged but you will almost have to wait to see if it is safe to do when you get there. Your hotel will tell you and so will your guide. We have that on our list to do if we can in the summer when we go. Plesee let me know if you do it, how it worked and who was your guide that arranged it. Thanks
Debby

Just came back from Honeymoon in Israel
went for 10 days
My advice is take
2-3 days for Tel-Aviv and Yaffa, i stayed in City Hotel the rooms are small but they offer good breakfast
2-3 days for Jerusalem
2 days for dead sea, don't forget to visit Masada
1 day for Kessaria, Ako, Haifa
You can buy alot of excursion with egged buses for pretty good price
you can find some info on www.telavivguide.net, they have a few links there as well
Oh yes about cars, parking is major headache all over

We did a mix of daily excursions and our own thing i think it was best
It seems that local buses are safe and cheap

Debby - re bethlehem: You can just hop in a shared taxi right near Damascus Gate for a little over 1$ that will take you to the checkpoint (and they make regular stops at the check point to take people back to jerusalem). from the checkpoint, you can just hop in a cab to Manger Square. (i was there last summer - place was deserted so there were lots of cabs waiting at checkpoint and i could easily negotiate the price down b/c I was the only customer) I did this by myself last summer and it was much cheaper than arranging someone to drive me there/pick me up. It doesn't sound like you are traveling alone so you shouldn't have any problems - I was taken further into the west bank than I wanted by my taxi driver and it took me awhile to get back to the checkpoint, but had I not been a female alone, that would not have happened. (when i finally convinced him I would never ever marry him, he gave up and brought me back!) for the money it's a very easy and cheap way to get to Bethlehem.

You can easily drive around Israel on your own. You definitely need a walking tour in the old city of Jerusalem and there are other places where it's a nice-to-have (e.g. Masada) - you can book day trips/guides for those.

I would recommend Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Dead Sea/Masada, Haifa, Sea of Galilee/Jordan River, Eilat, Caesaria, and more - in two weeks you have plenty of time to see it all! Here are some companies you can book through or just copy their itineraries:
http://www.yallatours.com/israel/israel.shtml
http://www.isram.com/isram/index.htm
http://www.gate1travel.com/israel-travel/Default.htm

In Eilat I really like the Isrotel Royal Beach: http://www.isrotel.co.il/English/Con...Page.asp?HID=1 It is centrally located

In Tel Aviv, stay on the beach - the Hilton is very nice and the Sheraton Tel Aviv (there are like 3 Sheratons, Sheraton Tel Aviv is the nicest) is nice and very well located. There are less expensive well located hotels as well, such as Carlton.

Depending on what you like to do - you can organize different numbers of nights in each place:
Tel Aviv - you will land here - nice beaches, hip shopping, markets, some museums, a good place to experience modern Israel, old city of Jaffa
driving up north from Tel Aviv you will pass through Caesaria with many ruins along the beach - in the area there are also other great ruins sites like Meggido (where the word Armegedon comes from),and Bet Shaerim with ancient burial sites, Zihron Yaacov is a nontouristy city on a hill with wines and shops and is cute
Haifa - another modern Israeli city with a beautiful Bahai Temple
North of Haifa are some older cities like Akko, Rosh Hanikra at the border with Lebanon has some pretty natural rock and water formations, but these are not essential
Sea of Galilee - this area not only has relaxing resorts on the sea, but also many Christian history places - Jordan River where Jesus was baptized and many famous old churches, etc, from here on the way to Jerusalem there are more ruins at Bet Sheian - I haven't been there but all tours go there
North - in the north is a great place to rent a cottage and relax and do some walks, not essential to understanding Israel, but its a nice place to relax and see wineries
Jerusalem - you need at least one full day for the old city and one full day for the new city - best to find a walking tour in the old city and then you can go around the new city yourself to the Israel museum (dead sea scrolls) and holocaust museum (it's very new, i havent seen this one yet) and great view points from Mount Scopus, the hadassah famous glass windows, and the model of ancient Jerusalem, try not to be here on Friday/Saturday as everything is closed. There is a new underground dig in Jerusalem that you need tickets for well in advance and is supposed to be wonderful.
Dead Sea – this area is a must do – can be done as a long day trip from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or you can stay at the spa hotels – do a “day spa” to float in the sea and put the mud on you, go to the top of Massada (another good place to have a guided tour), visit Ein Gedi nature reserve
Eilat The drive to Eilat is about 5-6 hours (without stops) from Tel Aviv through the desert – definitely stop at Timna Park for beautiful desert formations on the way and there are also craters and a great dairy kibbutz (Yotvata) for food stop. Eilat is a great place to relax at a resort, snorkel, etc there are many great restaurants, underwater observatory, beaches, etc, you can drive up the other side of the desert to the Dead Sea in only 2-3 hours

A good two week itinerary could be something like this: http://www.yallatours.com/israel/11_iultimate/
Although you could skip Day 4 and do Christian sites or something else, you could also skip parts of Day 12 in Jerusalem (mini israel & caves) and spend more time in the old city or somewhere else. Check out the Christian tour itinerary if you want to add a day of Christian history: http://www.yallatours.com/israel/13_ijourneyfaith/

Has Anyone been to the Best Western Kfar Macabiah hotel in Ramat Gan?
thanks
jaci

Risab: we stayed last summer at the Dan Panorama in Jerusalem after several blissful days at the David Citadel. What a letdown to go to the Dan! 70's wood paneling in the rooms, stained carpeting, flourescent lighting in the bathroom, you get the picture. However, the breakfast buffet rivaled the Citadels! The rooftop pool area with green outdoor carpeting was crummy but clean.

We also stayed at Nof Ginossar and because it is a kibbutz hotel our expectations were low. While the rooms weren't that nice, we laughed that they equalled the Dan Panorama but seemed nicer because they were twice as big. Their outdoor pool is lovely, the beach down to the lake looked great (we didn't have time!), their buffet meals were generous and provided something for all. The museum there with the 2000 year old boat is not to be missed!! The charming elderly docent there became in our travel memories the "2000 year old man" of Mel Brooks' fame. Well it seemed funny at the time.

Have a wonderful time!!

Well...we have finalized our itinery and booked our hotels through regent travel in Israel. We've decided to go with the Dan Panorama in Jerusalem, Metropolitan Hotel in Tel Aviv, Ruth Rinamin in Tzfat, and Scotts Hotel in Tiberias...
We'll start with a week in Jerusalem without a car and then rent a car after our stay in Tel Aviv to venture north and to the Galilee. We'll end our last day and night in Tel Aviv before flying home- it seemed like a lively place to end our stay. We are very excited...!

Bookmarking.

I stayed at the Scots Hotel last June. Their breakfast Buffet was the best breakfast meal I have ever seen anywhere in the world(not kosher), it is magnificent and you can buy the Jams and breads from them. The hotel is also very nice besides that

Another thumbs-up for the Scots Hotel in Tiberias, and ditto the breakfast buffet.

Am told the Sheraton in Tiberias is being renovated (which was badly needed) so it could be a good alternative if one needs a Kosher operation.