Israel - bus from Jerusalem to Rishon Lezion
 

Hello all, I am taking a tour of Israel in a couple of weeks and have 1 1/2 free days. I plan on seeing my cousins in Rishon Lezion. I will be in Jerusalem when my free time starts, and was planning on taking a bus from Jerusalem to Rishon. I know there are bus routes, but wanted some info on frequency, schedule, time and cost. Also are there any alternative ways of getting to Rishon (train?) Thanks.

Trains from Jerusalem are impractical. In the rest of the country, especially along the coast and some inland areas, they are good. If you are comng from Tel Aviv, it would be easy to get to Rishon by train, but not from Jerusalem, There are trains from some area outside of Jerusalem (Bet Shemesh?) but a bus will be easiest from center city Jerusalem to Rishon. Here's the train website http://www.rail.co.il/EN

And here's info on buses from Egged the national bus company
http://www.egged.co.il/Eng/ Rishon is spelled "Rishon le-Tsiyon" in the Egged site.
Looks like depending on the day and time, buses go about every half hour or hour, some are express city to city and some make more stops so some take about an hour, some 90 minutes. Fare is about 24 NIS each way.

one tip--When you are there see if someone can check the Hebrew websites or call the company for you for the lastest information. Sometimes the timetables are not updated on the English versions and last minute notices and changes are often not updated there

Thank you AlexA, good information. I will be rejoining my group in Tel Aviv the next day, so perhaps I'll take the train for a different experience!

From Rishon to Tel Aviv, there are usually many sherut (shared taxis) available. Costs about the same as the bus, not sure where in Tel Aviv it drops off these days. It used to be near the "Old bus station" rather than the new one.

The trains leave you off at one of several stops in Tel Aviv that might be much more or less convenient than the bus or sherut, so check that out too.