blackmons

I will be spending a week in Jerusalem, traveling solo. I don’t want to rent a car. How difficult will it be for me to see such sights as, Eilat, Ein Gedi, the Dead Sea, Ein Karem, the Banias? Is it easy to take public transportation? I don’t like taking big tour buses and having to be on someone else’s schedule, but is that the only way to visit some of these places? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

AlexA

Israel is not a big country, but you're interested in some of the places at the southern end (Eilat) and the northern end (Banias)

You can take a public bus to Eilat, but it takes 5 hours each way
http://www.egged.co.il/eng/main.asp?lngCategoryID=2771

Flying would take a little less door to door since you;d have to get to the airport from Jerusalem, pass security, check in etc. It would be much more expensive.

Masada and Ein Gedi are possible by bus but getting from place to place may be a bit of a pain. You might enjoy a day trip that would also include a tour guide at the sites.

Ein Karen is right outside Jerusalem proper and would be easy


What are you must sees on this trip? How long would you wnat to stay in each place . You can't see all of them on day trips from Jerusalem. How much time do you plan to tour in Jerusalem>

The Banias area is beautiful but that part of the country is not good to get around by public transportation

When is the trip? Weather and national holidays may imact your plans

aby

Hi blackmons

it's very easy! Public transportation like EGGED buses. there should be some other bus companies as well. there's also Sherut taxis (regular routes between cities which is a bit more expensive than a bus)
there's also Sherut from the AP to Tel-aviv or Jerusalem

Egged timetable: http://mslworld.egged.co.il/eggedtim...age=en&state=2

to Eilat you can also take a short flight, or a night bus

aby

PS one week can be easily spent at Jerusalem alone, or Jerusalem + Dead Sea (Ein Gedi).
doing all those places will be rushing, especially Banias which is up north

Elkaz

aby--there is NO sherut from the airport to Tel Aviv . The only way to go to Tel Aviv is by train ( not practical since odds are you need a taxi from the train station) or taxi!

Taja

My friend and I are going to be in TLV from 05.04.to 10.04. Last time I visited Jerusalem only, but now I want to visit Dead Sea and other great places. We will be stationed in the TLV, so because that we are also interested in one day trips. For now, I took a look on the public buses, because I think that the taxi is too expensive. Take a rent car is looking to be a good idea, but I am not sure can I drive in TLV because, there are complete traffic chaos in this city. Any suggestion for one day trips from TLV?

mbgg

"Complete traffic chaos" ? Aren't you exaggerating somewhat ? Won't the buses and taxis also be caught in the same "complete traffic chaos" ?

The traffic will be heavy because you will be in Israel during the Passover holiday and all tourist sites will be crowded with tourists and Israelis on vacation. If you have not already booked your accommodation then do so immediately as everything will be fully booked shortly.

Buses and trains will not run from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.

Tel-Aviv to Massada takes about 2.5 hours by car and longer by bus. There are also organised one-day tours. Other locations for one day trips (without a car)are Haifa, Akko (by train), Caesarea. There is also enough in Tel-Aviv to see for the whole week.

Taja

I have so far been two times in Israel, last time before two years ago, because of work. Every day I used taxi to company and back, so maybe you're right, because the crowd at that time was normal. Basically I had no time to be tourist, since I worked full day, but this time I am going to stay five days longer on vacation. I know that public transportation is not run from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday and that is also a problem and because that thinking about rent a car. On the other hand, my mate don’t have drive license (only me) and my spoken language is only English so I don’t know is that a good idea? BTW. I am a good driver.
Hotel is already paid.
@ mbgg,
I will take a look on Google about location that you suggested.
Thanks for the advice

Elkaz

There is no problem driving --even if you only speak English. Any road sign information that you would need is translated to English. Anything not in English is either translated on the next sign OR not relevant to the tourist.

DanielH

Disregard what many of them are saying about taxi and such... If you're not afraid to take the bus, a bus will be more than sufficient. As far as Taxis/Sherut, I say don't go for it. I have spent a few times paying 2x the price of a price from a roundtrip ticket from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem just for the mistake of being late to catch my bus.

Also, it's worth noting that if you are considering taking the bus a bit more often, I recommend an Anonimi Rav Kav, it will allow travel much easier and is somewhat like the Tube's Card in London...

Taja

Hi all,

I returned from Israel and it was great as always. At the end,I decided to rent a car. Prices of renting are less than in the capitals of Europe. If you have a business in Israel,ask your company to make a reservation for you, it is cheaper. I paid only 30$ per day. It was not hard to drive there, because I had a GPS and all signs information are on English too. They are very good drivers and they keep the distance between a car , it seems that I was the faster driver out there. My advice is to take rent-a-car!