anitas

My husband and I have just started planning our trip to Israel. We are independent travellers. I don't think I want to drive in Israel or what to you all think? I was looking into private tour guides rather than a group tour. Can anyone recommend some reputable tour guides? Do you have the same guide through out the visit? Or different ones for each city? Thanks

laurie_ann

Not sure why you are hesitating to drive in Israel. Roads are very good. Traveling facilities such as gas stations etc. very good. It's not a very big country so you don't have to do hours of driving to see the various sites. For us a rental car was great to see the variety of the country and be able to go at our own pace. We spent a few days in Jerusalem (without a car) then picked up a rental and did Nazareth, Galilee area, Caesaria and then to Tel Aviv where we left the car. For ideas a good website is www.gemsinisrael.com. And I think it was through them that we got a good rate on our rental car.

anitas

Thank you for replying laurie-ann. Did you hire guides when you arrived in the various cities? If so, were they easy to find? Was parking hard to find? Thanks for the website. I will check it out.

aby

hi anitas

i can recommend Adi Eshed
http://www.aditour.co.il/en/

both a nice & knoledgeable guy

aby

aby

oops meant <b>knowledgeable
</b>

galtravels

We had a wonderful tour guide in the summer. She helped us plan the trip and guided us throughout Israel. I can heartily recommend her. Her name is Gila Rosenfield: [email protected]

StanKase

Private guide/drivers are expensive-$350-$500/day. They are licensed and many are very good from what I hear.
We used Gold Carpet Tours and though they are not perfect they did a good job setting us up with a good guide and hotels at rates better than I could get directly though internet firms had tempting rates. But they are not inexpensive.
It really is so much more interesting with an educated guide plus they have access to places that saved us walks to get to entrances of 1/2 a mile in a few cases.I think the same guide gives you a leg up in terms of continuity unless you get a bad guide. But if you did I am certain the tour firm would change guides within a day.
If you do like adventure and do not mind getting lost a bit then consider driving for just about everyone speaks good English.

palmah

Hi my name is Iftah and I'm an Israel ministry of tourism tour guide. I'd be happy to answer all your questions, via Email. Happy Traveling!

aknards

hi anitas,

I always recommend the Alexander Muss Institute for Israel Education: http://www.amiie.org/.

It is a fantastic organization and the staff/guides are brilliant. I used them to plan and guide a private family trip in 2006. (We had the same guide and driver with us for the duration of our 10-day stay.) It was expensive and worth every penny.

I'm quite sure that they can be of assistance to you. David Mitchell, Dean of Education, knew exactly what we wanted and made it happen, beyond our wildest dreams.

best of luck!
anita

GDKSS

We were in Israel in October and had a fantastic private tour guide. He was hired by our travel agent, who specializes in trips to Israel, and we could not have asked for a better experience. His name is Shalom Langer and his email is [email protected]. He has a wealth of experience and is extremely knowledgeable and friendly. We cannot say enough good things about him and we treasure our memories. We highly recommend Shalom.

all4people

You can't do better than Madeleine Lavine. ([email protected])She can take you through Jerusalem and many surrounding areas. Our threesome spent a delightful, packed, but not pressured, day with her in Jerusalem. We are kicking ourselves that we chose a tour company for Masada and the Dead Sea. (Very disappointing.) Madeleine not only taught us history, she opened doors to people and places we could not have experienced otherwise.