Hi everyone,

I'm going to be in Haifa for a short time next month, and I was looking at doing separate day trips on a Saturday to Nazareth (which I understand is a big market day) and then on Sunday to Galilee.

Friends have discouraged me from renting a car and driving in Israel, so I'm going to try to do public transit or private taxi.

How difficult will it be to get from Haifa to Nazareth and back on a Saturday? I understand nearly all public transit in Israel is closed on Saturdays. Also, how feasible is it to get around the various towns in Galilee by public transit? I was thinking of taking a bus from Haifa to Tiberias and back and then winging it.

Thank you!

We recently returned from a month in Israel where we drove ourselves outside the cities. We had a rental car in Haifa and did some day trips from there. We also stayed in Safed and did many day trips from there including to the places you mention.
Not sure why your friends have discouraged you from renting a car. Driving is quite easy -- well marked roads, drivers are ok, a little fast but way better than in many countries we have driven in.
Saturdays would be difficult to get around via public transport. In the cities as you said, it all closes down starting sunset Friday through a few hours after sunset on Saturday. Main streets are deserted. Perhaps going elsewhere there are buses. I would explore renting a car for your days there. It would be much easier than relying on whatever public transport there might be. You can park without charge on the Sabbath in Haifa.
Photo of Jerusalem main road on a Saturday so that gives you an idea of how quiet it can be. Once out of the cities there is some traffic on the highways on Saturday
, but not bad at all.

Sabbath on a main street in Jerusalem

This is incredibly helpful. Thank you!! I will look into renting a car. It really seems the easiest option.

have a great time. I loved Haifa.

As yestravel and others have said, driving is fine and preferable for what you want to do Make sure you have a good nav system Waze works well in Israel since it was developed there. The Galilee is fairly large and btw Nazareth is in the Galilee. Any other specific places in the north that you are interested in?

Inter-city buses don't run on Shabbat, BUT shared taxis (minivans holding ~10-12 people) absolutely run the major inter-city routes on Shabbat. The shared taxis don't have a particular schedule; they leave when they fill up, so if it's a popular route in the middle of the day, they're filling up and leaving frequently. If you post this question on TripAdvisor, someone will know how popular that route is etc. I don't think anyone on here will have the level of detail that you need.