We went this past November. I have no idea if "things" have changed. We started out at Beit She'an which is just south of the Sea of Galilee and headed to Ein Bokek in the Southern part of the Dead Sea. We stayed for two days.
http://www.google.com/maps/dir/Beit+...d31.200156!3e0

When we went up to Jerusalem from the Dead Sea, we took Hwy 9 again until at one point you need to go West and take Highway 1 (I believe) which goes through the West Bank. Parts of that hwy looked a little shady, but there were no problems.

Have you asked your friends in Israel why they think you shouldn't do it?

That should be "Hwy 90 again"

There is no problem driving on Highway 90. I have never seen a negative report on any of the travel forums. You should drive during daylight hours because it is a dark road at night, only two-lanes and winding in places.

bookmarking... we are going to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Jordan ( Wadi Rum, Petra, Jerash, Amman) in the first week of May with plane hotel and rental car already booked although they are all cancellable. we’re closing watching the events in Syria which might impact our travel plans. if the Syrian crisis continues, would you recommend to postpone our trip?

The "Syrian crisis" has had no negative effect on tourism to Israel and Jordan during the last six years, despite many predictions to the contrary. The odds are that nothing will happen this time too. It is currently very quiet so keep following the news and don't cancel anything.

Takemewithu, I personally would not cancel at this stage. Please post your thoughts about your trip when you return. Bon voyage!

mbgg and jeanned,

thanks for your input. we havent cancelled our reservations. im hoping i can convince the hubby to push through with our travel plans. i still want to go. as of today he says he does not want to go anymore. we are supposed to leave on May 4 - Im hoping something will come up that will make him change his mind. i will be back on here to let you know what happened.

while planning this trip a few months ago, i was pleased that i was able to redeem some hilton points at the waldorf in jerusalem for a very reasonable rate and ditto with the Petra Guest House, i got a very good rate for one of the chalets. i would be such a waste to let go of these reservations.
And too, I’ve been listening to Maria Muldaur’s “Midnight At The Oasis” during my morning work commute. if you haven’t heard this song from the 70s, you gotta check it out - visions of wadi rum in the company of bedouins.

Not sure what your husband is afraid of. Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Jordan are not close to Syria. Israel is wonderful and it would be sad for you to not experience it. It's in a tense neighborhood, so to speak, but as everyone who has gone to Israel over the decades will tell you, if you wait for everything to be "hunky dory" you will never go. In Paris I was in a cafe when a man came in with a gun pointed at us. So there you are.

The fighting in Syria has been going on for seven years, why worry more about it now? I would be much more worried about a trip to south-eastern Turkey than to Israel or Jordan. If you read the (notoriously alarmist) US State Dept travel advisories for Jordan and Israel they are about terrorism, not Syria.

Thank you Diane and Thursday for your encouragement. I’m showing your responses to my hubby. I completely agree with the alarmist, over the top reporting we are exposed to in the media. it’s not to say that we should throw caution to the wind, it’s good advice to use one’s own judgement. We lived in the Philippines in the 80s during the Marcos regime and martial law. when i see articles on Newsweek, it made the Philippines look like a very dangerous place. It was a very oppressive regime specially if you’re into politics (which the majority of people are not) but not a dangerous place by any stretch of imagination.

Israel will be a breath of fresh air after the Phillippeans!

Sorry - "Philippines'

i agree completely !

i will post update on a new thread so I dont take jeanne’s original post in another direction. my apologies jeanne for hi jacking your post - didnt mean to...

Just back from a 15 day trip to Israel and Jordan. It’s our first time to the Middle East so it was very informative and gave us a lot of cultural insight into that part of the world. It might take a while before I can get to put together a short report so here’s some notes that might be useful for Jeanne and those who are considering travel in the next few months:

renting a car - we planned on renting one but ended up not doing it. This was a mistake. Our decision not to rent was driven by the fact that we can’t drive the Israel-rented car to Jordan. Even so, we should have rented in each country, it would have still been worth it.

the heat - it was 38 def C in Jordan when we were there last week. It did affect our sightseeing plans and experience. a lot of the interesting sights are outdoors ( jerash, mount nebo to name a few ) so the heat did impact our enjoyment of the sightseeing. Except in Wadi Rum, the wide open expanse of the desert provided a nice breeze that made it feel a lot cooler.

​​​​​​​night tour in Petra - we did the night tour - our own take is it is not worth the effort and the expense ( extra 17 JD ) talking to some travelers we met at the night tour, there were quite a few who shared our sentiment. here’s the breakdown: tour is advertised as a 2 hour event. Hike to the treasury from the entrance is 30 minutes, sat and waited in front of the treasury for about 45 minutes for everyone to get in and get seated. Listened to a solo performer play some nomadic music on the lute for 20 minutes, about 4 people serving tea to everybody for 15 minutes, a solo performer reciting some lines on the history of Petra for 10 minutes, the rest is photo op. The 30 minute hike from the entrance to the treasury is candle-lit in mostly uneven, unpaved stones with short intervals of even, sandy sections so bring flashlight if you can’t see as well in low lighting. Again, everybody is different so your experience might vary. This is just a detailed account of what the night show consists of.

​​​​​​​little Petra - free to visit so no need to buy an extra day at Petra if you’re planning to visit on a different day. I would give this a higher rating than the night tour. it is much smaller scale than Petra so more accessible especially for those who can’t and don’t want a long hike. It’s also less crowded, we went at around 10 am and didn’t encounter big bus tour groups. If you don’t have a car, it’s about 4 JD one way by taxi. Again I was regretted that we didn’t rent a car.

​​​​​​​food - similar to offerings in Israel but more fish options in the menu and prices are lower compared to similar meals in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

transportation - even without a rental car, transportation can be easily arranged with regular taxi. we didn’t use taxis that were “recommended” by our hotel, we hailed our own taxi and negotiated fares with the driver. In effect, we cut out the middle man and we were able to negotiate reasonable fares. Sample taxi fares: Aqaba to wadi rum 20 JD, wadi rum to Petra 40 JD, Petra to Amman with stops and wait time in Dead Sea and Madaba 90 JD.

If you have specific questions, I will try to answer as best as I can if it’s something we encountered.
Overall, we had a great time and realized that all our apprehensions were all over reaction to our lack of information on these 2 countries. We are very happy that we decided to go!

Timing probably makes a difference with the night tour. I let the crowd get ahead of me, and the photographers were behind me, so I got to walk the Siq alone - it was magical. I had no interest in the music or the tea.

I think 5 nights might be a bit too much for Jerusalem. I'd recommend.

I see an initial request was made for a recommendation on a guide for going to Bethlehem. Does anyone have a guide or tour to recommend? We'd be going from Tel Aviv. Thank you!