Taking a tour in Israel, whether a day tour or a tour that takes multiple days, is a great
way to understand the rich history of Israel.
I’m Oren, a professional tour guide, and Israeli of course, as you can tell by my accent,
and in a few minutes you will understand much better which are the most popular tours in
Israel, what you can expect and what you should avoid, and then I will talk about the different
companies - from budget to luxury.
I’ll start with the most important tours: the ones in Jerusalem.
The basic one is of course the Old City tour: you’ll see the four quarters, the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, the Wailing Wall, and some of the stations of the Via Dolorosa.
More in-depth tours go up to Temple Mount, where the Jewish temples once stood, and where
today you’ll find the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Although this is an important site and a part of the Old City, not all tours go here, because
as non-Muslims we are only allowed to enter from one gate and at limited times: for three
hours in the morning and one hour in the afternoon, meaning there is always a queue, which makes
the logistics harder.
Since there is so much to see in Jerusalem, most of the organized groups go on a tour
in Jerusalem first and the day after they head up to Temple Mount.
But you can easily go up and see the whole of the Old City in one day.
Another area that is often on the basic Old City tour is Mount Zion.
Unlike the Mount of Olives, which is on a different ridge and lies beyond a valley,
Mount Zion is outside the Old City walls but technically and historically still a part
of the Old City.
Here you’ll find some very important sites close to one another: the Tomb of King David,
the Room of the Last Supper and the Dormition Church.
The grave of Oskar Schindler, by the way, is also close by.
The Mount of Olives is another tour.
It is quite short: 2-3 hours are enough to see the main sites.
Usually you start the day at the top of the mountain, as you have the sun behind you and
the Old City in front of you, and then you continue down to the Old City.
In my Jerusalem booklet I suggest a tour that starts at the Mount of Olives and continues
down to the Old City, but you can do it in the afternoon when it’s not as crowded.
The most important sites you’ll see as you walk from the top of the mountain to the bottom
are the Chapel of Ascension, Pater Noster, the Jewish cemetery, Dominus Flevit, Gethsemane
and the Tomb of Mary.
The sites I’ve talked about up until now are the most popular ones, but there are interesting
places to see in the New City as well.
The best known are the Israel Museum, where you have the shrine of the books (the oldest
bibles that have been found) and Yad VaShem, the Holocaust Museum.
In recent years a lot of food tours have sprung up in Israel, and in Jerusalem many of them
centre around the Machne Yehuda Market.
The food tours are normally short and easygoing.
Tours to the Judaean Desert start in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The three main sites there are the Dead Sea, Masada and Ein Gedi.
Another two sites that are sometimes included are Qumran and Qaser El Yahud.
Now I alway recommend sleeping in the Judaean Desert as I love the the scenery.
But if you’re short on time or you don't like the hot desert sun, you can do it as
a day tour from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.
You can also rent a car from Jerusalem and do the tour by yourself: if you’re in a
group of three or more, it would be a more affordable option.
Once you leave Jerusalem the roads are very easy to follow.
I don't really recommend taking this tour from Tel Aviv because you’d have to spend
so many hours on the road.
If you’re staying in Tel Aviv and want to take a tour to Masada, than take the Sunrise
Tour.
The Sunrise Tour is a tour that starts very early in the morning, at around 3-4am, and
you climb the Snake Path to see the sun rise from the top of Masada.
This tour is doable from Tel Aviv because the roads are empty at that time.
Another advantage of this tour is that you get to Masada when it’s not that hot.
And this tour too, you can do by yourself.
Tours in Tel Aviv are also popular.
The historical sites are mostly in Jaffa, the ancient port city that today is a part
of Tel Aviv.
There are other tours like market and bicycle tours: I have made a video about tours in
Tel Aviv, so check it out.
The tours I have mentioned up until now are by far the most popular ones, and if you choose
to do them by yourself you can use my booklets.
I’ve basically written down in them everything I say on my tours.
There is the coast tour which will take you to Cesaria, which was the Roman capital, to
a lookout in Haifa, to the German colony Akko, and Rosh HaNikra, right on the border with
Lebanon, where you go through the grottos.
These are all interesting places but you spend a lot of time on the road and less time at
each site.
Tours that start in the north: from Haifa, Akko and Nazareth, will go to these three
cities.
Next to Nazareth is Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle by turning water into wine.
Another site is Mount Tabor where the Transfiguration of Jesus is commemorated.
Other sites include the churches on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee: the Mount of
Batiatus, Capernaum, the Primacy of St Peter, and Tabga.
There are of course many Jewish sites to see as well.
To the south, there are no regular tours of the Negev, or at least not any that I know
of.
You will need to explore by yourself, which is great.
Now a couple of words about the companies that offer tours.
I will divide the tours into three: the cheap options, which I really like, the mid-range,
which are very common but which I don’t like, and the high end, meaning private guides,
which is the best option if you can afford it.
The cheapest options are the 2-3-hour city tours in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Sandemans offers a couple of tours: the main tour is called the free tour.
You might already know this concept from tours you’ve taken in other cities around the
world.
Now the tour is great, I have worked there, and most of the guides are really good.
The thing I don’t like about it is that it’s not actually free; it’s a tip-based
tour, and the guide has to pay the company for each tourist that joins.
So be generous!
They also run tours in the City of David and the Mount of Olives and the prices are very
fair, around $30 per person.
In Tel Aviv there is a company called Be Tel Aviv, which I mentioned in the video about
tours in Tel Aviv.
All the links will be included in the post so be sure to check that video out.
Another company that I can recommend is Abraham Tours: they offer tours
from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Nazareth to the Judean Desert, Golan Heights and the Galilee.
They offer tours without a guide; instead they give you an app on which you can read
about the places you’re visiting.
It’s a really good app: I wrote some of the texts myself.
And it’s free, so you can have a look beforehand.
And now we come to the mid-range tours, which I can’t really recommend.
There are 3 to 4 companies offering tours that run on a regular basis.
Tours cost around $100-150 per person depending on the tour.
Almost all hotels work with these companies.
There are a couple of reasons why I don’t like these companies.
First, they pick up each tourist from their hotel, which sounds good, but let's say you’re
taking the Jerusalem day tour from Tel Aviv.
You start the tour with pick-ups from 3 to 5 hotels in Tel Aviv.
This can take half an hour or more, then you have to drive up to Jerusalem, which takes
an hour, and then pick up tourists from 2 or 3 hotels in Jerusalem, which takes another
half hour.
So you spend two hours each way on the road.
If from Jerusalem you’re going to Masada, it's another hour and a half in each direction.
So it can be up to 6 hours on the road.
Another thing is that sometimes the tours are run in two languages at once, so the guide
needs to say everything twice.
I’ve done a few tours in English and German together: it’s not fun.
Not for the guide and not for the tourists.
The last thing I don’t like is that you get shopping time factored in, which is mostly
wasted time.
If I’m doing a private tour and the tourists want to buy something specific, then I will
take them to the best places.
I mentioned some of them in my post about unknown places in Jerusalem.
But to give compulsory time to shopping is a waste of sightseeing opportunities.
I’ve asked other tour guide friends what they think about these companies and all of
them pretty much agreed with me.
It is not bad, in fact many of the guides are good, and if the pick-ups didn't last
so long then it wouldn’t be a bad option, but none of them would recommend it as a first
option.
And this brings me to the best option, which is to hire a private guide or pay for a tailor-made
tour.
In the post and down here below I will leave the details of some guides and you can contact
them directly.
Now if you’re looking for a luxury visit to Israel, I’d say that it is not a problem
to find a five-star hotel or an expensive restaurant: in fact it’s very easy to spend
a lot of money in Israel.
But if you are looking for a unique tour experience, for example if you have a special field of
interest: religion, archeology, food, or if you’re coming to celebrate a bar mitzvah,
then you need to talk to somebody who can understand your interests, build you a tailor-made
itinerary, and find the perfect guide for you.
I can highly recommend my team at Shin Tours.
I’ll leave the details below and you can schedule a call.
My next videos will be about Christian sites, the Galilee and a desert tour, so subscribe
and hit the bell so that you’ll hear when I upload my next video.
Get my booklets, they’re really great, and now also available as an ebook and pdf.
See you in the next video, yalla bye!