IsraelTravelBlog.com

Information, insights, advice, reviews, and recommendations about travel to and around Israel

Archives for September 2023

How to Choose a Hotel in Israel

by

Choosing a hotel is one of the make-or-break decisions of any trip. A great hotel can make a long travel day seem better, but a bad hotel can easily send a great trip on a downward spiral, whether it’s because the hotel seems unsafe, doesn’t have the amenities you thought it would have, or just doesn’t look (or smell) like the photos seemed to convey. Here are some pro tips for how to choose the best hotels for your bucket list trip to Israel.

Map the Location

The first rule of hotel selection is the same first rule of real estate: Location, location, location. You don’t want to spend all your time commuting to and from all the things you want to see, so be sure to look at your hotel options on a map. A good way to do this is to drop markers on all the places you want to visit on your favorite map app. Then, look for hotels that are close to those things. This way, you’ll be able to spend more time doing and seeing the things you want, instead of traveling to and from those things potentially for hours a day.

Plan to Stay in 2-3 Cities

When you start looking at the map and the distances between the things you want to experience, you might start to realize you can’t see everything by basing yourself in just one location. For instance, Jerusalem may seem like the best place to stay for an entire 7-10 day trip, but that means you’ll. be spending a lot of time in the car if you want to see the Sea of Galilee, Mount of Beatitudes, or Nazareth. And if you want to experience Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Caesarea, that’s yet another extremely long day in the car.

Instead, plan to spend 1-3 nights in more than one location. For instance, spend three nights in Jerusalem, then head up to Galilee for 1-2 nights, and finish out your trip with 2-3 nights in Tel Aviv as well. You’ll be able to see and do so much more because you’ll spend less time in transit. This also allows you to actually relax and enjoy all your experiences, instead of rushing to fit in as much as possible into long day trips.

Look Out for These Features

You’re visiting Israel to see some of the most significant historical sites of the last 5,000+ years. While your hotels will likely not date back to the beginning, they may be historic in their own rights. As such, there are some hotel features you might not be able to take for granted; if you want them, you’ll need to look for these features specifically:

  • Elevators: If you’re staying in a hotel that boasts of its “historic” nature, be sure to look specifically for “elevator” as an amenity. If you don’t mind carrying your own luggage upstairs, this will not be an issue for you, but if you need an elevator to go up or down, make sure the hotel you book actually has one. This especially applies to more “boutique” properties, but it’s important to check even with a hotel that’s part of a major brand.
  • Room size: Even the grandest historic hotels still have to work with the space they have. If having space in your hotel room is important, or essential, to you, be sure to look at photos both from the hotel’s website and review sites like Trip Advisor or Google. Some hotels may list standard room sizes as well, which may be helpful.
  • Breakfast Included: Many hotels in Israel offer complementary breakfast to all guests, but it’s always good to confirm, just to be sure. Also important to note is that breakfast may or may not be available on Saturdays, or it may be considerably different that day, due to Shabbat. If you want to make sure you have breakfast available each day, make sure the hotel listing specified that it will be.
Use Your Points

Some very worthwhile hotels in Israel can be quite expensive. Because Israel is such a bucket list trip for so many, and you may only come once in your life, this is a great place to cash in on hotel points you may have been hoarding over the years. Or, if your trip is still six months or a year away, this is the time to start building points up with a great travel credit card. Find out what your current credit card rewards are, if any, and how to use them to your best advantage.

If you have hotel loyalties already, you’re in luck. Hilton points can be used at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, IHG rewards can be cashed in at many properties across the country, or you can redeem OneKey rewards for unique hotels that don’t necessarily belong to a particular loyalty program. If you’ve been accumulating points, miles, or hotel reward nights, this is a great destination to redeem them.

Everything You Want to See in Bethlehem

by

When most people think about the places they want to go in Israel, Bethlehem tops the list. It’s the place where Jesus was born, but that is only scratching the surface of this small town’s importance and appeal. There are some very underrated gems in Bethlehem, including these.

Church of the Nativity and Church of St. Catherine’s

This church was built over the place where it is believed Jesus was born. Its affiliation is shared with Roman Catholic, Armenian Apostolic, Greek Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox, and Syriac Orthodox churches.

The Grotto below the church is the main attraction here. You’ll see the 14-pointed star that marks the birthplace, as well as the traditional site of the manger where Jesus was laid after he was born. This church was designated a as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012 and is a must-see for Christian visitors.

The Shepherds’ Fields

The Shepherd’s Fields are the same fields where angels appeared to shepherds to tell of Jesus’ birth. You’ll see the Church of the Shepherds’ Field while you’re here, and there is a cave here that you can go inside to see what a “stable” was like in biblical times. Interestingly, these are the same fields where David was a shepherd as a boy, before he defeated Goliath and became King David.

Rachel’s Tomb (Kever Rachel)

Near the North Checkpoint (aka Rachel’s Tomb Checkpoint) into Bethlehem, you’ll find Rachel’s Tomb. Like Jerusalem, it’s a site that’s important to three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Rachel was Jacob’s wife and mother of Joseph (the one with the coat of many colors). Genesis 35 says that she died in childbirth on the road to Bethlehem (called Ephrath at the time). There is now a domed tomb at the site, which people of all three faiths visit.

Milk Grotto

This is a unique site that’s not mentioned in the Bible, but it is frequently visited by both Christians and Muslims. Tradition says that a drop of Mary’s milk fell on the ground of this small, hollowed-out grotto, and that turned the inside of the grotto white. Women hoping to conceive or to have more milk production for their babies will sometimes take some of the chalk from the cave and mix it with their food, then pray to Mary. There is a small chapel here, and the site was recognized by Pope Gregory XI in 1375.

Banksy Street Art

Banksy, the famed British graffiti artist, has a special affinity for Palestine and its people. He started creating art in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2005, and there are several to be found in Bethlehem. In fact, you can take an entire tour of just Banksy’s street art on a trip here.

Your Quick Guide to Travel within Israel

by

Travelers to Israel will most likely be flying into Tel Aviv Ben-Gurion International Airport (TLV), but then what? There are so many sites on everyone’s Israel bucket list, and you don’t want to miss anything just because you’re not sure how to get from point A to point B. Here is your quick and concise guide to getting around Israel after you land.

Air Travel

Israel is quite a small country, so the primary means of transportation will be by road to anywhere you wish to go. There is, however, one domestic airport called Ramon Airport (airport code ETM) near the Red Sea resort city of Eilat. If necessary, travelers can fly between TLV and ETM instead of taking the 4-hour drive through the Negev Desert.

Rental Cars

You can rent a car in Israel as a tourist, but pay special attention to the terms of your rental agreement. Most rental car companies in Israel prohibit driving their vehicles into the West Bank, so you will need to arrange other transportation to visit those sites. You will also have to be careful about not cutting through the West Bank, even if that’s the shortest route. You won’t accidentally cross the border without knowing it, but going around the West Bank can take a long time.

Hiring a Driver

Oftentimes, it’s just easier to hire a driver than to wait for public transportation or figure out your rental car situation. Some drivers are also tour guides, but not all, so be sure to confirm if you want one person for both services. Uber is not an option in Israel (as of June 2023), but taxi drivers are available for short trips, of even longer trips if that’s within your budget.

Rav-Kav Public Transportation Pass

The Rav-Kav is a universal public transportation pass, meaning it’s good for all public transportation in Israel. That includes trains, public buses, and the Jerusalem Lightrail. You can purchase the pass at the airport, bus station, train stations, and a variety of shops (like Super-Pharm pharmacies) across the country.

Shabbat

Keep in mind that Israeli public transportation and practicing Jewish taxi drivers are not available on Shabbat (Friday at sundown until Saturday at sundown). Arab and Christian taxi drivers will be available, but be aware that there will be fewer of them to go around in this 24-hour period.

There are many options for transportation within Israel, so choose the modes that fit you best!

Planning for Shabbat

by

Many visitors to Israel underestimate how seriously shabbat – or the Jewish sabbath – is taken in Israel. John and Whitney go into how site openings, schedules, logistics, and even staffing are all impacted by the observance of shabbat all around Israel, and how you can avoid having your trip disrupted with a little smart and informed planning.

For more information, insights, advice, reviews, and recommendations about travel to and around Israel, be sure to check out www.IsraelTravelblog.com.

Episode Transcript

Episode transcript text coming shortly…

How Long Should I Visit Israel?

by

How much time should you spend on a trip to Israel? It’s a totally valid question. Like so many things in life, however, the answer is… It depends. Here are some thoughts and things to consider to help you decide how long you should plan to travel around Israel.

If You Want to Hit the Highlights: 6-7 Days

If you are only interested in seeing Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Galilee, this is the ideal timeframe for that. You can even take a day trip to hit up the Dead Sea if you want to squeeze that in, too. It’ll be a fast-and-furious week, but if this is the time you have, it will be well worth making it happen.

If you can’t quite make it for a week, you could base yourself in Jerusalem for 3-4 days, but you really won’t have time to explore more of Israel in that amount of time. We definitely recommend at least a week-long trip, inclusive of travel days.

Check out this 7-day Israel itinerary for an idea of what you can accomplish in just a week.

If You Have the Time: 11-14 Days

If you’re planning to only visit Israel as a bucket list destination once, you want to do it right and you want to go all out. Spending a week and a half to two weeks in the country will be the right choice for you. You can do absolutely everything you want to do within two weeks, easily.

With a longer trip like this, you may even have time for a few days’ excursion to Jordan or Egypt if either of those nearby countries is also on your list of places to go in your lifetime.

Check out this 12-day Israel itinerary for an idea of what you can accomplish in two weeks or less.

The “Goldilocks” Timeframe: 8-10 Days

If six days is too few, and 14 days is too many, then an eight to 10-day trip will be just right. This gives you time to see all the things you want to see at a reasonable pace, but you won’t get bored or feel like it’s a never-ending trip. You could experience all things Israel in this amount of time, and even squeeze in a couple of nights in Jordan to see Petra, if you wanted to add that as well.

If you’ve been thinking of a week-long trip in Israel, it’s worth it to at least consider bumping it up to 10 days. This will ensure you won’t miss something essential because you run out of time, and you can feel like you actually had time to experience the things you’re seeing, instead of rushing from one to the other.

Check out this 10-day Israel itinerary for an idea of what you can accomplish in just over a week.

We hope this information is helpful! How long would you be able to spend on a trip to Israel?

For more insider tips, check out the “How to Structure and Itinerary in Israel” episode of the Israel Travel Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!

How to Structure an Itinerary in Israel

by

John and Whitney take a deep dive into the various ways you can structure and map out an ideal itinerary for a trip to Israel based on your specific interests, motivations, and travel habits. They also cover how to avoid unexpected trip interruptions, how to make sure you don’t accidentally miss the top “must-see” sites, and much more.

For more information, insights, advice, reviews, and recommendations about travel to and around Israel, be sure to check out www.IsraelTravelblog.com

Episode Transcript

Episode transcript text coming shortly…