Israel Travel Forum

Hello, Shalom:)

I draft my trip plan as below, could you comment on it? Thank you in advance.

Day1 (Wed.) Ben Gurion airport -> Tel Aviv-yafo, just go around Tel Aviv beach and undertand more of Israel for next coming days plan
Overnight: Tel Aviv-yafo

Day2(Thu) visit Jaffa for one day and stay at Tel Aviv-yafo
Overnight: Tel Aviv-yafo

Day3(Fri)from hotel to Caesarea ->Haifa->Acre/Akko
Overnight: Galilee or Haifa??

Day4(Sat)Cana ->Nazareth->Megiddo->Church Nain->Beit Shearim ->Zippori
Overnight: sea of Galilee)

Day5(Sun) walk around sea of Galilee ->Ginnosar->Mount of Beatitudes->Tabgha->Capemaum ->Golan Heights (Banyas visit Caesarea Phillippi)
Overnight: Sea of Galilee)

Day6(Mon) Yardenit -> Beit Shean ->Beit Alfa->Gideo Spring
Overnight: Jerusalem

Day7(Tue) Jerusalem (old town)
Overnight: Jerusalem

Day 8 (Wed) Qumran->Massada->Dead Sea 1-day trip with tour agent
Overnight: Jerusalem

Day 9 (Thu) Bethlehem 1-day trip with tour agent
Overnight: Jerusalem

D10 (Fri) Jerusalem new town and go the wailing wall at dust
Overnight: Jerusalem

D11 (Sat)TBD - maybe visit old town again, then go to airport, say good-bye to Israel

I will be in Israel next week:))

Sounds great!

But it's a bit overly ambitious in my opinion I'm sorry to say.

You would need to wake with the sun and spend around an hour in each of the sites if you plan to pack more than 3 (or even two) in to one day.. much less actually ENJOY them!

I think you would benefit greatly from trimming a few of the "side" sites off of your plan..


Also, if you're traveling by car (rental I assume), there could be some modifications to your plan.

For one, you should definitely stay in Haifa if you're planning on visiting Nazarth (as it is en-route from Haifa to Tiberias/ Galilee/ Kineret.. Also, more of less along this route is Megiddo.. otherwise you will be back-tracking.. and this route is one of the few off of the coast which does have traffic jams.

Another big one, you could (should!) head directly down the hayarden (Jordan) river from the Beit Shean area to sleep in one of the hotels in Ein Gedi or Masada..
Route 90 is perfectly secure and there is no need to back track and travel 1 hour off of route 90 to (find parking and a hotel in) Jerusalem only to come back in the morning.
It is also much more beneficial to get an early start on what will be a very full day of hiking, soaking and site seeing.. hitting Qumran before evening and then heading out to Jerusalem that night. (where eventfully, you can rise with the sun above the old city.. these will be two truly magical mornings)..
Having your itinerary fully behind you when you arrive in Jerusalem without need to back-track, you will have the opportunity to fully enjoy and absorb your experience and your surroundings.. I highly recommend it.

Just a note about the hotels in the Ein Gedi/ Masada/ Dead Sea area, I strongly recommend the HI Masada, which is right at the base of the mountain.. impeccably clean.. inexpensive.. organized.. secure and with plenty of free parking.. Try to call or book ahead if you can.. There will almost definitely be rooms even if you don't, but keep in mind that there is nearly nothing else in the area other than Ein Gedi's few hotels (which are often at capacity). Also I recommend eating well before leaving Beit Shean, as the food on offer in the Dead Sea area is sparse in choice and often not the best.

Anyway, Baruk haba! and enjoy!

Woah. slow down there. for the itinerary you have, it would be much better to do on a 14 day schedule. You'd be best served by cutting a few of the side trips out IMO. I've been twice now, the first time for 10 days and I didn't manage to get to all the places you listed. Just for the walk around the lake kinneret (sea of galilee), you need two days, and some of the roads around are twisty and narrow with no where to walk on the side of them. it's better to try to stick to the northern and eastern shoreline for better spacing between you and all those big tour buses.
Susan

Your route has you leaving a car with luggage at Cesearia. Unfortunately that is the one place in Israel where there seems to be a car break in problem. AND they go after visible luggage! rethink what you are doing.

Thank you all your comments. Sounds I need to cut place to visit.

Hi rdglady - do you mean it is dangerous to drive car to Caesearia?

Keep comment~~~ Thank you so much!

Shalom again,I have posted my answers to your questions below.

Hello, Shalom:)

I draft my trip plan as below, could you comment on it? Thank you in advance.

Day1 (Wed.) Ben Gurion airport -> Tel Aviv-yafo, just go around Tel Aviv beach and undertand more of Israel for next coming days plan
Overnight: Tel Aviv-yafo

Day2(Thu) visit Jaffa for one day and stay at Tel Aviv-yafo
Overnight: Tel Aviv-yafo

Day3(Fri)from hotel to Caesarea ->Haifa->Acre/Akko
Overnight: Galilee or Haifa??

Day4(Sat)Cana ->Nazareth->Megiddo->Church Nain->Beit Shearim ->Zippori
Overnight: sea of Galilee)

Day5(Sun) walk around sea of Galilee ->Ginnosar->Mount of Beatitudes->Tabgha->Capemaum ->Golan Heights (Banyas visit Caesarea Phillippi)
Overnight: Sea of Galilee)

Day6(Mon) Yardenit -> Beit Shean ->Beit Alfa->Gideo Spring
Overnight: Jerusalem

Day7(Tue) Jerusalem (old town)
Overnight: Jerusalem

Day 8 (Wed) Qumran->Massada->Dead Sea 1-day trip with tour agent
Overnight: Jerusalem

Day 9 (Thu) Bethlehem 1-day trip with tour agent
Overnight: Jerusalem

D10 (Fri) Jerusalem new town and go the wailing wall at dust
Overnight: Jerusalem

D11 (Sat)TBD - maybe visit old town again, then go to airport, say good-bye to Israel

Nazareth Galilee to Jerusalem
Posted: Fri June 19, 2009 03:01 PM IDT
Shalom!

We will go to Sea of Galilee form Tel Aviv and back to Jerusalem. We plan to rent a car, is it possible to go back to Jerusalem from Galilee within one day? the tour line is Sea of Galilee - Nazareth - Yardenit - Jordan Vally(did not find it in map) - Beit Shean - Gideo Spring - Jerusalem?

Where is Church Nain? Is it far from Nazareth?

How much time people need to visit Nazareth? 2 hours or more?


Okay let me see if I can help out here. First of all good idea to rent a car.
You really do not need a tour or guide, except for Bethleham, all the rest are easily accessible.
Day 1 -Arrive Israel, overnight in Tel-Aviv, visit Jaffo.
Day 2 - Drive to Caesaria, then Megiddo, then Beit Sheariem, from there drive to Acco and overnight there.
Day 3 - Visit Acco, then Zippori, Nazareth, Kfar Cana and then Nain. At end of day drive to Tiberius and overnight there.
Day 4 - Visit Sea of Galilee, Ginnosar, Mount of Beautitudes, Tabcha(Ein Sheva), Capernum (Kfar Nachum). Overnight in Tiberius.
Day 5 - Golan then Banias. Overnight in Tiberius.
Day 6 - Yardenit, Beit Shean, Beit Alpha and Gideon's Spring (Maayan Harod).
Overnight near Beit Shean.
Day 7 - Qumran and Dead Sea. Overnight at Masada
Day 8 - Masada, then return to Jerusalem
Day 9 - Jerusalem
Day 10 - Beit Lechem (Bethleham)
Day 11 - Jerusalem, then return to airport and home.
Driving distances are pretty short here in Israel. For instance, from Tel-Aviv to Casearia is only about 45 kilometers. Casearia to Tiberius is about 80 kilometers. Here is a link with distances.
http://www.israel-travel-tips.com/en/132/Israel%20Travel/Driving%20Distances
The places I might give a miss to because of time are
1)Cana
2)Nain (http://www.welcometohosanna.com/LIFE_OF_JESUS/ministry8.htm) it is out of your way a little or you could do it from Nazareth)
3)Gideon's Spring
4)Ginnosar
5)Bethleham
6)Haifa
Places you might want to add:
1) Gamla
2) Hamat Gader
3) Kohav HaYarden (Belvoir)
Hope this helps. If you need more there is a lot on my pages about almost all these places.
Martin