Day 1 Welcome to Israel!
Meet/Assist at the airplane and fast track through passport control, to luggage claim and then to your guide.
Overnight Caesarea
Day 2 – Northern Coast
Meet your private guide and visit the ancient city of Caesarea. Built by Herod the Great and once the seat of Roman rule. View the excavated Roman Theater, with its acoustic and theatrical sound, which was used for many performances throughout the centuries.
In Haifa, ascend Mt. Carmel for a panoramic view of Haifa Bay and the beautiful Bahai Gardens with its impressive Temples.
Visit the ancient crusader port city of Acco and the fascinating UNESCO town with new excavations, from 1000 years old. Visit the Crusader Halls and see the underground tunnels and pathways. We’ll also visit the Acco Prison which was the main prison and execution site used by the British during the Mandate Period.
Overnight: Merom Golan, Golan Heights
Day 3 – Safed and the Golan Heights
Spend the morning in Safed – Stroll through the narrow, winding alley’s, visit some of the beautiful synagogues and browse through the artists’ workshops and galleries found in the flourishing artists’ quarter.
We will then continue our tour with a visit to the Banias Springs. Here we will have time for a water hike in one of Israel’s most beautiful waterfalls. It is considered to be the largest spring feeding from Mt. Hermon.
Explore the rugged Golan Heights on an ATV buggy. This experience will take you off-road in one of Israel’s most remote and beautiful regions, in a fun off-road vehicle. On an ATV tour in the Golan, you’ll enjoy the Golan’s diverse landscape, climbing mountains, passing forests and fruit groves and orchards, geological wonders and landforms, seeing stunning views across three countries, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria.
End your day with a Wine Tasting at one of the Golan boutique wineries.
Overnight: Merom Golan
Day 4 – The Road from Galilee to Jerusalem
Breakfast at the Hotel and check out
Begin your day at Magdala, which was a major first-century port on the Sea of Galilee and a center of trade and commerce. Archaeological discoveries early in the 21st century including a first century synagogue and an Second Temple period stone inscription have made it a burgeoning destination.
Continue to Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu which is located in the Valley of Springs in the north of Israel. This kibbutz is known as the pioneers of commercial organic farming and biological pest control in Israel. The Bio-Tour visitor center was established to show visitors the special way of on Sde Eliyahu, as well as the importance of preserving nature and the environment.
Drive through the lush Jordan Valley where the dessert now blooms with flowers and vegetation and arrive at the ancient remains of Beit Shean. The Talmud mentions this city as being the “entrance to paradise.” We will tour one of the biggest excavated sites in Israel with its bathhouse and Cardo.
Welcome to Jerusalem – Overview from Mount Scopus!
Overnight: Jerusalem Mamilla Hotel
Day 5 – Jerusalem: Center of Three Faiths
Spend the day in the Old City:
- Walk through the Armenian and Jewish quarters to the recently excavated and restored Cardo, the Roman road. See the Jewish Wailing Wall, the Kotel
- Continue to the Christian quarter – walk along the Via Dolorosa and visit the Church of Holy Sepulchre.
- The City of David houses the newest and most exciting excavations of Jerusalem during the time of the first Temple period. Here we’ll also walk through Hezekiah’s Tunnel which still flows with water.
End the day with a visit to the Davidson Center to understand Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. End with a tour through the Western Wall tunnels.
Overnight: Jerusalem Mamilla Hotel
Day 6 – Modern Jerusalem and the Surrounding area
Yad Vashem is considered the first and most famous memorial to mankind’s darkest period. Also the Valley of the Communities – a man-made valley in the form of the European Map built in remembrance of where over 5000 names of communities are engraved on the stone walls, each one remembering a Jewish community that was damaged or destroyed during the Holocaust.
Walk around the Machane Yehuda Market to get a feel for the hippest market in Israel! This bustling Jerusalem marketplace and neighborhood, incorporates food, drink, shopping, bars, and restaurants. The market is an exciting venue to experience the colors, aromas and flavors of Israeli food and more!
Continue to Ammunition Hill, to explore the story of the Six Day War and the fierce battle that was fought between Jordan and Israel that ultimately ended with the reunification of the City.
Optional tour of Neve Daniel and the Gush Etzion
Overnight: Jerusalem Mamilla Hotel
Day 7 – Ein Gedi, Masada and the Dead Sea region
Early departure to the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve – Walk to the waterfalls at this oasis in the desert. Enjoy the waterfalls, and the combination of Ein Gedi’s abundance of water and tropical climate which provides some wonderful exotic plant and animal life.
Ascend the legendary mountaintop plateau of Masada by cable car to the ancient synagogue of Masada and explore the ancient fortress. Here, was the last stronghold of the Jewish Zealots in their struggle against the Romans.
Relax, Lunch and Swim (Float!) at the Crowne Plaza Dead Sea Spa Hotel. Cover yourselves with mud (found on the shores of the Dead Sea / for purchase) and enjoy the unsinkable therapeutic waters of this mineral-rich Sea. Make the lowest place on Earth a “high”light of your trip!
Overnight: Jerusalem Mamilla Hotel
Day 8 – Day On Own / No Guide
Optional: enjoy time at the Israel Museum at your leisure
Overnight: Jerusalem Herbert Samuel Hotel
Day 9 Security and Geopolitics along the Gaza Seamline
Check out of your hotel. As we depart Jerusalem we will visit the Chagall Windows at Hadassah Hospital. The light that emanates from the twelve stained glass windows bathes the Abbell Synagogue in a special glow. Every pane is a microcosm of Chagall’s world, real and imaginary; of his love for his people, his deep sense of identification with Jewish history, his early life in the Russian shtetl.
Visit the Black Arrow Monument, a memorial for the battle heritage of the Paratroopers Brigade, with Avi Melamed, a former intelligence official and senior official on Arab Affairs. Avi is the author of “Inside of the Middle East.”
Visit Sderot and learn about how this town lives.
Continue to Moshav Netiv Ha’Asara, just along the Gaza border. Visit the “Path to Peace” which is a joint mosaic creation towards hope, love, and happiness. The creation is placed upon the border wall that divides the Gaza Strip and Israel, adjacent to the homes of Moshav Netiv HaAsara. The creation is seen from both sides of the wall, spreads on the gray security wall and completely changes the atmosphere.
Overnight: Tel Aviv Herbert Samuel Opera Hotel
Day 10 – Tel Aviv and Jaffa
Visit the Old Port City of Jaffa (Yafo), just south of Tel Aviv offers a beautiful panoramic view of Tel Aviv and a sense of the first Jewish city of the modern era, established in 1909. As one of the oldest port cities in the world, you can visit the ancient ruins and walk along the Artist’s Quarter. Jaffa is thought to have been the port from which Jonah left in the story of the Whale! The port continued to be important through history, and served as the main entry point to the land of Israel through until the late 19th century.
Next we will visit the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, founded in 1996 by the late President of Israel, Shimon Peres, develops and implements impactful and meaningful programs with a focus on promoting a prosperous Israel, nurturing and highlighting Israeli innovation, and paving the way for shared-living between all of Israel’s citizens and lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors.
We will go off the path to the outdoor market that most Tel Avivians truly love, the Levinsky Market Tour and enjoy a Tasting tour combined with a graffiti tour of the Florentin district. Israel has a long-standing history as a key player in the ancient spice route, and Tel Aviv’s modern trends are reliving this importance. The Levinsky Market dates back to the 1920s, founded by Balkan immigrants who brought their local flavors with them to Tel Aviv. Today, gourmet restaurant chefs frequent Levinsky Street for fresh spices, dried fruits and store-roasted coffees, as well as olive oils and deli goods.
End your day at the brand new ANU Museum, a global institution that tells the ongoing story of the Jewish people, intended for people of all faiths.
Overnight: Herbert Samuel Opera Hotel
Day 11 – Tel Aviv – Modern Tel Aviv – The City that never sleeps
We will begin at the Underground Bullet Factory – also known as the Ayalon Institute – which presents the story of a secret factory that manufactured ammunition, built underneath a limestone hill. On the surface it was used for training groups of young people for Kibbutz life. It was built and operated during the years 1946-1948.
Traveling into the heart of Tel Aviv Bauhaus architecture on Rothschild Boulevard and the surrounding area which was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit Independence Hall, where Ben Gurion declared the State of Israel in 1948. If it is a Tuesday or Friday, we will stop at the Nachalat Binyamin Market is a twice weekly street market specializing in all sorts of different arts and crafts from all corners of Israel. We will enjoy lunch on own in the Carmel market followed by the remainder of the day visiting the neighborhoods of Neve Tzedek, now one of the trendiest shopping areas of the city.
Overnight: Herbert Samuel Opera Hotel
Day 12 – At leisure until your departure transfer to the Airport
(Or Optional Eilat/Petra extension)
