travel to israel

[jcruelty]

Hi guys,

A while back I posted asking advice on an upcoming trip to Israel I'm taking with my girlfriend. Unfortunately, some database changes Kurt made have rendered that post unreadable, so I can't access it anymore. There was some good info in that thread and several people offered suggestions on safety and spots to visit. Apologies for asking again, but I would appreciate any tips you could offer once more.

We'll be arriving in Tel Aviv on the 24th and leaving from there on the 9th. We plan to visit all the major tourist spots (Dead Sea, Masada, Jerusalem, Haifa, etc.) as well as Ein Hod. I want to take cabs as much as possible in cities, and a friend in Israel told me buses between cities haven't been targeted as much by bombers, so we'll probably do buses for that. We thought about renting a car, but I've heard Israeli drivers are crazy, so it doesn't seem worth the hassle.

One question I have is whether or not traveling through the west bank (en route to other places) via bus is advisable. It looks like it will be pretty hard to get to places in a straight line without going through there-- e.g. if we're in Galilee and then want to head towards Eilat, sounds like going through West Bank is fastest. But I don't know if it's worth skirting it to lower risk.

thanks in advance,

Amar

[menzaremba]

Like I said before, I highly recommend the Lutheran hostel in the old city. It is beautiful, and very inexpensive, and is right inside of Jaffa gate. Don't let the news here dissuade you from traveling on buses, especially through the West Bank. Stay away from the IMF and you will have no problems. Go to Massad early if you are planning to climb the snake path...later in the day its like oven bake. Make sure that you dont have rashes in any unfortunate places (bring some Goldbond) before you hop in the dead sea...the pain, otherwise, is unbearable.

menzaremba@hotmail.com if you have any more questions.
Try hard to get to Tzfat if you can, out of the way, but intensely cool.

[Dim]

You used to be able to go on a pretty good bus tour that took in Masada. YOu also go to the Dead Sea and some other biblical sites - it left outside Damascus Gate at about three am. Ask around in the old city.

I also really liked walking around the walls of Jerusalems old city - I recommend making it the first thing you do there - it's a good way to get orientated.

[jcruelty]

thanks to everybody who offered advice. jerusalem was beautiful (lutheran hostel was a good rec.) and it was cool to walk through the cobblestone streets in the early morning.. from there we went to dead sea, spent some time at maktesh ramon (*amazing* sculpture garden right next to the crater, and sukkah in the desert is a great place to stay), crossed the border down south to sinai, went diving in dahab. border crossing to egypt was a pain in the ass; i don't know if they're being more uptight because of the hilton bombing or if it's always like that. definitely worth it to go past eilat though. then back up to haifa/akko, ended in tel aviv.

there were no incidents while we were there; we felt pretty safe the whole time. admittedly we didn't go into the occupied territories (aside from crossing through west bank on bus and east jerusalem) but on the whole i think dp5's four star rating is either overblown or else things have subsided considerably since that was written. i think this is a good time to go to israel because there aren't as many tourists as there should be. highly recommend a visit if you get the chance.

[rickshaw92]

Dim postad

You used to be able to go on a pretty good bus tour that took in Masada. YOu also go to the Dead Sea and some other biblical sites - it left outside Damascus Gate at about three am. Ask around in the old city.

Yea its a cool tour if its still going on. I did it after the weekly punch party th the Tabasco. Damn that suns bright when it comes up!

Dim went on

I also really liked walking around the walls of Jerusalems old city - I recommend making it the first thing you do there - it's a good way to get orientated.

Thats cool too. You can also go under the old city, the enterance is to the left of Damascus gate if I am not mistaken.