Pauline
Forums Admin
This will be our fourth trip to Israel in two years! We are smitten with the country. Our first trip was 2 weeks in March 2018, then 4 weeks in November 2018, and 4 weeks in March 2019. These were planned with help from many people in one long thread and from help on the Trip Advisor forums.
Our November trip is booked but I wanted to get feedback on things to do.
Jerusalem - 7 nights (apartment in the German Colony from Colony Suites)
Ein Gedi Hotel - 1 night
Eilat - 3 nights (in an apartment - not booked yet)
Mitzpe Ramon - 7 nights (apartment from booking.com)
Zikhron Ya'akov - 10 nights (apartment from airbnb)
We've spent a week or more in Jerusalem on each trip, so I know what we will be doing that week. We will pickup the rental car a couple of days before we leave and use it to drive out to some hiking areas the last two days. On the other days we will revisit our favorite things - the Old City, Mount of Olives, the market.
We've stayed at the Ein Gedi hotel twice before. This time we are staying just one night to break up the drive to Eilat and to give us time to visit the Dead Sea beaches north of Ein Gedi. We have not been to them before. Doru sent me an interesting article about them and I've been reading more on the Trip Advisor forums. It looks like there are three beaches together - Kalya, Neve Midbar, Biankini. You can get to the water more easily at these beaches. At the Ein Gedi Spa beach area you have to take some sort of shuttle 1km out to the water because the water had receeded. I don't want to go into the water, but I want to be close to and maybe wade in it (we have been close to the Dead Sea at Ein Bokek).
On the drive from Ein Gedi to Eilat we will stop at some of the towns in the northern Arava Valley that we missed last time when we stayed further south.
In Eilat we are going to have a day exploring the town (we stayed here for 3 nights last November) and day hiking in Timna Valley with Joe. I am thinking about parking at the Jordan border crossing and going into Aqaba (the town beside Eilat) for a few hours.
Last November we spent 1 night in Mitzpe Ramon and liked the small town and the location, so this time we are spending a week. We plan to do some hikes in the crator and see other things in the area.
We end with 10 nights in Zikhron Ya'akov. We spent 1 night here on the last trip and liked the town and area. We like Haifa but it feels like too big of a city for us, so we want to try Zikron. We can hike in the Ramat Hanadiv area (we missed that last time because the trails were really muddy from heavy rains) and in the Carmel Forest. We can take the train to Tel Aviv for the day and drive up to Haifa and spend some time there. We can also get out into the Galilee easily.
I would like to find a few places that we like and then return to them regularly. Maybe even do a longer 2 month trip next year. We are looking for smaller towns instead of staying in the big cities.
All feedback/suggestions welcome!
Our November trip is booked but I wanted to get feedback on things to do.
Jerusalem - 7 nights (apartment in the German Colony from Colony Suites)
Ein Gedi Hotel - 1 night
Eilat - 3 nights (in an apartment - not booked yet)
Mitzpe Ramon - 7 nights (apartment from booking.com)
Zikhron Ya'akov - 10 nights (apartment from airbnb)
We've spent a week or more in Jerusalem on each trip, so I know what we will be doing that week. We will pickup the rental car a couple of days before we leave and use it to drive out to some hiking areas the last two days. On the other days we will revisit our favorite things - the Old City, Mount of Olives, the market.
We've stayed at the Ein Gedi hotel twice before. This time we are staying just one night to break up the drive to Eilat and to give us time to visit the Dead Sea beaches north of Ein Gedi. We have not been to them before. Doru sent me an interesting article about them and I've been reading more on the Trip Advisor forums. It looks like there are three beaches together - Kalya, Neve Midbar, Biankini. You can get to the water more easily at these beaches. At the Ein Gedi Spa beach area you have to take some sort of shuttle 1km out to the water because the water had receeded. I don't want to go into the water, but I want to be close to and maybe wade in it (we have been close to the Dead Sea at Ein Bokek).
On the drive from Ein Gedi to Eilat we will stop at some of the towns in the northern Arava Valley that we missed last time when we stayed further south.
In Eilat we are going to have a day exploring the town (we stayed here for 3 nights last November) and day hiking in Timna Valley with Joe. I am thinking about parking at the Jordan border crossing and going into Aqaba (the town beside Eilat) for a few hours.
Last November we spent 1 night in Mitzpe Ramon and liked the small town and the location, so this time we are spending a week. We plan to do some hikes in the crator and see other things in the area.
We end with 10 nights in Zikhron Ya'akov. We spent 1 night here on the last trip and liked the town and area. We like Haifa but it feels like too big of a city for us, so we want to try Zikron. We can hike in the Ramat Hanadiv area (we missed that last time because the trails were really muddy from heavy rains) and in the Carmel Forest. We can take the train to Tel Aviv for the day and drive up to Haifa and spend some time there. We can also get out into the Galilee easily.
I would like to find a few places that we like and then return to them regularly. Maybe even do a longer 2 month trip next year. We are looking for smaller towns instead of staying in the big cities.
All feedback/suggestions welcome!