Explore Israel on this incredible 12 night Jewish Heritage Tour to Israel with Eilat focusing on the old and the new. Take part in this meaningful experience discovering Jewish history in an ancient land.
NOTE:
Spa facilities not included
Tours are being operated each Friday on the dates mentioned above.
The above rates include the following services:
Sharing transfer on arrival and departure (from/to Ben Gurion Airport)
12 nights accommodation based on double occupancy, bed and breakfast basis
2 dinners at Kibbutz Hotel Lavi
Lunch and Spa at the Dead Sea area
Light lunch in a Bedouin tent on the way from Eilat to Tel Aviv
8 touring days as per itinerary, with English speaking guide
Entrance fees to the sites visited as per itinerary
The jeep tour in the Galilee
For information or reservations please contact Janice Snider.
Day 1 Friday Ben Gurion Airport / Tel Aviv
Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, where you will be met by a representative and transferred to your hotel.
Overnight in Tel Aviv.
Day 2 Saturday Tel Aviv
At Leisure
Overnight in Tel Aviv. B
Day 3 Sunday Caesarea / Haifa / Acre / Rosh Hanikra / Galilee
Drive north to Caesarea, once the Roman capital of the region. See the excavations of the Crusader-ear city, the aqueduct and the amphitheater that has been restored as a concert venue. Proceed to Haifa to visit the Clandestine Immigration and Naval museum (“Af al Pi Chen”) and hear the story of the illegal immigrants coming to Israel at the time of the British Mandate. Drive to Acre, the Old City recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Walk through the old port and local market. Continue to Rosh Hanikra. Descend by cable car into the underwater grottoes and admire the spectacular natural formations. Continue to the Galilee.
Overnight at a Kibbutz guesthouse. B/D
Day 4 Monday Jeep tour / Safed / Golan Heights / Tel-Hai
Drive to Safed, one of the four holy cities in Israel and the center of the Kabbalah movement. Visit the Caro and Ari synagogues and stroll through the narrow alleyways and visiting the picturesque Artist Quarter. Next, enjoy a Jeep tour at the feet of the Golan. Continue to the Golan Heights. Stop at Gadot overlook, the memorial for the fallen of the Golan located over former Syrian bunkers. View the monument built in honor of the Alexandroni Brigade. Proceed for a magnificent observation point over the city of Quneitra and the Syrian territory. Drive to Tel-Hai and see the Roaring Lion Monument and learn about the heroic battle of Joseph Trumpeldor and his comrades in 1920. Meet with a Kibbutz member and learn about their unique lifestyle.
Overnight at a Kibbutz guesthouse. B/D
Day 5 Tuesday Tiberias / Beit She’an / Beit Alpha / Gan HaShlosha / Jerusalem
Drive to Tiberias to visit Rambam’s Grave; continue through the Jordan valley to Beit She’an known as “Scythopolis” and see the fascinating excavated remains from Roman and Byzantine periods. Stop at Beit Alpha to admire the beautiful mosaic floor of a synagogue discovered in 1929. Visit Gan HaShlosha National Park and enjoy the warm spring water pools and waterfalls. Continue via the Jordan valley to Jerusalem. Stop at Mount Scopus for a Shehecheyanu blessing as you enter the city.
Overnight Jerusalem. B
Day 6 Wednesday Kotel tunnels / Sephardic synagogues / Davidson Center / Tower of David
Visit the Tomb of King David on Mt. Zion. Men and women enter separately. One must dress modestly with a head covering. Walk along the Cardo heart of the ancient Roman City. Visit the four Sephardic synagogues restored after the 1967 war in the Jewish Quarter. Tour the Western Wall Tunnels and visit the archaeological park at Davidson Center. Walk through the colorful local bazaar and visit the Tower of David Museum presenting the history of Jerusalem and ancient remains of the city beginning with the First Temple period.
Overnight Jerusalem. B
Day 7 Thursday Yad Vashem / Mt. Herzl / Ammunition Hill / Israel Museum
Enjoy seeing the Bar-Mitzvah ceremonies at the Western Wall. Drive through Mea Shearim, one of the oldest Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem and learn about the unique lifestyle of the ultra-orthodox communities. Proceed to Mount Herzl, the military cemetery and Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the Holocaust. Visit Ammunition Hill, a former Jordanian army stronghold conquered by the Israeli army in the Six-Day War and later converted into a national memorial site and museum. Drive by the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and see the Menorah with the Biblical emblems. Next visit the
Israel Museum where the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed and the Holyland Model, a miniature replica of Jerusalem as it was during the Second Temple period.
Overnight Jerusalem. B
Day 8 Friday Qumran / Masada / Dead Sea
Drive through the Judaea Desert to the Dead Sea**, the lowest point on earth. Visit Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Continue to Masada, ascend by cable car and tour the mountain fortress built by King Herod where the Zealots made their last stand against the Romans. Visit the remains of the walls, palaces, synagogue and bathhouse. Descend by cable car and stop for lunch in one of the leading hotels in the area and enjoy a swim in the mineral rich Dead Sea. Mud is available at additional costs. Spa facilities are available at additional cost.
Overnight Jerusalem. B
Day 9 Saturday Jerusalem
Day at leisure
Overnight Jerusalem B
Day 10 Sunday Negev desert / Timna / Underwater observatory
Travel south through the Negev desert. Stop at Timna, a large geological and archaeological park to marvel at the multi-colored rock formations and copper mines. View the outstanding Solomon’s Pillars before continuing to Eilat, the southernmost resort city on the shores of the Red Sea. Visit the Underwater Observatory Marine Park built into a coral reef and enjoy the opportunity for a close up look at the rich marine life of the Gulf of Eilat.
Overnight Eilat. B
Day 11 Monday Free day in Eilat or Day tour to Petra (with additional charge)
After assistance with border formalities, drive straight to Petra, the astonishing rose-red city built by the Nabateans (an early Arab tribe). Petra is renowned for its massive architecture, pools, dams and water channels. The visit begins with the possibility of a short horseback-riding for about 700m (costs not included) until the entrance of the Siq, which is about 1.2 km long (walking distance). Petra is famous for its huge monuments such as the treasury, royal tombs, the court, Roman theatre, Roman street, Qasr al-Bint (Palace of Pharaoh’s daughter) and many other smaller fascinating monuments. After the visit time for lunch in a nearby restaurant. After lunch drive back to the border. On the way, a short visit of Aqaba with the possibility to stop and take a walk around. Transfer to the border at arriving 18:00hrs. and cross back to Eilat. B
Overnight Eilat.
(for the tour to Petra, visa is required in advance)
Day 12 Tuesday Mitzpe Ramon / Sde Boker / Airforce Museum / Tel Aviv
Depart Eilat via Mitzpe Ramon. Stop to gaze into the Ramon crater a geological wonder. Proceed to Sde Boker and see Ben Gurion’s hut and grave which overlooks the magnificent Zin Valley. Stop for a camel ride and visit an authentic Bedouin tent to learn about the Bedouin hospitality and enjoy a light lunch. Continue to Hatzerim and visit Israel’s Airforce Museum to view the planes and equipment and to hear the story of this brave fighting force.
Overnight Tel Aviv. B/L
Day 13 Wednesday Tel Aviv / Ben Gurion Airport
After breakfast, transfer to Ben Gurion Airport for departure. B
* Program sequence is subject to change without advance notice.
*Site under the Palestinian Authority Jurisdiction – visit subject to situation
**Visit subject to weather conditions
***The sequence of the tour, border crossing point used, hotels used and sites visited may be amended due to circumstances
****Men must cover their head while in the prayer area and women must cover their shoulders and wear long pants or a knee-length skirt. If you forget to bring a covering, guards will provide you with a piece of fabric for that purpose before you enter. The prayer area is separated by gender. If you want to be super respectful follow Jewish custom by never turning your back on the wall. You will see many people walking away from the wall backwards because it is simply disrespectful to turn away.
B = breakfast L= lunch D= dinner