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Israel tour opinions


ceba
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I’ve been looking into tours out of Haifa for an upcoming Nov cruise. I’ve communicated with Guided Tours Israel and they have 2 tour options: Day1Jerusalem/Bethlehem, Day 2 Nazareth/Galilee. My question is have any of you taken these tours? Did you feel you had enough time in Jerusalem? Is Bethlehem another big city where you’re looking at sites replaced by a modern building and the same for Nazareth/Galilee? I’ve contacted Ika Schweitzer and though he’s acknowledged my message I’ve yet to hear what he can do and it’s been almost 2 weeks. Is it worth it to keep on bugging him? I’d love to spend more time in Jerusalem, maybe the Dead Sea and Masada. Any opinions out there?

Kathleen

Edited by ceba
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We did the Jerusalem/Bethlehem tour with Guided Tours Israel from Ashdod and had a wonderful time. I was also worried about having enough time in Jerusalem; but it was fine. I saw everything I wanted to. Jerusalem is a truly amazing town and I understand why everyone wants a piece of it. The town of Bethlehem isn't that great; but the Church of the Nativity was important for me to see.

 

From Haifa, we did the Nazareth/Galilee tour with GTI and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you are only spending one day in Israel, do not miss Jerusalem. You can read about our experiences on the two tours in our review on our website that is linked to in my signature. Israel is an amazing place that I am so glad I was finally able to visit. Enjoy your visit.

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We did the Jerusalem/Bethlehem tour with Guided Tours Israel from Ashdod and had a wonderful time. I was also worried about having enough time in Jerusalem; but it was fine. I saw everything I wanted to. Jerusalem is a truly amazing town and I understand why everyone wants a piece of it. The town of Bethlehem isn't that great; but the Church of the Nativity was important for me to see.

 

From Haifa, we did the Nazareth/Galilee tour with GTI and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you are only spending one day in Israel, do not miss Jerusalem. You can read about our experiences on the two tours in our review on our website that is linked to in my signature. Israel is an amazing place that I am so glad I was finally able to visit. Enjoy your visit.

Thank you! I’ll take a look at your review.

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  • 4 weeks later...

We did the Nazareth/Galilee tour from Haifa with GTI. I always like the countryside better than the city and really liked the tour. Yes, most every site is a building built over the religious site, with the exception of Capernaum which is an archaeological site. Biggest negative to the Galilee tour was the lunch--they took us to a crowded place with a set menu where we spent significant time--not worth it in my opinion.

 

one day is not enough time in Jerusalem (there's too much to do). Pick what's important to you and see that. Our biggest problem with Israel from the cruise was we just rushed to see as much as we could and still didn't take in all we wanted.

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We had 4 days of tours with GTI from Haifa several years ago. We enjoyed Bethlehem but felt like we did not see enough of Jerusalem. That was mainly because of the time to travel from the port. There is so much to see that we returned and spent a week in Jerusalem. We hope to go again and re-visit other areas of the amazing country.

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  • 4 months later...
Does GTI do group tours or only private tours?

 

GTI are doing both, but their main business are the small groups tour.

The are offering the basic most popular tours out of both port and you can count them, as said in Hebrew, "with the fingers of one hand only", but in these, they are good.

When it comes to private tour, I would recommend you booking directly with a guide. That way you'll choose the guide and you'll be able to tailor, together with he/she the itinerary in the best way for you. It leaves you a full control on almost all aspect of the tour, in the limit of time and mileage.

Very easy to find and contact private guide using the Israel forum on TripAdvisor.

There are guide who post there reguraly and you can contact them.using a PM.

Enjoy your visit in Israel.

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I know the original post is months old, but for those with the same concerns thought I would comment. There are mixed opinions on whether to include Bethlehem and Nazareth if you only have 2 days. I know most of the ship’s tours include them, and they are certainly significant in part—among other things—because they are Jesus’ birthplace and boyhood home, respectively. But there is so much to see in the Land, if I only had 2 days I would consider skipping them, as they can take up quite a bit of time and the atmosphere for the tourist can at times be different than other places of interest.

Having said that, if a visitor decided independently to visit Nazareth, I would suggest the beautiful Mt Precipice Lookout Point for absolutely stunning views and a visit to Nazareth Village to experience what life was like in ancient Israel. These places have added much to the appeal of Nazareth, to me more so than the church buildings, although they are significant historically.

I have talked to many, however, that were particularly moved spiritually by visiting the churches that marked the birth and annunciation, and weren’t bothered by the traffic or other factors that are a bit different than elsewhere.

 

I know if it was my first visit, it would be hard to convince me to skip those sites, but as someone who has visited multiple times, my opinion for those who have 2 days is to prioritize Jerusalem and the area around the Sea of Galilee.

 

Happy Sailing! :)

Edited by syesmar
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