Hafia port

[Kreva5]

Hi, we will hopefully be arriving in Hafia in May 2022 on a Saturday. 
I would like to visit Akko, unfortunately it appears that the ferry has yet to restart, trains do not run until 21:00 ish on a Saturday.
I realise we can get a Sheroot but my question is:-

when we arrive in the port area will there be taxi or guides selling trips like other ports? 
my other option is to book with guided tours Israel, but as we will have a long excursion the next day I was hoping to make this one a more relaxed shorter day. 
 

we are a group of six adults.  
 

I realise a lots depends on the restrictions in place at the time.

 

thank you for your help

 

karen 

 

[John Bull]

Hi Karen,

We've travelled by train Haifa cruise berth to Akko (or Acre or other spellings). Pretty easy, only a short walk to Haifa main station, simple train journey, but a fair hike from Akko station to the fortress / old town.

The service is frequent, I know that in Israel saturdays are quite restricted in a number of ways but are you sure no train service to Akko all day?

 

There's a bus service, but its very very infrequent during the week, so probably no worthwhile service on saturdays

 

Taxis certainly operate on saturdays, I never noticed whether there's a rank at the cruise terminal, but it's in-town so there'll be taxis around - just a worry that because of the lack of alternatives demand might exceed supply on a saturday altho we had no problem getting a taxi from Jerusalem to Ashdod on a saturday pm.

 

You'll get better info from Israeli member happy trailer.

Perhaps ask on his post in this forum.

 

If you have two days in Haifa can you switch your plans around?

 

JB 🙂

 

 

[epixx]

Although I have enjoyed multiple days with a private guide in Israel, in your situation a guide may not be a good choice.  There definitely will not be licensed guides just waiting at the port to offer tours, and even if there were they would still charge a for a full day of guiding due to their inability to pick up the extra half day with another group.  Does GTI offer any half day tours at a price lower than full day?  Otherwise, your best bet is the taxis.  Most likely you will need two each way, unless your port time allows you to depart from Akko after 2100.  I do not remember seeing taxis waiting at the port.  Even if there were some at the time, that may not still be the case, as my trips were pre-COVID.

 

JB:  No trains during the day any Saturday.

[IgKh]

The site of the ferry operator (http://www.malkatakko.co.il/) seems to imply that they will resume the Haifa - Acre ferry service on April 15th, so there is a chance it will still operate in May; they may or may not operate after Independence Day (May 5th this year). There is a contact e-mail in the bottom of the page, so I suppose it won't hurt to write and ask. Regardless, it is not a reliable service so best to have a plan B anyway.

 

On the way back, the bus route #271 (Nahariyya - Haifa, passing through Acre on the way) starts much earlier than the train on Saturdays and Holidays - around 16:00 according to this week's schedule. It doesn't go near the port so needs to be combined with the BRT route #1, which operates regularly. Don't know if it is worth the bother.

 

Regarding taxis - I vaguely recall a Taxi station being in Plummer Square (the square in front of the Haifa Center railway station, where the gate of the Cruise Terminal is also located) but haven't passed there for quite some time so I'm not sure. However there should be no issue to hail a taxi using an application (Gett and Yango Taxi both work in the Haifa area).

[roothy123]

I can't help with specifics, as I have not yet been to Haifa.  However, I wanted to alert you that you may not be allowed to go off the ship in Ashdod or Haifa if that is your first cruise stop in Israel, and if you're not flying in to Israel to board the ship.  I have seen reports of two of the first ships to visit Ashdod (and later visit Haifa) being delayed at the port because of testing required by Israel when people enter the country.  I'm trying to get more information, but I just wanted to let you know that is a possibility.  I don't know anyone on any of the ships that have gone there in April (Oceania, Viking, Norwegian and (I believe) Silver Sea.)  But Viking and Oceania passengers both reported getting off at almost 3 PM after arriving 6 AM.  I read that Norwegian passengers got off at noon.  But I believe all 3 of these ships were in Ashdod came at once, which might have been one reason 2 of the three were so delayed. And Viking PCR tests every day, so it seems likely that Israel wants their own testers on the ship, with no exceptions to be made.  Both lines cancelled all -day excursions that day; I'm not sure what people experienced if they had planned non-ship excursions. 

 

If any locals have more information on this, I'd love to hear it.  I could try to call a port agent, but I'm guessing they wouldn't respond to me.