How to best utilize your time in Israel really depends on what utilizing your time properly means to you.
For me, I like to feel like I saw and experienced a lot every day when I travel. I’m one of those people who need a vacation from their vacation.
But maybe you’re the opposite. Maybe for you, utilizing your time appropriately means sitting on the beach all day. And that’s fantastic! But this post isn’t for you. You already know what you’re doing and how to do it.
This post is for people like me, who really want to see and experience as much as possible in the allotted time they have in a foreign country.
Now, the first step is always to determine how long you’ll be traveling. Generally speaking this is where people have the most limitations, which is why it’s usually the first thing I do. I decide how long I can allocate to my travels, and once I know this, I start planning.
In order to be able to get a taste of most of what Israel has to offer, you need no less than 10 days here. More on how much time you need in Israel here.
You need to not only decide on how long you have, but WHEN you’ll be traveling.
Now, the actual planning breaks down into two options, as I see it.
- DIY – Do It Yourself. Research, plan, and schedule everything yourself.
- Get a local licensed tour guide to get you through it.
As always, each one comes with advantages and disadvantages, so lets take a look!
DIY – Do It Yourself
This is generally how I travel.
I read, organize, check opening times, buy tickets in advance and make reservations.
When I travel, I know exactly where I’m going and at what time every single day.
If I’m booking multiple sites/attractions for the same day, I make sure I book one for the morning, and one for the late afternoon. This way I’m sure I’ll have enough time to get from place to place, and be able to have lunch, too! This is crucial when booking. To me, one of the most disappointing things when I travel is booking something and then not being able to make it.
Public transportation is also something I do a lot of research on before deciding where I’m going and what I’m doing. So much so that I have another post entirely dedicated to public transportation here in Israel.
How to DIY
Maybe you really want to plan the entire trip yourself, but don’t know where to start. Here is how I plan a trip, from start to finish:
The first thing I do is I come up with a list of the different sites I want to visit.
I plot them out on a map, and see if I have clusters of sites in the same areas.
Then I work with those clusters, breaking them out into tour days, potentially consecutive tour days if necessary. For example, here in Israel, if you’re heading north, it doesn’t make sense for you to drive north and back to Tel Aviv for the night, and then head north again the next day. You’ll want to sleep up north somewhere, and make your next day of touring much more efficient since you’ve cut out about 3 hours of driving in each direction.
Another key factor you need to consider is how long you think you’ll be spending at any given site. This will be key in properly utilizing your time in Israel. And, of course, this depends on your interest level. And, of course, how you’ll be getting there. Will you be renting a car? Using the public transportation system?
In Israel, you’ll likely need to do a combination of the two in order to get around most efficiently. When you’re traveling within a city, public transportation should be fine. Travel between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is fine too through public transportation. Recommended, even. But otherwise, it’ll be much more efficient for you to rent a car for the rest of your stay here. More on transportation in Israel in this post.
Once you’ve got all these variables taken care of, you’ve pretty much got yourself a fully planned tour of Israel! Good job!
Advantages/Disadvantages to DIY
As you can see, doing everything yourself if very time consuming, and involves a lot of guesswork. Even when making educated guesses, sometimes our estimations can be way off, screwing up our carefully planned itinerary.
As the name implies, when you DIY, you have to do all the legwork yourself.
But, it’s a great way to learn A LOT about a city or a country, and helps you get a deeper understanding into the life and the culture.
It’s cheaper, too, than hiring a guide.
Hiring a Licensed Tour Guide
This is much easier than doing it on your own.
Tour guides in Israel go through 2 years of schooling and have to pass 2 exams of the Ministry of Tourism before becoming licensed guides. They know where they’re going, they know what they’re doing, and because of their knowledge in the field, it will generally take them less time to plan an itinerary to suit your needs than it’ll take you doing it on your own.
If you’re going through a private guide, or through a travel agency, generally they’ll do all the bookings and make all the reservations necessary after you’ve approved the itinerary they’ve suggested.
When you’re here, you just need to show up when the guide tells you, and they manage your time in Israel to make sure you’re getting the most out of it.
This is much less work on your part, and for a lot of people it make the vacation much more enjoyable, knowing that someone else is taking care of verifying reservations and making sure you get from place to place on time.
Have a guide also adds another layer to the tour – where built into your vacation you have a local to interact with, to ask questions, to help you understand and navigate the country.
If you’re not sure which method is for you…
Talk to me and we can work through your wants and needs for the tour together.
Let me know in the comments if you’re a DIY person or a get a tour guide person!