Haifa Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Land

Bus

Arriving from the south, passengers are dropped off at the new Hof HaCarmel bus station (adjacent to the train station of the same name), from where you can take bus No 103 downtown. The old central bus station (HaHaganah Ave) handles city buses. Buses to Akko, Nahariya and the Galilee use the eastern bus terminal at Lev HaMifratz.

During the day, buses depart every 20 minutes for Tel Aviv (No 900 or 910, 23NIS, 90 minutes), while there’s an hourly service to Jerusalem (No 940 or 947, 39NIS, two hours). Heading north, bus No 271 and 272 (express) go to Nahariya (13.50NIS, 45 to 70 minutes) via Akko, and bus No 251 and 252 (express) stop at Akko (11.50NIS, 30 to 50 minutes). Eastbound, bus No 430 goes to Tiberias (28NIS, 90 minutes) and bus No 332 goes to Nazareth (17.50NIS, 45 minutes).

Car

You can cover a lot of territory in northern Israel by hiring a car for a couple of days. It allows you to easily visit off-the-beaten-track places like Montfort, Ein Hod and Peqi’in. In Haifa, the only car-rental agency in town is Avis; others are east of the city near the Lev HaMifratz bus station.

Avis (867 0170; 2 HaPalyam Ave)

Hertz (861 1613; 102 Ha’atzmaut St)

Train

Haifa effectively has several train stations. The southernmost is Hof HaCarmel, which is useful for getting southbound trains to Tel Aviv and elsewhere. The second most useful is Haifa Merkaz, near the port and downtown. Lev HaMifratz, in the eastern part of the city, is close to the Lev HaMifratz bus station, where you’ll end up if you’ve taken a bus from Akko.

From Haifa Merkaz, trains depart roughly hourly for Tel Aviv (27.5NIS, 90 minutes) via Netanya (23NIS, one hour), and north to Nahariya (16NIS, 45 minutes) via Akko (12.50NIS, 30 minutes). For questions about train schedules, dial

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Air

Arkia (861 1600; 80 Ha’atzmaut St) connects Haifa with Eilat on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday (447NIS). Haifa airport (HFA; 04-847 6100) is in the industrial zone east of Haifa; a taxi will cost around 25NIS.

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