Israel ITINERARY suggestions -- 2 weeks ?????

Hi. I'm going to Israel for 2 weeks. Please help me with itinerary suggestions.

I will land in Tel Aviv. I would like to visit Jerusalem for a couple of days.

IN the middle of the trip, I would probably like to go to small towns villages on the sea or inland near the north. I don't want to see suburbs of tel aviv. I want to see some little towns that are known to be interesting for the people who live there, like druze villages, towns of moroccan jews, ethiopians, etc....places with good good, markets, etc...

At the end of the trip, I would probably make a quick trip to Masada/dead sea on one day.

I may also stay in Eilat for two nights possibly.

Also, is the Beer Sheeva weekly market really interesting? I read that people come from all over, is it still going on? I read it was a market with like animals and stuff.

Please give suggestions.

For a Druse village with a market, go to Daliyat al-Carmel (south of Haifa). The market is mostly clothing, though, and from what I remember it's stuff imported from India - the sort of thing you can find anywhere.

There are no towns of moroccan jews, ethiopians as such. Jews of all origins live everywhere. To give you an example, in the building where I live, an apartment block in a town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, there are people from Russia, Ethiopia, native-born Israelis who might be from anywhere on earth... and this is typical of most places in Israel. There are some moshavim, farming communities, that were settled in the 1950s mainly by people from Morocco because at that time there was mass immigration from Morocco and the new arrivals were sent to the moshavim (which was the policy in those days) and many of them simply stayed where they were. Moshavim are not particularly interesting to look at. They are not "villages" in the European sense, with pretty houses and a church - or in this case synagogue - round a village green. The 1950s moshavim are basic concrete houses, some of which have been extended and modernised by their owners over the years, but they are not something you would go out of your way to see.

The Beersheba market is mostly junk. Since the Beduin have been using jeeps rather than camels for the last 40 years or so, you are several decades to late to see anything interesting.

A couple of days isn't nearly enough for Jerusalem. I'd say four days as an absolute minimum. And unless you have a car, you can't really do Masada and the Dead Sea in one day - there is no bathing beach near Masada and the buses are infrequent.

With only two weeks, you'd be nuts to go to Eilat. It's five hours' travel time from either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv in each direction, and there's nothing there except a beach resort. There are much nicer beaches on the Mediterranean.

As for other suggestions, what are your interests?

Hi,
I agree with Shuff on most things (but the tone man...), skip Beer-sheva market, Eilat is worth seeing but 3-4 days is minimum for such a long drive to be worth it.
Here is a plan for two weeks:
1 day arrival
3 days Jerusalem
1 day tour dead-sea/Masada back to Jerusalem
4 days Eilat including drive back and forth
2 days Tel-aviv and beach
2 days Arca or Haifa from thre you can do a day tour to Druze village Daliyat al-carmel
1 day deprature

Enjoy!

Disagree with Moja. With so little time you'd be giving up the Galilee for time in Eilat. IMHO, absolutely insane. Much better to go to Sea of Galilee area, Upper Galilee and the Golan (including nature reserves and/or Christian religious sites) and to spend at least one more day in Jerusalem.

I'm not offended by any advice, all is good, and I take ideas into consideration. I do see that you all seem to consider Eilat more like just an out of the way beach destination. Seemed like just new construction of big hotels, and just a vacation place. But, then I saw a photo of the Red Sea and the mountains in the background and it just looked so pretty, that I took it into consideration, since I hadn't been there before.

If I skip Eilat, any other suggestions for small towns to visit. For example, I will post another question, about little towns to visit in another post. Thanks for answers and keep them coming in!

Nobody is saying you shouldn't go to Eilat. It's just that with only two weeks total it seems a big waste of time. However, if what you have seen, heard and read about Eilat sounds exactly what you are after, then go! Do what's right for you, not for me or anyone else. If Eilat sounds more your scene than a1's suggestions, go to Eilat. Although photographs in travel brochures and on web sites always look much more attractive than the real thing... Just bear in mind that it's a five-hour bus journey in each direction. Or you can fly from Tel Aviv, but it's obviously much more expensive that way.

If you are going up north, try Rosh Pina. It was founded at the end of the 19th century and has a lot of old buildings. It's accessible by bus. You could combine it with Safed/Tzfat, which is actually much older, with many houses dating from the 16th century. Safed is full of art galleries. You don't want to be in Safed on Shabbat because everything will be closed - unless you are looking for a mystical religious experience, which is what Safed is big on.

Hi, I hope that list may help you, my favorite places in Israel.
1.Manara clift eastern upeer galilee
2. Keshet Cave (maybe “arc” cave) in the upper western north Galilee
3. The old city and market of Akko
4. Monfort castel
5. haifa bahai gardens
6. The Arbel cliff
7. Hurshat Tal National Park
8. Nimrod castle
9. Old Caesarea
10. Apollonia near Herzelia north to Tel Aviv
11. Old city of Jaffa (near Tel Aviv)
11. Mt. Herodium south of Jerusalem (in the west bank)
12. Makhtesh Ramon in the south
13. Timna valley
No mater what, don’t go to bear Sheva, seriously, don’t.
Try same Druze guest room in Beit Jann or Ein al-Asad
Don't go to Dalyet al Carmel

2 weeks? i would say 2-3 days in jerusalem, with 2 an absolute minimum. concentrate mostly in the Old city and include Mt. of olives and mt. zion. i think 3 for jerusalem is better. jerusalem is the jewel of israel/palestine. tel aviv, 1 day at most, very most, and include jaffa if you spend one day. tel aviv is very cosmopolitan, no biggie, to me anyways. sea of galilee, one day. can take a tour on "united tours" from tel aviv or jerusalem; around $70 and very informative; i would recommend it for first timers. if you go alone, take a bus to tiberias, but then you must take a taxi to the churches, etc., as public transport is poor. i recommend the tour for first-timers, and especially for those who are interested in biblical history; it is worth the money; book the "united tour" inside jaffa gate of the old city in east jerusalem, or book online (google it). one day for masada and dead sea; take a bus from central bus station in west jerusalem. ask info. for the bus schedule inside the bus station, as buses are semi-infrequent. i HIGHLY recommend entering the west bank. i have been to bethlehem, hebron, ramallah, nablus, jenin, and ni'lin village. the west bank is much different than israel proper, much different. in my opinion, you cannot say you have been to israel, without including the occupied territories. you cannot get into Gaza now, but you can get into the West bank and i highly recommend it. spend one day in bethlehem and hebron, leaving at 8am and going to bethelem first, to see the church of the nativity, and then the old city in hebron and the tomb of abraham; take a shared minivan (pronounced "serveece" in arabic from outside damascus gate of the old city in east jerusalem). go to bethlehem in the morning, hebron in the afternoon. nablus was really cool - go to the old city in nablus and talk to palestinians there. i learned so much in nablus. in jenin, i met a family and my friend and i hung out with them for several hours; they showered juice and coffee on us, it was very cool. they don't see many tourists up there. leave early in the morning, no later than 8am and make sure you catch a shared taxi back to ramallah before sunset, otherwise you will have to pay for a special (private) taxi as my friend and i had to. but i highly recommend travel in the occupied palestinian territories (the west bank) as it is VERY different than "Israel proper." very different feel, different culture, and you NEED to be in the west bank to see what the Israeli military occupation is doing to the Palestinians. please go to the west bank, at least one day, but preferably 2 or 3.

Haifa is cool for the Baha'i temple on Mt. Carmel; you must make reservations to visit the temple though and the gardens on Mt. Carmel.
Akka (aka, Akko) was cool for the old city and crusader castle. you can take a bus or train from tel aviv, or bus from jerusalem, closer from tel aviv. one day at Akka.
skip Nazareth, not worth it on a short trip.
to me, the "jewels" of israel/palestine are jerusalem (number one!!!!!!), masada and dead sea, sea of galilee (on tour), and the west bank. well, Haifa was cool too for the Baha'i temple and gardens, excellent gardens on Mt. Carmel. Jerusalem is the main highlight, spend 2-4 days here, absolute minimum of 2.

i would skip the Berr Sheba ( spelling?) market as i'm sure it is overly touristed and not so great; i didn't even go because i'm sure it is not worth it, as well as i have been to many markets in the world, so no big deal. and i've heard/read that Berr Sheba itself is no biggie. i don't know, if you are short on time, i would skip it. focus on what i said above and west bank. if you have a lot of time on your next trip, maybe. but i have been to israel/palestine twice and have never gone as it doesn't much interest me as i'm quite sure it is overrated.
druze villages are near haifa; there are 2. but i did not go, never went, because i hear/read that they are very touristy. does not interest me. but if you must go, go to Haifa and go from there; just ask and they will tell you how to get there. but in my opinion, you may be very disappointed. re: Ethiopian, etc, forget it; there are no known enclaves that i know of. focus on palestinian areas in west bank; you will get MUCH more out of it.
- julie

I won't relate to the information given about most of Israel, since I'm not knowledgeable (though I would suggest that if someone didn't have a lot of time, maybe spending so much time getting to and getting from Eliat wouldn't be the best idea).

But my little town of Safed (Tzfat) in the NOrth of Israel is a place that most people enjoy. It's an old town, dates back to Crusader times (and before, though there's no archeological evidence of that), and the town itself was built from the 12th century onward. It's windy lanes, stone houses, and a lot of religious sites that are quite significant to Jews throughout the world.

This is also the town where the study of Kabbalah developed in the MIddle Ages, and is known as the City of Kabbalah. There are still many people here who study Jewish mysticism, and it's a lot of fun to visit their study areas and, for some of the Kabbalah artists, their galleries.

There's an extensive website that gives a lot of information about the town at www.safed-home.com

as far as eilat goes, it depends what time of year you're planning your trip. if you're going in the winter, then spending a couple days in the heat might be nice. if you're going in the summer, it'll be insanely hot in eilat. while the water will feel amazing (it's nice and cool), if you're spending any time NOT in the water, you'll totally be melting.