Off the Tourist track - Experience Israel Tour

History, Street Art and Architecture

The group will be met at Ben Gurion airport and then transferred by private coach to your hotel in Tel Aviv. 

After checking into the hotel and freshening up, we’ll enjoy a tour of Jaffa, one of the world's most ancient port cities, where stone buildings, narrow passages, and picturesque courtyards recall the rich past of this charming city. Enjoy the art galleries, cafes, and boutique shops which are all part of today’s Jaffa scene.

We’ll continue to Tel Aviv’s up and coming Florentin neighborhood, famous for it’s prolific and colorful street art. Whilst hearing about the different creations we will also have an opportunity to taste some local delicacies.

Tel Aviv is named the ‘White City’ due to a large number of buildings built in the unique form of the Bauhaus architecture. In fact, Tel Aviv has the highest number of Bauhaus buildings in a city in the world. Rothschild Boulevard is our next stop and a great place to view and understand this type of architecture.

The evening will be free for exploring this vibrant city often called “the city that never sleeps”.

Dinner and Overnight: Tel Aviv

Art, Wine, Bahai Faith, and Ancient City

We leave Tel Aviv this morning and drive north along the Mediterranean coast to the picturesque town of Zichron Yaacov. Here we will visit first the Elma Arts Complex, to view works of Israeli artists and other changing exhibitions, located in a beautiful setting with sea views. Zichron is known as a wine-making town and here we will enjoy lunch, wine tasting and tour of the Carmel Winery.

Next, we continue north to Haifa and Mt. Carmel to visit the beautifully symmetrical gardens of the Bahai Temple.  We will also have an opportunity to meet a senior clergy of the Temple for an explanation of the Bahai Faith and their connection to Israel.

After a short drive, we’ll arrive at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the old city of Acre. Acre is a meeting place between East and West, ruins and beauty, so what a better way to get to know the city than a fun game. Solve riddles, use your creativity and carry out fun tasks, whilst wandering around the market alleyways, the ancient walls and Acre's picturesque harbor.  The game is based on historical content, folklore, and themes that are connected to the three religions which are represented in Akko. 

Dinner and Overnight: North Israel

Spirituality, Birds and Druze

Today we will visit Safed, home to the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. We will take part in a fascinating program arranged together with the Safed Kabbalah Center and deepen our knowledge about Jewish spiritualism.

Lunch today will be a vegetarian/vegan delight at one of the cafes Moshav Amirim. The whole village, founded 50 years ago, embraces a vegetarian, vegan, and organic lifestyle and ideology. All products are organic and home-made. There are many different types of workshops that we can arrange, such as meditation and self-awareness.

Did you know that some 500 million birds migrate through Israel's skies twice a year and they love to stop to rest in Israel? In particular, they choose the Hula Valley, where we’ll visit next. We’ll take a bird-watching tour of the Hula Valley Nature Reserve in a specially converted trailer pulled by a tractor that gets really close to the flocks of birds.

In the evening, we will experience the Druze way of living. The Druze are an ethnic community with their own religion and cultural norms. We will visit a Druze family in the Golan, for a special cooking workshop of Druze food specialties, and we might get lucky and hear some secrets about their religion.  Our visit will end with a delicious Druze cooked dinner.

Dinner and Overnight: North Israel

Pomegranate Wine and Chrisrianity

Today we will visit a very special winery. The Rimon Winery where wine is made from pomegranates. They have over a dozen varieties and Rimon (the Hebrew word for pomegranates) Winery is the first in the world to make wine from this tasty fruit.

The rest of the day we will spend visiting the important Christian holy sites in the Sea of Galilee area, in particular:

Capernaum on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus made his ministry headquarters.

Tabgha, the site of which many believe Jesus miraculously multiplied two fish and five loaves of bread to feed the crowds.  

Mount of Beatitudes, known as the site of the Sermon on the Mount.

Dinner and Overnight: North Israel

Spices, Cheese and Desert

We will start our day with a visit to The Spice Way Herb & Spice Farm in Beit Lechem Haglilit. The farm, which has been in the same family for 4 generations, is an agricultural farm that grows spices and herbs and has a spice-themed visitor center. The visit can include cooking workshops and a lecture about how herbs and spices can improve our health.  

From here we will continue our tour and drive south to the Negev Desert stopping at the Kornmehl Farm, where they breed goats and make a variety of different goat cheeses. Situated among magical views of the desert hills, the farm faces remnants of terraces belonging to an ancient farm from the Middle Bronze period.

After a delicious lunch at the farm, with cheeses and other home-made products, we will enjoy an enchanting walk through the desert canyon, Ein Avdat (time permittimg). Ein Avdat is famous for its reflective pools surrounded by giant walls of white rock. Also, archaeological evidence shows that Ein Avdat was inhabited by Nabateans and Catholic monks.

Our final destination for today is Mitzpe Ramon where we will stay overnight.

Dinner & Overnight: Mitzpe Ramon

Balloon Ride, Jeep Tour, Local Lunch and Desert Dinner

It’s up early this morning for a once in a lifetime experience with a hot air balloon ride over the Ramon Crater (“Makhtesh Ramon”) and marvel at the spectacular views of the Negev Desert. Upon landing, we’ll enjoy a champagne breakfast before continuing our day. The Ramon Crater is the world’s largest erosion crater and we will see it up close on a jeep tour passing through countless earth colors, beautiful landscapes and hear interesting information about how the crater was formed.

Lunch will be at “The Culinary Queens” of Yeroham - a social project in which women host visitors in their homes for an unforgettable experience of aromas, colors, and flavors. You are invited to a meal of ethnic delicacies with home hospitality and stories from the community, accompanied by the organization's facilitators, for a rich human, cultural and culinary experience.

We’ll then return to the hotel for resting before our evening under the clear Negev skies.

Tonight, you will experience a delicious desert dinner, camel rides, and stargazing with spectacular astronomical telescope observations accompanied by mind-blowing explanations and facts about our universe.

Dinner and Overnight: Mitzpe Ramon

The Lowest Place on Earth

After breakfast and checking out of the hotel we’ll drive to the Dead Sea and soak up the relaxing, ethereal atmosphere of the area before arriving at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Masada. We’ll take the cable car up to this ancient fortress, built by King Herod. It’s a most amazing experience to wander around the ruins and hear the stories of determination and heroism.

Lunch will be at one of the hotels on the banks of the Dead Sea and afterward, you’ll have a chance to experience floating on your back on the lowest, saltiest body of water on earth. It is an incredible natural phenomenon and “swimming” in the Dead Sea is one of those experiences that cannot be put in words – you just have to try.

We’ll then go onto Jerusalem, check into our hotel and have dinner.

Dinner and Overnight: Jerusalem

Eco Art, Wine and Jerusalem Village

We will begin with a scenic drive into the Jerusalem Hills to visit the Vertigo Eco Art Village at Kibbutz Netiv Halamed-He. This is a practical learning center aiming to generate social change and to promote an alternative model of sustainable living through comprehensive art and environment educational programs for the public. You can choose from various workshops such as movement, earth sculpture, and an ecological tour.

For lunch, we will go to one of the boutique wineries (Ella Winery or Tzuba Winery) and enjoy a delicious meal and wine tasting.

Last stop for today will be the tranquil Jerusalem neighborhood, Ein Karem.  Here we can visit some famous centuries-old holy sites, including the Church of St. John the Baptist, containing a cave said to be the saint’s birthplace, and Mary’s Spring. Walk through the village’s narrow streets viewing the galleries and shops selling hand-painted tiles and jewelry and enjoy a coffee at one of the quaint village cafes.

Dinner and Overnight: Jerusalem

Old City, Trendy Market, World-leading Museum

We start off with a fascinating walking tour of the old city of Jerusalem. All our senses come to life as we enter the walled city via the Jaffa Gate and stroll through the oriental market with its colorful wares, aromas of spices, sellers calling to buy and tasty delicacies. We will visit the Christian Quarter including the famous Via Dolorosa and Church of the Holy Sephculer. Then through the market to the Armenian Quarter with its delightful pottery shops. Next, we’ll arrive at the Jewish Quarter with its Cardo, a 1800-year-old shopping mall still in use today. Finally, we arrive at the holiest place for the Jewish people, the Western Wall, the last remnant of the Temple. From here we will also see the Dome of the Rock – of holy importance to Islam.

Next, you will be taken to the colorful Jerusalem market, Machane Yehuda to enjoy tasting some of the local delicacies and lunch at one of the trendy restaurants located in the market.

In the afternoon we will take a most interesting guided tour of the Israel Museum including the Dead Sea Scrolls housed in the Shrine of the Book, the Model of Jerusalem from the time of the Second Temple and one of the permanent exhibitions.

After resting and freshening up in our hotel we’ll go to dinner at one of the lovely restaurants located in the Jerusalem Hills (Rama’s Kitchen or Pichonka).

Dinner and Overnight: Jerusalem

Start-ups and Hummus

We will check out of the hotel in the morning and visit one of the many start-up companies based in Jerusalem (JVP or a digital health start-up company).  

Just before you go home we will take you to Abu Gosh, the unrivaled capital

of hummus in Israel, to enjoy some of the local fare for lunch.

Then it’s onto to Ben Gurion Airport for your flight back home.