Young Leadership Tour

Arrival - Tel Aviv

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

In the evening meet your tour guide and group at the lobby of the hotel and take a short walk to a great restaurant for a “get together” welcome dinner.

Your guide will ask everyone to take photos during the tour and during the farewell dinner we will present the winner’s photo! 

Overnight: Tel Aviv

Old Jaffa and Trendy Tal Aviv

We begin our tour with a Segway or bicycle tour. Experience modern Tel Aviv with its mix of business and pleasure whilst riding along the busy promenade which goes from the north to the south of Tel Aviv. The tour will end at Old Jaffa one of the world's most ancient ports. Enjoy the art galleries, cafes, and boutique shops which are all part of today’s Jaffa scene. 

We will continue to the first neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Neve Zedek. This pretty area is packed with beautiful buildings, arty boutiques and stories about the establishment of the ‘White City’. It is home to many artists, poets and intellectuals including the famous artist Nahum Guttman and author Shai Agnon. Tel Aviv is named the ‘White City’ due to the 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 a great place to view and understand this type of architecture.

From here we will enjoy a stroll through the colorful Carmel Market and/or trendy Shenkin Street where we will have lunch.

If it is Tuesday or Friday we can walk along to the Nachalat Binyamin craft market. The atmosphere is like a street party – with colorful stalls, cafes and street entertainment. You can pick up unique hand-made mementos from the artists themselves. 

In the afternoon we will visit an Innovation Center, The Center tells the story of the Start-Up Nation and explains the Israeli narrative of innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.

Next, we’ll take a fun Graffiti tour in Tel Aviv’s up and coming Florentin neighborhood and hear all about the many different street art creations. We will also have an opportunity to taste some local delicacies. (Time permitting) 

BlackOut Dark Restaurant (https://nalagaat.org.il/en/about/) is our unusual venue for dinner. This is an exceptional culinary experience that will trigger your senses. Imagine eating in pitch black darkness served by blind waiters. When you don’t eat with your eyes, the flavors, scents and textures have a new meaning.  

Afterwards for those that want to continue into the night our staff will accompany you to the Rothschild Boulevard area where you can have fun in “the city that never sleeps” and have a drink at a local roof top bar in Tel Aviv.

Overnight: Tel Aviv

Crusaders, art and wine

Today we start our journey north. After checking out of the hotel we will drive along the coast to ancient Caesarea to explore the excavations spanning from the days of King Herod and the Romans until the Crusader period. Your guide will help you imagine exactly how this port city looked like in ancient times. 

We will then drive north along the Mediterranean coast to the picturesque town of Zichron Yaacov. Here we will visit the Elma Arts Complex, to view works of Israeli artists and other temporary exhibitions, located in a beautiful setting with sea views. Zichron is known as a winemaking town and here we will enjoy lunch, wine tasting and tour of the Carmel Winery or Tishbi Winery.

After the winery we’ll drive north for a short stop in the port city of Haifa where you will see the famous Baha’i Temple Persian gardens covering much of the slopes of Mount Carmel.

If the group has visited Caesarea or Haifa on previous tours, we can incorporate a visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the old city of Acre. Here we will discover that opposites do attract. Acre is a meeting place between East and West, old and new and ruins and beauty. The city has been shaped by the Romans, Ottomans, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Byzantines, and British so you can imagine what fascinating historical stories the walls and fortresses have to tell.

Overnight: Galilee

Golan Heights and the North of Israel

This morning we will tour the Golan Heights, stopping at an observation point overlooking the city of Kuneitra, and the Syrian territory. Atop Mount Bental we will take in the scenic beauty and learn about the political and strategic complexity of the area.  (pic 6)

Next, we’ll all climb into jeeps for a wonderful nature tour of the area taking in the spectacular scenery.  

After lunch we will depart the north and drive to Jerusalem via the Jordan Valley.

We have several options to offer for stopping on the way:

Leisure time at “Gan Hashosha” (Sachne) National Park where the hot and cold springs offer the ideal mid-day siesta experience.

or

Visit the ancient Beit Alfa Synagogue with its beautifully preserved mosaics.

or

Tour the impressive remains of the Belvoir Crusader Fortress - a visit which can also be combined with a meeting with the son of the late Meir Har Zion who is regarded as the most legendary Israeli soldier and commander in the first decades after the IDF was formed.

From one of the above options we will drive on to Jerusalem.

Overnight:  Jerusalem

Yad Vashem and the Holy City

We will begin the day with a visit to Visit “Yad Vashem”, the Holocaust Memorial Museum - a world center for documentation, research, education, and commemoration of the Holocaust that safeguards the memory of the past and imparts its meaning for future generations. 

We’ll then continue to Jerusalem’s famous Machne Yehuda market where you can have a wonder through the sights, smells, and noises of the market. Here you will find many opportunities to taste local delicacies. It is both a regular fruit/veg market and a culinary center with specialty stalls and restaurants. Try out a delicious falafel or shawarma, chocolate rugelach, bureka, halva, boutique cheeses and more. 

In the afternoon we will explore the old city of Jerusalem starting with the Jewish Quarter to see the Cardo, an 1800-year-old shopping mall still in use today and the Broad Wall, remains of the First Temple Period city wall. We will continue our walk through the Christian and Armenian quarters of the old city and on the way experience the delights of the oriental bazaar - admire the wares, taste the delicacies, and smell the spices. 

If this day is a Friday - just as Shabbat enters, we’ll visit the Kotel plaza to view the special celebrations and prayers that can be experienced only at this time of the week.

Dinner at your hotel.

Overnight:  Jerusalem

Desert Delights

After breakfast 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. 

This evening we will have a farewell dinner to sum up your special experiences – and find out who took the best photo!

Overnight:  Jerusalem

Tel Aviv / Ben Gurion Airport

Transfer to Ben Gurion Airport for your return flight home.