During this tour you will explore Israel and Jordan main sites, including Jerusalem, Petra, the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee.
You will have your own private guides that will make sure you have a memorable experience.
DAY 1 – Transfer airport to Hotel in Jerusalem
You will be escorted after leaving the plane on Ben-Gurion Airport to the driver.
After travelling for about one hour in a luxury van, you will arrive to Jerusalem. You will be sleeping 2 nights in the King David Hotel.
DAY 2 – Jerusalem Old City and Mount Zion
You will enter into the walled city, which is divided in four quarters, each one of them with their unique population, buildings and traditions. We will start with the Armenian Quarter to reach Mount Zion, where the Room of the Last Supper and David’s Tomb are located.
We will stay outside of the wall to reach the City of David, the real old City of Jerusalem where you will reach the Pool of Siloam, a know place from the New Testament, via a 2700 year old tunnel.
Next is a visit to the Western Wall, the most significant site in the world for the Jewish people, where they have prayed for many centuries.
At the Western Wall Plaza you will go underground for another tunnel tour, offering a unique and fascinating look at the history of Jerusalem. Whether you are a history buff or just looking for a unique and interesting experience, a visit to the Western Wall Tunnels is sure to be a highlight of your trip to Jerusalem.
The exit of the tunnel tour is at the Via Dolorosa, the painful path of Jesus on his way to crucifixion. You will follow this route which will bring you to the holiest place for Christians: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, located in the Christian Quarter.
Alternative:
Visit the Temple Mount instead of the City of David. Not possible on Fridays, Saturdays and Jewish and Muslim Holidays.
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DAY 3 – St. George Monastery, Bet Shean, Capernaum
Saint George Monastery
You leave Jerusalem again overlooking the Wadi Qelt and the Judean Desert. St. George Orthodox Monastery, or Monastery of St. George of Choziba, a monastery located in Wadi Qelt, in the eastern West Bank. The sixth-century cliff-hanging complex, with its ancient chapel and gardens, is active and inhabited by Eastern Orthodox monks.
Bet Shean
Next is a visit to Bet She’an National Park with its spectacular ruins of the glory that was the Roman and Byzantine city of Bet She’an. Rising above them is the high mound on which Biblical Bet She’an stood. Here King Saul’s body was presented on the walls of the Philistine town. This city was ruined in a huge earthquake 749 A.D but restoration work makes it alive again.
Capernaum
From the desert and the Jordan Valley you continue into the Galilee and visit Capernaum, Jesus Home Town and center of His ministry. Visit the remains of Peter’s house, the Synagogue where Jesus taught the multitude about the Bread of Life.
You will be sleeping two nights in a De Luxe room with view of Sea of Galilee The Scotts luxury spa hotel in Tiberias, where you will also have dinner.
DAY 4 – The Golan Heights
Birkat Ram is a large, lake that is located in the crater of a dormant volcano. It is located in a Druze area of the Golan Heights.
Mount Bental, another dormant volcano, is a popular mountain peak, with great panoramic views over Syria. On top you find a now disused Israeli army out-post and it was one of the locations of heavy fighting during the 1973 Yom Kippur war and an excellent location to learn more about geopolitics if you are curious about the Arab-Israeli conflict and military battles.
Golan Heights Jeep Tour
From kibbutz Merom Golan, the first Israeli community established in the Golan Heights you will experience a two hour Geopolitical Jeep Tour crossing Quneitra valley and see the backyard of the kibbutz and the way we live here.
Private Wine Tasting
A private tour telling the story of the Golan Heights Winery in Qatzrin, its vineyards and region, philosophy and different processes of winemaking, a visit in the oak barrel cellar.
A professional tasting session, featuring a wide variety of their high-quality wines, accompanied by a variety of boutique Golan Heights cheeses.
DAY 5 – Nazareth, Akko, Caesarea
On the way we will stop in Nazareth, a unique city with Christian legacy, a Muslim majority and located in the Jewish state. World renowned as the childhood home of Jesus, Nazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel, and an important site for pilgrims and tourists, coming to visit the Basilica of the Annunciation. A bustling mini-metropolis, Nazareth offers shop-lined thoroughfares, stone-paved alleys lined with Ottoman-era mansions, and in recent years, has been reinventing itself as a sophisticated cultural and culinary destination. Everything in Nazareth is open for business on Shabbat (Saturday) and its friendly vibe and stunning location, right in the middle of the Lower Galilee.
Akko
Old Akko (Acre) is another amazing port city with a mix of archeology, authentic Middle Eastern markets, the blue Mediterranean sea, and some delicious ethnic food. You will visit a unique underground Crusader city, walk through a recently discovered 12th century tunnel made and used by the Templars.
Currently home to thousands of residents, Akko is a study of contrasts – the convergence of East and West, modernity and antiquity, beauty and ruins. Known for centuries as the gateway to the Holy Land due to its location as a port of entry for international dignitaries and trade, Akko provides a unique glimpse into the Crusader and Ottoman periods in the region. The subterranean crusader city was revealed and restored under the Ottoman city above. This extraordinary phenomenon was awarded World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Caesarea
About an hour drive from Tel Aviv, on the Mediterranean coast, you will visit the ancient amazing port city of Caesarea. Judea’s port city was built over 2000 years ago by King Herod. We walk through the ancient theater, the Crusader city and the fantastic aqueduct. We won’t skip the famous “Pilate stone”.
In Tel Aviv you will check in to The Norman, one of the Small Luxury Hotels of The World.
DAY 6 – Tel Aviv Bike and Tasting Tour
Your guide is waiting for you at the hotel for a bicycle tour.
Tel Aviv is a perfect city for biking, visiting the different neighborhoods, enjoying Bauhaus architecture in the White City, the central part of Tel Aviv, which is a UNESCO Heritage site.
On this tour you visit:
Jaffa
Sarona (19th century German Templers Settlement)
American Colony
Neve Zedek
Rothschild Boulevard
Dizengoff Square
The Tachana (First Railway Station)
Florentine (Tel Aviv’s Bohemian/Hipster neighborhood)
Beach Promenade
Carmel Market
Your lunch will be at the famous and busy Carmel Market, which is connected to the Yemenite Quarter, one of the oldest neighborhoods of Tel Aviv. Now it is home to people of all ethnicities, but it has retained a unique, village-within-a-city feel with narrow, cobble stone streets lined by small houses . It has often been praised as Tel Aviv’s coolest hangout place.
A tour of smelling and tasting vegetarian Middle Eastern delicacies like sabich, Druze pita with labneh and tabbouleh, falafel and malabi desert.
DAY 7 – From Israel to Jordan
This is your last day in Israel. In the morning you will leave early in the morning and start travelling towards the south and into the Negev Desert.
Avdat National Park
This is going to be your first stop of the day. Avdat, a ruined Nabataean city in the desert in southern Israel. It was the most important city after Petra on the Incense Route between the 1st century BCE and the 7th century CE. Today it is a National Park with many archeological remains.
Mitzpe Ramon Visitor Center
You will later visit this Visitor Center, located on the northern cliffs of the Ramon Crater, which will tell us the geological story behind this unique and amazing work of nature. Mitzpe Ramon (Ramon crater) is the world’s largest makhtesh.
Also here is located the museum and memorial dedicated to Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut who died in 2003 while being part on the Columbia mission.
You will continue driving upon arrival to Arava border. After crossing you will meet your Jordanian guide and drive to Aqaba, situated on the southern tip of Jordan.
You will be staying at the Wadi Rum Bubble Luxotel
DAY 8 – Wadi Rum
You will have breakfast at the hotel, and later drive to Wadi Rum. Uniquely shaped massive mountains rise vertically out of the pink desert sand, which separate one dark mass from another in magnificent desert scenery of strange breathtaking beauty, with towering cliffs of weathered stone. The faces of the sheer rock cliffs have been eroded by the wind into faces of men, animals and monsters.
Wadi Rum, the valley of the moon according to Lawrence of Arabia; here you will have the opportunity to experience of the Jeep tour 4×4 for 2 hours to explore the most spectacular sites of the area ending with a cup of tea made by Bedouins as a refreshing after your visit. Dinner and overnight at your camp.
