Insight Guides Israel (Travel Guide eBook)

Insight Guides

• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781786719966
• Topic: Persönliche Entwicklung
• Subtopic: Reisen

Insight Guides: all you need to inspire every step of your journey.
An in-depth book, now with free app and eBook.
Israel is intense. This new edition covers Israel's top attractions, from the holy sites of Jerusalem's Old City, Bethlehem and Nazareth to the pleasures of the coast and a Dead Sea mud bath.

Over 358 pages of insider knowledge from local experts
In-depth on history and culture, from chapters on the people and religions of Israel, the history of the kibbutz ot its rich and varied cuisine
Enjoy special features on the country's bustling markets, Old Jerusalem's city gates, Mini Israel and Israel's four seas
Includes innovative extras that are unique in the market - all Insight Guides to countries and regions come with a free eBook and app that's regularly updated with new hotel, bar, restaurant, shop and local event listings
Invaluable maps, travel tips and practical information ensure effortless planning
Inspirational colour photography throughout
Inventive design makes for an engaging reading experience

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides has over 40 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps as well as picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture together create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

A–Z

A

Accommodations

There is a wide choice of accommodations in Israel, from deluxe suites in high-class hotels to budget hotels, bed and breakfasts, and youth hostels. Unique Israeli forms of accommodations include kibbutz guesthouses (relatively expensive rural retreats) and Christian hospices (more luxurious than they sound, usually with a 19th-century European ambience, and not to be confused with hospitals for the terminally ill).

Hotels

Hotels require guests to check out by midday, but on Saturday and holidays guests can pre-arrange to retain their rooms until the Sabbath or holiday finishes in the evening. Check-in is usually after 3pm.

Prices can be more expensive during the high season, which is Easter/Passover, July to August, Jewish New Year and Christmas. But there is a wide range of hotels catering for every pocket down to the cheapest youth hostels, which charge about US$17–30 a night.

Hotel rates are generally quoted in dollars and include a 15 percent service charge. If you pay in foreign currency you are exempt from 17 percent VAT. Eilat is VAT-free.

Major hotel chains include:

Fattal Hotels: Israel’s largest chain, with 29 hotels including the Herods, Leonardo, U and Magic brands. Tel: [phone]; www.fattal.co.il.

Dan Hotels: Israel’s largest luxury chain of 14 hotels includes the flagship King David. Tel: [phone], toll free from North America 1-800-223-7773/4; Europe 00-800-326-46835; www.danhotels.com.

Prima Hotels: Eleven four-star hotels around the country some of which have more character than their five-star counterparts. Tel: [phone] or *9995; www.prima.co.il.

Isrotel: Specializes in Eilat, where it has nine hotels, and has eight other hotels around the country. Tel: [phone]; www.isrotel.co.il.

Rimonim Hotel: Nine hotels with a lot of character, in particular the Ruth Rimonim Safed, and Rimonim Galei Kinnereth Tiberias. Tel: [phone]; www.rimonim.com

Holiday Inns: Seven hotels, five of which are upmarket Crowne Plazas. Tel: [phone]

Kibbutz guesthouses

Visitors wanting a truly Israeli experience should try a kibbutz guesthouse. They usually offer all the facilities of a luxury hotel plus the chance to get acquainted with kibbutz life at first hand. Though many of these guesthouses are in isolated rural areas, especially in the northern Galilee, others are located in the countryside but just 20 minutes or so by bus or car from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Many kibbutzim have opened country lodges (zimmerim). These are fairly inexpensive and guests can benefit from kibbutz facilities such as swimming pools, sport and fitness amenities, and good-value meals in the dining hall.

For further information, contact:

Kibbutz Hotels Chain Ltd

41 Montefiori, Tel Aviv 6520112

Tel: [phone]

For kibbutz reservations in the US:

Tourist Information Israel

Tel: New York 1-646 779 6764; Los Angeles tel: [phone]

Christian hospices

Another fascinating Holy Land experience is the broad array of Christian hospices. Originally designed principally for pilgrims, and owned by churches, these hospices cater for all-comers, including many Israeli Jews on vacation, who enjoy the old-world European charm of these establishments. Because these locations are often subsidized by the church that owns them, they offer excellent value.

The term hospice is misleading. Some, like Notre Dame in Jerusalem, owned by the Vatican, resemble luxury hotels. Others reflect the ethnic origins of their founders. The Sisters of Zion convent in the Jerusalem suburb of Ein Kerem is like a pension in Provence, while St Andrew’s Church in Jerusalem could be a guesthouse in Scotland and even serves mince pies and mulled wine at Christmas. For a full list of hospices in Israel, contact the Ministry of Tourism, Pilgrimage Promotion Dept., POB 1018, Jerusalem.

Admission charges

The major museums are relatively inexpensive, charging an entrance fee of about US$8–9, with half price for children and senior citizens and reductions for students. The Israel Museum charges half price for repeat visits. The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum is free. The Israel National Parks Authority, which runs the major archeological sites, charges US$6 admission fee, half price for children and senior citizens. It is well worth buying a ticket for the entire country’s national parks for US$45. Tel: [phone], or *3639 from within Israel. Most beaches are free.

B

Budgeting for your trip

Israel can be very expensive or quite cheap, depending on how you live. Modest accommodations start at US$50 a night and a luxury hotel might charge US$150 or even more. But you can find a youth hostel for just US$25 a night. Good negotiating skills can bring down prices considerably in all situations. A cheap meal in a restaurant is likely to cost US$10 or US$15, and a good meal with wine no more than US$35. Best value is a falafel in pitta bread and as much salad and chips as you want for just US$8. A flat-fare bus ticket in a city costs US$2.50, and the bus or train between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is about US$6. The taxi between the two cities would cost US$35. A cinema ticket is US$12 (US$17 for a 3-D film).

C

Children

Israelis love children, who are expected to be seen and heard, and people should not feel threatened by the forward behavior of strangers in the street or on the next restaurant table. They are likely to engage in conversation with your child and offer all types of candies.

Eating: Restaurants, hotels, and cafés are very flexible in meeting children’s fussy food needs, but tend not to have a formal child’s menu. McDonald’s, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Sbarro, and Pizza Hut are always near at hand for kids who like familiar junk food.

Accommodations: Many hotels operate babysitting services and are very flexible in adding beds in the parents...

Table of contents

• Israel’s Top 10 Attractions
• Editor’s Choice
• Introduction: The Promised Land
• Israel today
• Decisive Dates
• The Dawn of Civilization
• Empires and Exiles
• Perfidious Albion
• The Second Exodus
• Coming of Age
• The People of Israel
• Israeli Arabs
• The Palestinians
• The Army
• Religious Diversity
• The Christians
• Eclipse of the Kibbutz
• Insight: Markets
• Language and Culture
• Cuisine
• Judaica
• Digging Up the Past
• Conserving for the Future
• A High-Tech Economy
• Introduction: Places
• Jerusalem Yesterday and Today
• Jerusalem: the Old City
• Outside the City Walls
• Insight: City Gates
• The New Jerusalem
• The Galilee and the Golan
• Insight: The Cradle of Three Religions
• The North Coast
• Haifa
• Central and South Coast
• Tel Aviv
• The Inland Plains
• Insight: Mini Israel
• Introduction: The West Bank
• Lands of the Bible
• The Dead Sea
• Insight: Israel’s Four Seas
• The Negev
• Eilat
• Transportation
• A–Z
• Language
• Further Reading