I never would have imagined agreeing to fly all the way to Israel for just 8 days on the ground. I always thought Israel had to be at least 2 weeks given the time change and how long it takes to actually get there! But when we were looking at vacations for right after school but before camp started, many of the places we were thinking about were incredibly expensive. We hadn’t started looking until 2 months before our departure date. My children (8 and 6 years old) held a vote and wouldn’t stop telling us how much they both wanted to go to Israel. It was the only place they were interested in seeing! We kept telling them no one goes to Israel for just a week, and that a trip like that takes more than 2 months lead time.
Eventually, just to see, I looked up the prices of flights to Israel and was shocked that they were actually cheaper than flights to Europe! My husband and I talked it over and decided to give it a go! We booked them and couldn’t be more excited.
We ended up having an incredible time and it was one of the most magical vacations we could have hoped for. To top that, the weather was pretty perfect, there were no terrorist attacks (despite a lot of back and forth attacks during Ramadan leading up to the trip), and the crowds were minimal.
I loved this vacation and hope you enjoy our itinerary and notes below. As you can see, we decided to only focus on Jerusalem and Masada/the Dead Sea/Bedouins/Ein Gedi, with a day at the end in Tel Aviv before our flight home. We also thought avoiding the south and north were generally safer as well and we were happy with our decision.
Summary Itinerary
Day 1 (Friday):
- Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport at 4:30 PM
- Checked into Air BnB in Jerusalem
- Explored Jaffa Street for an open restaurant before Shabbat
- Dinner at Shager Ethiopian restaurant
- Experienced shabbat sirens and observed religious families
- Strolled through fancy hotels on Jaffa Street
Day 2 (Saturday):
- Attended shabbat morning services with friends
- Explored Mamilla Mall and the Old City
- Took the Ramparts Tour, selected Jewish and Armenian quarter route
- Visited the Western Wall during shabbat
- Visited Austrian Hospice and Church of the Holy Sepulchre
- Explored First Station and had dinner
Day 3 (Sunday – Old City):
- Brunch on Queen Shlomziyon Street
- Visited Time Elevator Jerusalem
- Explored Archaeological Park (Davidson Center)
- Joined the Western Wall Tunnel Tour
- Shopped for souvenirs in the Old City markets
- Explored Shuk Machne Yehuda in the evening
Day 4 (Monday – City of David & Sifting project):
- Explored City of David with an underground tour and water hike
- Explored Huvra Synagogue and nearby art gallery
- Participated in The Temple Mount Sifting Project
- Experienced City of David Lightshow in the evening
Day 5 (Tuesday – Beit Guvrin caves & Bedouin camp):
- Brunch at Gan Sacher Playground
- Explored Beit Guvrin Caves
- Checked in at Kfar Hanokdim Bedouin campsite
- Bedouin experience with splash pad, tea, dinner, and scorpion hunt
Day 6 (Wednesday – Masada and Dead Sea):
- Hiked Masada early in the morning
- Camel ride at the Bedouin camp
- Explored Dead Sea, played with mud, and floated
- Drove to Ein Gedi Kibbutz for overnight stay
Day 7 (Thursday):
- Enjoyed an awesome hike in Ein Gedi, particularly the Wadi David trail
- Breakfast at the kibbutz
- Drove from Ein Gedi Kibbutz to Tel Aviv
- Explored the Ayalon Institute Bullet Factory with an incredible tour
- Relaxed in Tel Aviv and prepared for the next day’s early morning flight
Day 8 (Friday):
- Explored Old Jaffa
- Visited Carmel market and enjoyed many delicious lunch stops
- Enjoyed swimming at Metzitzim Beach
- Explored Tel Aviv Port and had dinner at the port
- Prepared for an early morning flight on the next day
Itinerary with Commentary!
Day 1: Friday: Our Arrival
Arrive at 4:30 PM Ben Gurion Airport and our first shabbat night
– Air BnB (June 16-20): Arlozorov St 5, Jerusalem (Paris Square): This was a great 2-bedroom apartment with a parking spot!
– By the time we rented our car and settled into our AirBnB, shabbat was dangerously close (meaning we need to find where we could find an open restaurant for dinner before they all were closed)! We decided that we would try walking through Jaffa Street at Yafo Center, which was only a few minutes from where we were staying.
– All eateries were nearly closed down as shabbat was getting closer and my kids were really struck by the groups of Ethiopian kids roaming the streets together and the religious families dressed up head to toe heading to services. They said, “wow this is just like our synagogue’s family camp where all the kids could roam around together!” It was a great first impression of Israel. I also realized that my tank top and shorts were extremely inappropriate for the neighborhood and was quite embarrassed during our walk.
– We ended up finding Ethiopian restaurant that was open and had the best Ethiopian meal we’ve ever had. The place was called Shager Ethiopian and it was just off Jaffa Street. I think maybe they put lemon in their injera that makes it so good.
– During our dinner the shabbat sirens started going off and my son exclaimed, “how does one guy do it [blow the shofar] for that long??” which is hilarious because obviously it’s not a shofar but it our first time hearing the shabbat sirens! Tekiah Gedolah!
– Walking back we stopped in some of the fancy hotels nearby and realized that’s where all the other tourists were having their dinners!
Day 2: Saturday: Jerusalem on Shabbat
– We spent shabbat morning at services with our friend and her family. The synagogue we went to was rented out in a school and was conservative yet they still separated men and women with a wall between which was interesting. In the kiddush after, I was talking with the Israeli children who informed us their grades are called by the Hebrew letters (aleph, bet, gimmel, dalet) instead of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th. I left feeling worse for vet than I had ever felt for vet before. After that we had a full shabbat lunch in our friend’s apartment.
– Mamilla Mall: Then the Old City beckoned and we spent the rest of the afternoon there. We drove and parked outside the city gates and as we walked toward Jaffa Gate, we found ourselves walking through a new outdoor mall that was not there the last time we were in Jerusalem called Mamilla Mall. There was beautiful art and statues everywhere.
– Ramparts Tour: Upon entering the Old City, we paid to walk the ramparts within the wall circling the city, which was a blast (especially with our friend’s children with us which meant our kids never complained about walking)! You can select which way you go and we selected the Jewish and Armenian quarter.
– Western Wall on Shabbat: The Jewish/Armenian walk ends at the western wall so we got to go pray there during shabbat! Not only was it extremely uncrowded but there was no one yelling at us to cover our shoulders (we did try but didn’t bring enough long sleeve cover ups)! Several people had said not to bother visiting the Western Wall on Shabbat when many things in the Jewish quarter were closed but we loved how peaceful the wall was then and would recommend it!
– Austrian Hospice: We then went to the Austrian Hospice in the Muslim Quarter which has both delicious food in a gorgeous outside patio but also has an upstairs roof deck with incredible views of the Dome of the Rock. You need to have change per person which we did not have but some of the guests staying there let us go in with them, which was very nice.
– Church of the Holy Sepulchre: We also took a stop in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the first time and seeing everything inside was really incredible. Though we are Jewish, we really appreciated how many pieces of Christian history were packed into this one space with so many rooms.
– First Station: We ended our first full day with dinner at First Station in Jerusalem but soon found out that many restaurants don’t open on Saturday nights until Shabbat is fully over (so around 9 PM)! So eventually we found a falafel restaurant that could serve us sooner.
– Protest: When we got back to our apartment and found all the streets were closed, we learned we were staying a block from Bibi’s house and thus there was a full protest happening literally in front of our AirBnB at 10 PM. Our children were ecstatic and ran to watch first from the street and then from their bedroom window.
Day 3: Sunday, Old City
– Brunch and Galleries: This was a special day as it was both father’s day (in the States) and my husband’s birthday! We wanted to take him to the David Citadel hotel for their fancy weekend brunch but woke up too late for this possibility. Instead we headed to Queen Shlomziyon Street and had a wonderful brunch at Kadosh Cafe followed by stopping in a bunch of art galleries on the way to the old city gates.
– Time Elevator: This time when we went through the Mamilla Mall to get to the Old City, we stopped in to the Time Elevator Jerusalem for a historical video/ride of the city to add some depth for the kids. We had done the Time Elevator in Rome years before and I had enjoyed it. However, the video went too fast for them to understand what was happening and I’d say skip it.
– Archaeological Park- Davidson Center: Next we walked through the Jewish quarter and passed the Western Wall again (this time with notes!) on our way to the Davidson Center. We had a little bit of a hard time finding the Davidson Center and no one we asked had heard of it because I guess it has a few names. It may be easier to call it the Archaeological Park. Regardless, don’t give up and find it! You get to see interactive exhibits and really interesting videos on the inside, and then visit the old steps that led to the second temple courtyard that people used to walk up to get to the temple! You can look through this telescope to see an overlay of what it looked like back then which we enjoyed. This was a really cool stop. Plus they were digging and finding things while we were there!
– Western Wall Tunnel Tour: We booked the 4:30 Western Wall tunnel tour (the original one, not the new bridges one) which started at 4:20 PM. This was our first tour with a tour guide and I wasn’t sure how the kids would do. They were the only kids on the tour and were right up front listening to every word the entire time. They were even the volunteers when we needed people to stand to get a sense of how large one of the stones used for the stone wall were underground. We all loved this tour and found it incredibly fascinating.
– Souvenirs in the Old City: Afterward, we did some shuk shopping for souvenirs in the old city as we were leaving and my son found the old market stalls to be his favorite part of Jerusalem. We did go into some amazing stores with great histories. We got a beautiful ring for me from a stall and then he owner gave us a full tour of all the rooms of his shop (including an incredible Aladdin room in the back)!
– Shuk Machne Yehuda: Afterward we were late to meet friends at the Shuk Machne Yehuda so we took the new (new to us since we were last in Israel!) light rail train to get there. It was a great trip up and also a super fun time eating in all the market stalls. The market was beautiful and bustling at night.
Day 4: Monday: City of David & Sifting project
– This was an exciting day because we started with an underground tour of the old City of David, which started at 10 AM, was 15 min via taxi from our apartment, and unfortunately we slept in until 9:45 AM. However, it turns out the tour begins at an outdoor stop so even though we were late, we caught up to the group far before they headed down the steps, back in time.
– City of David: Our tour ended with a 20 min walk through the water tunnel in darkness through a narrow passageway. Unbelievably, no one else in our group of 20 had done their research and we were the only ones with flashlights (which we had strapped to our foreheads). I had great anxiety of doing this, thinking I’d be claustrophobic in the tunnel and nearly changed my mind up until I actually went in. I was persuaded because 1) since we were the only ones with flashlights, 2) it happened to not be crowded when we went and our group took so long before entering that I was convinced we wouldn’t be caught in a “traffic jam” within the tunnel itself.
So I was the first one in and turned back once at the start to see if my kids were okay. My son decided the water was too cold and had climbed the wall so each foot was on a side of the passage. He thought he would do the entire walk like spiderman not touching the water. My husband quickly pushed him in the water to get used to it.
After that I basically ran through the entire thing. There was no way of knowing if we were at the halfway mark or near the end so we just kept running as best as we could with the uneven floor. At one point I heard drumming and chanting and saw smoke in front of my flashlights and had a brief panic attack that there was a group coming toward us to attack us. We paused in the tunnel for me to explain this to my husband who told me I had to keep moving forward. It turned out it was a group of young men who we had caught up with and we were not attacked.
When we got out to the other side, the family to come out behind us (with two kids a tad older than ours) exclaimed, “gosh you guys went fast in there! You know you were everyone else’s light!” It took the next people in our group at least 15 minutes to emerge after (and there were more after them) we did so we felt bad about that. I should mention 6 months after the trip, the kids still talk about how much they loved this part of our Israel trip.
– Returning to Old City post City of David: After you finish the exhilarating water tunnel (which our kids loved) you can take another dark narrow tunnel back up to the city OR wait for a shuttle. Since there was no way I was getting into another narrow tunnel we waited a very long time for our shuttle! Once we arrived back in the Old City we rewarded ourselves with truly delicious falafel. We had asked our friend who visits Jerusalem a lot for a food recommendation after the City of David and he said, “there’s great falafel afterward!” and thought he was joking because there is tons of falafel in Jerusalem and he didn’t give me a restaurant name. However, he was right there literally was a great falafel shop right when you get off the shuttle (with upstairs seating!).
– Huvra Synagogue: We managed to spend 10 minutes visiting the Huvra synagogue in the Old City followed by an art gallery steps from the synagogue that specializes in biblical art made from old rocks pulled from under the Temple Mount. The owner/artist told us he got all the rocks from the Temple Mount Sifting Project, which is exactly where we were headed next!
– The Temple Mount Sifting Project: This was one of our trip highlights! When the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement conducted illegal renovations on the Temple Mount and disposed of over 9,000 tons of dirt mixed with invaluable archaeological artifacts in 1999, archaeologists rescued the dirt and the public is invite to come sift it! We had two hours there but could have spent the day. Each bucket of dirt was full of treasures and the experts would tell you exactly what you had found. We took a taxi there and the ride took three times longer than expected.
– City of David Lightshow: We had another dinner at First Station in Jerusalem before taking the shuttle back to the City of David to see the 8:15 PM night lights show! That was a cool experience as well though it was late and I’m not positive how much of it my little ones understood. The Tower of David one was easier to get to and may have been a better bet. It was pretty cool that we saw this the night that we went through the City of David earlier in the day though! It’s really well done.
Day 5: Tuesday: Beit Guvrin caves & Kfar Hanokdim Bedouin camp
– Gan Sacher Playground: We left our apartment and on the way out of Jerusalem to bet Guvin, we stopped for brunch in the park in front of the Knesset. But most importantly, the kids got to play on the incredible Gan Sacher playground. It was maybe the best playground we’ve ever seen so it was tough pulling them away!
– Beit Guvrin Caves: We loved our morning but it did mean less time at the Beit Guvrin caves, which were incredible. These are a 40 minute drive out of the city and were on our way toward the bedouin campsite. At the caves, you could do archeologist for the day but we remembered climbing through those tunnels and holes as teenagers and were nervous about doing that again in our early 40s! So instead we became cave explorers. We started with the bell caves, which were stunning. Next we meant to find one specific cave system but ended up in the one that had the oil press. The kids really loved this cave and all the passageways they could. We were very sad to leave but knew we needed to press onward to our campsite!
– The unicorn: During our hour drive later we made it to the to the bedouin camp for our 3PM check in, my husband and I both thought we saw a unicorn led by a nomad on the way there. We looked at each other as he was driving and both exclaimed, “did you just see that unicorn?!” We weren’t sure what to do (e.g. find a place to turn around and drive back the other way) and eventually convinced ourselves it was a white donkey with a long ear and maybe we couldn’t see the other ear. Sadly for our unicorn-obsessed 6 year old, she was asleep and missed it.
– Kfar Hanokim Bedouin camp site: Back to reality, our bedouin tent experience was awesome. There are many accommodation options (most fun being outside tent sleeping) but we opted for the one bedroom stone house with separate beds for the kids in the living room. We were excited to hear they had a splash pad section of the camp with water sprays everywhere and hammocks and swings to play on. We also bought some jewelry from the shuk on site and took some awesome pictures with the mountainous background in perfect sunlight. This was followed by a fascinating talk with a bedouin woman over tea, a delicious bedouin dinner feast, and then a late night scorpion hunt! We felt really bad for the people who showed up in crocs since no one was allowed unless they had fully closed toe shoes. The scorpion tour was incredible for all of us.
Day 6: Wednesday: Masada and Dead Sea
– Masada: So this was a risky part of our trip as we just had a late night scorpion tour and then were waking the kids at 5 AM to hike Masada! However, we pressed ahead as this side of the mountain has the Roman Path (versus the much more difficult snake path on the other side). The kids did awesome and totally rocked the hike. However, at the top they were not impressed with the ruins and were like, “that’s it?” But we took them to a service that was happening in the old synagogue on top, they got to perform their favorite hebrew songs in another room that had amphitheater seating, and they loved the view of the Jordan desert.
– Camel Ride: We made it back to our campsite by 9AM for our camel ride! Our 6 year old rode a donkey while my 8 year old son and I suffered through a camel ride that we both hoped was much shorter than it ended up being (it was very hot and very uncomfortable)! But we did get some great pictures.
– Dead Sea: Upon leaving the campsite at 11 AM, we meant to visit Lot’s wife on our way to the dead sea. However, someone in the car got car sick so we went straight to the dead sea instead (we went to Kalia Beach, which had its own parking lot). The last time I had been to Israel (circa 1997) I remember sitting in mud pits with friends with mud covering every square inch of me! However, I asked around and apparently there’s only one beach left with mud pits and it’s in the very far north. Therefore we went into a shop near the beach and bought a pail of dead sea mud (one is more than enough). The kids got to have the experience by putting it on them and letting it dry on their skin. They played in the sand, recreating the beautiful mountains surrounding us. And finally we decided to go into the dead sea.
First of all, the dead sea is evaporating and they say within 30 years it will be gone. We even saw a land bridge where you could cross from Jordan to Israel via the dead sea. So everything was very very hot. It was only 100 degrees (i say only because i think it got 20 degrees hotter the following week) but the sand was too hot to walk on bare foot. The dead sea water felt like it was boiling. I’ve never gone in such hot water before. The salt also seemed to be way more concentrated because my kids and I could only stand it for a few minutes before running out for the showers to get the salt off us. My husband, however, somehow was unbothered by the salt and stayed in for nearly an hour.
– Ein Gedi Kibbutz: By 3 PM we made it the final hour drive up to our kibbutz (the Ein Gedi Kibbutz). Now, I really love Jerusalem but I was in paradise at this kibbutz. The biggest regret of the entire trip is that we spent one night here and two in Tel Aviv instead of the opposite. What I loved about the kibbutz: it was gorgeous, there were giant trees and hammocks all over, there were mountain goats hanging around with other strange animals I’d never seen in my life, we got to take a golf cart to dinner, the kibbutz food was the best food on our entire vacation, the hiking was the most fun hike we’ve ever done, the pool was huge and a blast, etc. It was such a special, magical place!
I should mention that when we booked there were only single rooms left with one bed in each. So we got two of these side by side and we visited each other via the outside patios and sliding doors. I slept with my daughter and my husband with our son. The hotel is on one side of the kibbutz and the other side is the working kibbutz. They offered tours and I am still sad that we didn’t have time for the kibbutz tour as that was my favorite memory from when I went to Israel at age 7.
Day 7: Thursday, Ein Gedi hike then Tel Aviv
– Ein Gedi Waterfall Hike (Wadi David): We woke up early for our hiking morning, which we were all very excited about. I had done a lot of research for the various Ein Gedi hikes and at the end decided we would love the Wadi Arugot the best. We showed up at the entrance, and they asked us to put all our water bottles in front of them on the counter. After we did this, they told us we did not have nearly enough water and that we could not do this hike. They sent us to the Wadi David hike instead.
So began our favorite hike we’ve ever embarked on (and we’ve hiked a lot: see my DC COVID hikes post)! We hiked in our bathing suits and every 5 minutes was another waterfall to play in. We took our time with each one and really had a blast. The best part was the sign for the water trail which to get out of meant we needed to climb metal rings sticking out of the mountain. We loved it.
– By mid-day we need to get on the road to head toward Tel Aviv since we had a 2 PM tour of the Ayalon Institute Bullet Factory. You have a choice at this point- to drive on a short cut highway that goes through the West Bank or to add an hour+ to your trip and go the long way. We intended to go the long way but at this point we were going to miss our tour at the bullet factory if we didn’t go on the West Bank highway. It felt completely safe and we saw a lot of camels! At one point toward the Old City we ran out of gas and stopped at a gas station where they only spoke Arabic and my husband had to go inside to ask them to fill our tank with gas. There was a lot of confusion trying to get them to understand how much gas we wanted (they thought when he wrote 7, as in 7 liters, that he meant 7 shekels worth we think. When my husband finally got back in the car and I tried sending him back inside to buy me pringles, he was like, there is absolutely positively no way that is happening.
– Ayalon Institute Bullet Factory: Wow was this place something else. Seriously, you have to go visit. This was a kibbutz that had a hidden bullet factory under the laundromat where they were making bullets in secret right before Israel declared its independence. Most people at the kibbutz had no idea this was happening but on the tour you get to take the staircase down and learn how they kept it a secret.
– We made it to Tel Aviv and had dinner with another friend before crashing for the night. After spending a night at the Bedouin campsite and then the botanical kibbutz, the loud sirens and noise of Tel Aviv was jarring. I kicked myself again for not booking two nights at the amazing kibbutz as we tried to fall asleep.
Day 8: Friday: Old Jaffa and the Mediterranean
- Old Jaffa: We spent the morning in Tel Aviv with yet another really good friend who gave us a marvelous tour of the old city of Jaffa. We absolutely loved it and looking back, we would have been thrilled to spend a few extra hours there exploring all the amazing art galleries. We only went into one gallery and it was so stunning. This was my favorite part of Tel Aviv.
- Carmel market: Several people had recommended the Carmel market to us. I seriously thought they had said Camel market and was a little disappointed to realize this was not a market where you buy camels (I should have known given this was Tel Aviv). It was incredibly crowded and almost impossible to walk through given the crowds. In retrospect, we would have skipped this in favor of more Old Jaffa!
- Mediterranean: Next we decided it was time to let the kids enjoy swimming in the Mediterranean! After all, we had booked an Airbnb within walking distance to Tel Aviv Port so we wanted to take advantage of that! We walked to what I believe was Metzitzim Beach (though when we went, it was not separated by gender). The water was perfect and we had a great time swimming pretty far out and then playing in the sand.
- Port Tel Aviv: We ended the day with a trip with our Jerusalem friends to Tel Aviv Port where we took pictures next to the Tel Aviv sign, played in the giant sand box, ran around the docks, and had a dinner at a dock-side fish restaurant (that strangely smelled like cleaning supplies and that made it hard to enjoy the food).
The next morning, our flight was at 7 AM so we were up at 3 in the morning to get to the airport. Now that was an incredible, incredible vacation!
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