I just walked across my entire country. Okay it's Israel, so it's not that big, but I can tell you that it was not easy.... The hike is called "Yam el Yam" or "Sea to Sea" and it starts on the Mediterranean seashore and heads across the northern part of the country known as the Galilee to Lake Kinneret, also known as the Sea of Galilee. There are a few different versions of it, but the classic one begins at the Achziv Beach and goes through the Kziv Stream, Mount Meron and

One of my favorite stories in the Jewish canon occurred in this past week's Torah portion. "And Isaac went out walking in the field toward evening and, looking up, he saw camels approaching. Raising her eyes, Rebekah saw Isaac. She alighted from the camel..." In itself it's not so exciting, until you realize that "alighted" is a polite word in English for what actually transpired in the Hebrew: she saw Isaac and promptly fell off the camel. Now, however, an article in the N

Israel has emerged now from a second lockdown, which was enacted over the Jewish holidays. While indoor spaces such as museums are still closed, the national parks are now open and more and more places will be opening in the coming weeks. As a tour guide of Israel, I cannot be more excited to get back to work providing incredibly meaningful, memorable and enjoyable experiences here for my clients. At this point, Israel has identified 34 green countries. These are countrie

I am sitting here looking at the absolutely stunning photos on the Instagram of Ayala Fishaimer and I cannot stop. Fishaimer is an Israeli wildlife photographer who has taken photos of animals all over the world, though of course, as an Israel tour guide, I am partial to the ones of animals in Israel. Which animals might you see here? Glad you asked. Foxes, jackals, hyenas, wild boar, ibex, rock hyraxes, antelopes, deer, oryx, camels, ostriches, donkeys, sheep, goats, hedg

Israel set a record last year with 4.55 million tourists. That was an 11% increase over 2018 which itself was a 42% increase over 2016. Even more amazing is that 94.4% of visitors to Israel reported a good to excellent experience in the country. That's an incredible success rate and I take pride in that, as a tour guide of Israel, I have a small part to play in that. If you are unaware, becoming an Israel tour guide is like getting a master's degree. It is a 2-year course

What do you do when as an Israel tour guide you are tasked with planning an outing in Israel for "people who have gone everywhere and seen everything?" Well - first of all, those people don't actually exist, since despite its size, there is so much to experience here - but I had as my touring crew for the day the closest thing to that: 9 other licensed Israeli tour guides. I quickly realized that I needed to think out of the box and my eyes turned towards the heavens. A q

I just read an article on CNN about a tourist being fined $1200 for trying to take sand from Sardinia's beaches and it got me thinking.... which things should you NOT take from Israel? I made a short list of those things - as well as a more extensive list of things which are frowned upon here but which unsuspecting tourists do all the time (or just not wise things to do while here). The first set of don'ts relates to that great quote "take only pictures, leave only footprint

This past week your trusty Israel tour guide took a 3-day trip to the coast and north of Israel: Wineries, dairies, national parks an incredible heritage museum and the grave of maybe the most famous person who never lived. Check it out (photos at the bottom): Day 1: The Grave of Harry Potter - I actually wrote an entire separate blog post about this here, but Israel is the final resting place of Harry Potter - just not the one you are thinking of. This one was a British sol

Now here is a woman after my own heart. She loves to hike. She loves to drink. But what on Earth is she thinking combining the two? As a tour guide of Israel I absolutely cannot condone this. However, if you wanted to come on an outdoor adventure in Israel with me we could absolutely combine these two things together (but you know, holding the drinking until the end of the day). One great place to do it would be in the Golan Heights. The Golan has some of Israel's most b

In just 10 days, Israel is set to make history. An Israeli team will be joining the Tour de France for the first time, and while most of the team members are not Israeli, an Israeli was selected by his teammates to be the first Israeli cyclist to participate in the world's greatest cycling competition. And he has only been cycling for three years! Everyone, meet Guy Niv... https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/israeli-cyclist-to-participate-in-the-tour-de-france-for-the-fir

A major travel update: Visitors from 20 countries can now enter Israel without requiring entering into quarantine upon arrival. Israelis (or visitors coming from Israel) can also now enter into a few more countries without quarantining, though they will need to show negative tests for covid-19. Just keep in mind that if you do come to Israel, you may need to quarantine upon returning home, depending on the current rules in your home country. As a tour guide of Israel, this

So you have been on a hike in Israel and saw a bunch of trail markers and wanted to know what they meant. Or you plan on hiking in Israel and want to get prepared. Either way, this post is for you. But first, a little history. 2600 years ago, after the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and taken many of the Judeans to captivity in Babylon ["by the Rivers of Babylon"], they placed someone in charge of Judea before they left - a man named Gedaliah. A Jew who was not happy w

2020 seems to be on track for one of the worst years ever. [For some historical perspective, just be happy you weren't alive in 536CE - see video below]. We may have been spared the murder hornets, but apparently the next things is.... monster jellyfish invasions. For portion of each summer, Israel has jellyfish on the Mediterranean coast. For the avid beachgoer, you can try to plan your trip to avoid jellyfish season (talk to your resident tour guide of Israel about this)

Here is a chance to get a brand new perspective on Israel. Here is a collection of 18 photos of Israel from above courtesy of the fantastic website Israel 21C. As a tour guide of Israel, the only way to snag even a couple of these shots is if you took a helicopter or hot-air-balloon ride. To see some of the incredible and special activities that you can do on a trip to Israel - most of which would not appear on any regular itinerary - check out my page here: https://www.tourg

All over the north of Israel - but especially on the Golan Heights, one can find dolmens [though it can help to have a trusty tour guide of Israel to point them out to you]. Dolmens are ancient burial sites by a nomadic people who wandered the area some 4200 years ago - think even pre-Abrahamic times. They would set up a marker - or megalith - which was generally made of 3 large slabs of stone which look like the Greek letter Pi - or "mini-Stonehenges" if you will [they act

As a tour guide of Israel I can attest that sometimes it is easy to think I've seen it all. Of course the truth is that there is so much to experience in Israel that not only have I not seen it all but if you were to come on a tour of Israel with me for an entire month we still wouldn't exhaust the possibilities. Yet never in my wildest dreams, did I think I would ever see this... It's the Dead Sea! Almost 10 times saltier than regular sea water. You don't swim, you floa

As you know, Israel is tiny. Depending on which areas one includes or not, it is about the size of New Jersey and Wales, half of Denmark, 1/5 of South Korea and 1/350 of Australia. Despite that fact - and despite the fact that over half the country is desert, it sits on no less than 4 different bodies of water. We have the Mediterranean Sea, Lake Kinneret (a fresh-water lake mistakenly called the Sea of Galilee), the Dead Sea (actually a salt-water lake) and the the Red Sea

You may have heard me say on more than on occasion that as a tour guide of Israel, the north of the country is my favorite part of Israel. In the winter time it looks like Ireland as everything is lush and green after we get the winter rains. Check out this incredible aerial video of the Jordan River estuary, where it meets the Lake Kinneret taken by Tal Hanoci. Don't forget to follow me on FB, Instagram and/or Twitter to get all my blog post updates: https://twitter.com/is

Can't get to Israel right now? Well you can have a piece of Israel - or 500 or 1000 of them for that matter - at home right now. Check out these amazing puzzles you can order on Amazon and do together. I'd love to see the finished product - so make sure to send a photo to your favorite tour guide of Israel. https://www.israel21c.org/10-puzzles-to-bring-israel-into-your-home-piece-by-piece/ Don't forget to follow me on FB, Instagram and/or Twitter to get all my blog post upda

As a tour guide of Israel, this is the question I have been asked most often over the last month or so: When is Israel opening up for tourism? Yesterday Israel reached what was supposed to be the end of the internal opening up stage. The last things were supposed to open - our Stage 3 - however is on hold due to a rise in daily infection rates (though serious cases have been holding steady, likely because most of the infections were happening via the school system, and overa