Holidaying in Israel

[callippo]

Malaysia is a very nice place for starters.

 

upinwath is talking complete garbage as usual. He should know that Malaysia and Indonesia DO NOT refuse entry to people with Israeli stamps in their passports, only people travelling on Israeli passports, this doesn't affect Israelis in practice as almost all of them can apply for a foreign passport of one country or another. I myself have heard a couple having an argument in their native Hebrew walking past on the street in Kuala Kumpur Israelis who must have been travelling on foreign passports. I told them to shush, which they did. Hebrew and Arabic, which a minority of Malaysians are at least vaguely familiar with, are close enough for somebody to recognise it.

 

only the Arab countries have a thing about the Israeli stamp. Hardly any of the north African ones do, besides the Israelis will always just stamp your passport using a seperate piece of paper. Sometimes they offer this just in case the visitor isn't aware they might have problems later, only to get refused when the visitor says that they would in fact be proud to have an Israeli stamp in their passport, which believe it or not does happen.

[Bassman62]

Yes, I found Eilat in the summer very uncomfortable, I was scuttling from one air-conditioned building to another, often by air-conditioned taxi .

Nashville is the same at the height of summer:- Air conditioned motel room, into air conditioned taxi, into air conditioned music bar.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

only the Arab countries have a thing about the Israeli stamp.

Let's hope that they see sense and stop the childish objections to visits by Israelis (or by other nationalities whose passports show Israeli visa handstamps). Peace works both ways, you know.

[Bassman62]

Let's hope that they see sense and stop the childish objections to visits by Israelis (or by other nationalities whose passports show Israeli visa handstamps). Peace works both ways, you know.

Up until recently when arriving in Southern Cyprus they could and sometimes did act up if your passpoert showed that you'd visited Turkey or Northern Cyprus.

[B2 Spirit]

I've been. I recommend it.

 

Masada at sunrise is amazing. There's a walk you can take in the middle of the desert which leads to waterfalls and pools. I think it's called Nachal David.

 

If you're after a chilled out evening, then staying at Kibbutz Ein Gedi is well worth it. Not cheap and not a huge amount to do at night other than walk around the botanical garden and check out the bar. The meal in the dinning room is of a very high quality. It's just relaxing and a good base to go and float at the dead sea, do masada etc.

 

Make an effort to meet people. If you can make some contacts, you will almost certainly have free places to stay the next time you go as Israelis are very hospitable that way.

 

I hired a car and risked the driving. As others have said it's mad, but once you get used to it - no probs.

 

I felt very safe in terms of street crime in Tel-Aviv. The beach front bars are great but geared towards tourists so are expensive. There are plenty of hidden gems in terms of pubs/clubs within Tel-Aviv.

 

You should check out the Baha'i gardens.

 

If you're into history, Israel has that everywhere. Every step you take has history underneath it.

 

If you do go to Masada, do it properly and walk up rather than take the cable car. Feels more authentic.

 

One thing you'll note about Israelis is that they tend to have more personality. I can't recall meeting a single bland person there. The women are stunning and you'll fall in love every day.

 

You should do the markets in Jerusalem and Jaffa.

 

If you're interested, there's a very impressive stalactite and stalagmite cave. One of the most in the world apparently.

 

On the way to Jericho there's a Monastery built into the hills, well worth a look.