Israel & Petra
Israel & Jordan Travel Itinerary & Guide
ViaExperience Post From:
5 Days in Israel & Jordan
Brimming with rich and deep history Israel and Jordan are both fascinating places. On this itinerary, we will spend 4 days in Israel and Palestine traveling through Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, Jaffa, and more. Then we’ll round out the trip with a one-day adventure to Jordan’s Petra.
Day 1:
Tel Aviv is a culinary paradise, today we’ll be exploring some of Tel Aviv’s best food and the old city of Jaffa.
Shakshouka is an Israeli favorite, consisting of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, and garlic, commonly spiced with cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg. It is a must-try, when visiting Tel Aviv. We tried shakshouka at multiple places and our favorite was at the HaCarmel Market. It’s a little bit of a hard place to find, as it’s on a side strip from the main area of the HaCarmel Market, but it’s well worth the find! (Google Maps Details Here). The seating area is a wrap around counter outdoors, so you can see the magic happen right from your seat. Our waiter was really friendly and joked around a bit with us. They offer multiple types and variations of shakshouka from the classics to a few interesting twists, all being very delicious and at a good price!
Explore the HaCarmel Market
If you’re not too full, the HaCarmel Market is filled with tons of great bites and Israeli snacks to try. Also, it’s a great place to buy souvenirs and gifts for back home.
Arts and Craft Fair
Tuesday and Fridays during the day, adjacent to the Nahalat Binyamin Street, there is a very popular artist market which offers even more unique gifts and items. Most of the places accepted credit cards.
Arte Italian Ice Cream
As I mentioned, Tel Aviv is a foodies paradise, and that includes the delicious ice cream from Arte. With a long list of flavors, each one as creamy and flavorful as the next, Arte is perfect on a hot Tel Aviv day.
Lunch at Michelangelo
Travel to the old city of Jaffa for lunch at one of Tel Aviv’s most popular vegan restaurants, Michelangelo. The kebab on a skewer was extremely delicious and offered on a bed of freekeh and mixed vegetables.
Jaffa Free Walking Tour
Discover the old city of Jaffa (and beautiful views and facts about Tel Aviv) with a free walking tour offered by Sandemans.
The free walking tour is completely tip based, so you only pay for what you feel the tour is worth. Bring cash along to tip your tour guide.
If you’d like a more intimate tour with a private guide, I would also recommend Hatruv Tours, Josh Hartuv is a fantastic tour guide and his site offers great recommendations across Israel.
Dinner at Miznon
Miznon was one of my favorite places we ate at, so much so I went their twice on this short trip! Miznon offers pita sandwiches for around 50 NIS filled we an assortment of meats and other toppings. It’s so simple, but so good. They also offer the “sweetest sweet potato” and cauliflower as sides. They also have free pita you can try! It’s counter service and can be really busy and a bit chaotic late on popular nights.
Day 2:
Relax along the Mediterranean Sea and enjoy all of the culinary highlights Tel Aviv has to offer.
Breakfast at Day Kitchen
Day Kitchen is a short stroll from the Hacarmel market and is a small cafe-like restaurant which offers high quality dishes at very affordable prices. I enjoyed the classic eggs on roasted Moroccan bread, lamb bacon, stir fried spinach, grilled mushrooms, & salty cheese served with sliced vegetables on the side. They also offer a delicious shakshuka, if you’d like to keep the shakshuka tour going.
Tel Aviv Beach
Tel Aviv has stunning beaches with beautiful white sand and wave breakers to help keep the water relatively calm. There are restaurants and cafes along the beach to grab a drink. You can also rent a chair, lounger, or umbrella by paying at one of the stations and then taking a ticket to the attendants. The beach has lifeguards until around 6 p.m..
You could ask multiple people in Tel Aviv what their favorite vegan restaurant is and hands down you’ll hear Anastasia mentioned. It’s just a short stroll from the beach and offers indoor and outdoor seating so it’s a perfect break from the beach. They offer a variety of delicious refreshing drinks including alcoholic beverages. The food is delicious and they take such interesting twists on familiar dishes. We indulged on multiple dishes including the Jerusalem artichoke cream pappardelle, the pumpkin paella, and the soba salad. I would order everything again in a heartbeat.
Hakosem, meaning Magician is considered to be Tel Aviv’s best falafel and shawarma. The line can be a little bit long, but the falafel and shawarma are well worth it (and they also occasionally pass out free falafel to the folks waiting in line). They offer half sizes of sandwiches stuffed with falafel and shawarma so you can enjoy a little bit of both.
Cremerie De L'eclair
Cremerie De L’eclair creates perfectly looking and tasting ice cream sandwiches with a variety of cookies, ice creams, and toppings. The offer the top French music and theme adds to the interesting and unique ambiance.
Day 3:
Travel to and explore Jerusalem.
Travel to Jerusalem
Travel to Jerusalem by bus or by train (that transfers at the airport). If you are catching a bus you can find it at the Arlozorov Central Bus Terminal. Buses leave very quickly and frequently. Bring cash to pay for the bus (you pay at boarding). The train is becoming more reliable, and can be picked up close to the Arlozorov Central Bus Station. It’s only about a hour to a hour and a half away from Tel Aviv depending on traffic (which is why sometimes the train is better).
Jerusalem Walking Tour
Book a Jerusalem Walking Tour for the afternoon. We booked through Sandemans (the same company we used for the Jaffa tour) and ended up doing a paid tour, they had too many people on the tour so it was really hard to hear anything as the guides don’t use microphones. Our guide was great, but wish the tour was more intimate. You can book through other guide companies online, take a free tour or outside the Jaffa gate there are tour guides offering their services.
The tour through the old city takes you through some of the most historic and spiritual places in the world. Across multiple religions, making every site so fascinating. With this being said, it can be very crowded and a bit exhausting on this tour, so take deep breathes and have lots of patience. Also, bring lots of water and sunscreen.
Dinner at Arikha Sabikh
Arikha Sabikh serves up Sabikh, an Israeli sandwich based on a traditional Iraqi Jewish dish. It consists of pita stuffed with fried eggplant and hard boiled eggs. It’s delicious and a very quick and easy dinner after an exhausting day.
Explore Mahane Yehuda Market
Across the street from Arikha Sabikh is the Mahane Yehuda Market, where you can find more delicious food, Israeli sweets, and at night time a bit of nightlife and bars.
Day 4:
Take a day tour to the West Bank including Bethlehem, Jericho and onto the West Bank.
Bethlehem, Jericho, West Bank & Dead Sea Tour
We booked a guided day tour from Elijah Tours. It was truly a great way to explore the West Bank, Palestine and Dead Sea. We started the morning by being picked up at the David Citadel Hotel (where many tours depart from). From there we were taken to Bethlehem (which is in Palestine) where our guide joined us after we were greeted with coffee and sweet treats (then given time to use the restroom). From there we were taken to see Banksy’s work in Bethlehem, then to Shepherds Field, the Western Wall, Milk Grotto, the Nativity Church, St. Catharine Church, and rounded out the first part of thee tour with a quick stop at the Olive Wood Factory and souvenir store. For the second part of the tour, a smaller group of us were taken through the three different zones of Palestine, learning more and more abut the area from a local Palestinian. We then were to taken to Jericho where we got to enjoy a very surprisingly delicious buffet (that was an additional cost). After being stuffed from the buffet, we made our way to the Dead Sea (testing to see if we wouldn’t float after filling our bellies). At the Dead Sea, you’re first greeted with a demo of a mud treatment exploiting your skin (and of course asked if you would like to buy some mud as a souvenir), then let free in the park next to the Dead Sea which has a swimming pool, lounge area, full service bar, locker rooms, showers, bathrooms, and paid lockers (bring coins as credit cards wouldn’t work for us). Head down to the Dead Sea, slap some mud on your skin, let it dry slightly, then wash off with the large water spouts, and enjoy time floating. We only felt like we needed about 10-15 minutes in the Dead Sea. (Part of my skin was a bit irritated.) After rinsing off, our skin felt amazing, and this great feeling lasted for a few days.
On the tour, you should bring a towel, sunscreen, passport, a hat, and lots of water. Do not shave before going in the Dead Sea or it will sting. Also for males, do not urinate as it can be quite painful.
Day 5:
Cross the border into Jordan to explore the wondrous Petra.
Petra, Jordan Day Trip
This was hands down my favorite part of the trip, and I actually wish I would have done an extended 2-3 day tour spending more time in Jordan. We booked a tour through Tourist Israel, which offered a very extremely organized and fantastic day trip to Jordan’s Petra and back. It’s a lot of traveling (around a 5-hour drive one way) and lots of time waiting at border crossing, but it is still so worth it. You do get some sleep on the tour bus to Petra and once you get to the Jordanian side of the tour there is plenty of great information from the very informed and articulate tour guides. At the border crossing there are additional fees for visas and crossing duties that need to be paid, increasing the price of the already expensive tour (again, totally worth it). Bring USD as the exchange rate is a lot better when paying with USD as opposed to paying with shekels. The first stop is at a small souvenir shop and cafe (that also offers spectacular views from their roof top). When you arrive at Petra, you get a small lunch box with very mediocre food (but again you’re here for Petra, not the lunch). We were given a walking tour into Petra then released on our with a few different options. It was nice to have the guided information then time to explore on our own. At the end of the tour, we grabbed food from a restaurant that specialized in Jordanian favorites to eat on the bus. We got back to Jerusalem a little after 10:00pm.
Things to bring: around $150 USD per person, your passport, lots of water, and snacks (there are a few rest stops with snacks the bus does stop at.)
Tips and Tricks:
- Your first thought when traveling to Israel or Jordan is going to be around safety, on the entire trip I felt completely safe and comfortable. There are a lot of other places in the world that have made me feel more uncomfortable. Just pay attention to current events and the news (even though they can exaggerate) it will still be helpful.
- Uber and Lyft do not operate in Israel, but you can use the app “Gett” which is essentially Uber but with licensed taxis. It’s fairly affordable as well.
- Shabbat (sundown Friday to sundown Saturday) will heavily impact travel plans as buses, trains, and many restaurants/sites are closed. In Jerusalem, there were only about 4 restaurants open and the rest of the city is a ghost town. Tel Aviv is a little more accessible, but many of the popular places will still be closed, then jam packed after sundown on Saturday. If you do need to travel between cities on shabbat, you can take a Sherut, which is a shared taxi van service that still operates on Shabbat and is affordable.
- Credit cards (not Amex) were accepted everywhere in Israel.
- Credit cards can be used in a few places in Jordan, but sometimes it will come with a fee or can’t be used at souvenir stands in Petra if you find something you absolutely love, so bring USD.
- We had trouble at a few ATMs with American debit cards.
- When coming into Israel, many people have complained about the intense questioning from border control, just take a deep breath and be prepared with all your travel information. They’re not there to harass you, just to ensure that they keep everyone safe.
- When flying out of Israel, leave plenty of time to get to the airport, as security is very intense (including the car being checked, an exit interview (where they even asked about my other passport stamps) a very thorough bag check (they pulled out every single item of my bag and checked it), then before boarding a flight back to the U.S. our bags were checked for liquids.
- It’s a very politically charged region, and you will hear both sides be very vocal, listen to their stories, most people are open to answering questions, but understand it’s very complicated and much of what we see in the media doesn’t present the way it truly is.
- When traveling to any holy sites (or through out Jerusalem) we recommend to cover your shoulders and knees.
- The water in Israel is safe to drink, but the way it is processed can make foreigner’s stomachs a little queasy, so it’s probably best to stick to bottled water for drinking.
- The currency in Israel is the shekel. The currency in Jordan is the Jordanian dinar.
- Most people in Israel speak very good English. On the Petra tour, we found everyone spoke English as well.