Hi all! Cross posting this from Trip Advisor. Super random on the ground Israel trips from a two week trip…arrived home 2 days ago. If anyone has questions feel free to ask!
if you are considering traveling to Israel independently, you should do it.
some general context for my trip. Two middle aged American women rented a car for 9 days and based ourselves in the Galilee 5 nights and Ein Bokek 3 nights before turning in the car and doing 5 nights in Jerusalem. LOVED it.
some random but hopefully helpful things to know, in no particular order:
1) Driving. So easy. Much easier than European countries I’ve driven in and gave us so much flexibility.
2) Parking. The most frustrating part of the trip. We came prepared with Pango and Cello apps and never could get them to work. It wouldn’t send the code or would only let me select Canada US or Mexico and would only let my cousin select US or Spain. Asked for space/zone numbers where none were given (that we could find). Am thinking maybe having an Israeli SIM card could have solved this? Two of us were reasonably tech savvy, tried reaching out to app developers, etc and no luck. That being said, we still managed to find paid or free parking in most places. Someone posted great directions to lots in Nazareth near church of annunciation and that was a HUGE help.
3) Gas. Did not realize some stations require an ID number at the pump so it was QUITE the debacle until we found a gas station with an employee patient enough to help us. Most gas pumps don’t have an English option, so unless you know Hebrew it’s definitely easier to go straight inside for help rather than trying to figure it out like we did.
4) israel has delightful u-pick places. One of our favorite things was an impromptu stop in the Golan heights to pick cherries right off the tree. They were delicious. Don’t be afraid to check out unknown things and ask dumb American questions like “what is this?” Because sometimes it results in the best cherries you have ever eaten.
5) this is pretty basic but just decide you aren’t going to See All The Things and instead pick one or two things a day to really enjoy. We spent an hour picking cherries and about 3 wandering around the Tel Dan nature preserve and enjoyed that much more than rushing around checking off sites.
6) get places EARLY or close to closing. We got to Masada right at 8 when the cable car opened. Those who had hiked earlier were done and coming down and we had the whole place basically to ourselves for a good half hour. Also it was super hot and going early really helped us. We went to Caesarea Maritima and Church of the Holy Sepulchure a bit before closing and again had them virtually to ourselves. Loved this.
7) Bethlehem: I’ve seen lots of questions about how to get there, etc. Y’all, it was SO easy. We caught the 234 bus outside of the Old City by Mamilla Mall. It was super easy to use. Clear when we got to the checkpoint. Checkpoint was a total nothing going into Bethlehem. A bit less clear leaving but just ask someone where to go, and bus back was literally right outside the checkpoint exit. Buses took Rav Kav and were super nice. Lots of taxis there; we took to Church of the Nativity and it was everything negative about taxis that one imagines; tons of attempts to rip us off and to get us to buy full day tours; lies about the church being closed, etc, BUT we just named our final price, started walking, and someone took us up on it. Do note that we couldn’t get into the grotto until 10 due to everyone having a service there in the morning (it was a Monday) but by arriving at 9:15 we were able to sit on the steps and listen to the service which was lovely and then were the 4th and 5th people into the grotto. As we were waiting for the service to end TONS of groups had arrived (more in comments)