Travel to Israel, Jordan and Egypt in March of 2024 - Should we go?

Could be OK, but I would book nothing that cannot be fully refunded. We are pretty bold but I might wait another month, six weeks before a full commitment.

What does your tour company say? I would think Egypt and Jordan would be okay for travel but not Israel. We visited all 3 countries last March for 24 days. 5 days in Israel is very short to see everything. Personally, I would drop Israel and leave it for another time. Add the time to Egypt and Jordan. Better to have the 2 countries and a trip then having to cancel the entire trip come the new year.

I would agree with dropping Israel from your itinerary. 5 days is definitely not enough time to see the country and I think the current war in Gaza will not be resolved in 4 months time.

There are previous threads on this forum that I would suggest reading through; my advice still stands. If it were me, I would cancel the Israel portion but keep the Jordan and Egypt portions with travel insurance. I know that some foreign embassy workers in Israel have been evacuated (I know some to Jordan) but that foreign embassies (such as the US) in Jordan and Egypt are still fully operational and staff are not expecting to evacuate. It's hard to say what will happen in four months, though.

I would rearrange the trip to exclude Israel for a few reasons...

1) No one knows if the fighting will still be going on;

2) Five days is not enough time in Israel. Five days would barely cover Jerusalem and nearby side trips. There is so much to see and experience.

Go back when it's quieter and you have more time.

BTW, if I was doing this trip in quieter times, I'd half the time in Egypt and add it to Israel. YMMV.

Because of my work, I am in direct daily communication with individuals in Israel. Life is not normal in Israel. People are scared and will be for a long time. Restaurants are not operating as they did in the past, tourist facilities are non-existent. I am not sure things will change much by March. I normally visit Israel 1-2 times per year and I do not plan on visiting at this time.

We had a tour of Israel and Jordan scheduled for late Feb/March and cancelled it.

Egypt should be fine. Be sure to take a tour. We used Gate 1 Travel, it was great and not expensive.

My personal opinion is that it would be a good idea to at least drop the Israel part of the trip -- and perhaps the entire trip. The history of the area is such that there will probably be a time in the next couple of years when it is perfectly safe. Right now it's just too dicey for me -- as is the Jordan and Egypt part as nobody really knows what will happen over the next several months. But that's just my opinion based on my risk tolerance. In the final analysis, only you can decide the amount of risk you are willing to take.

Thanks for you replies and input. we are traveling with Beyond Egypt and Tarik Moussa by ourselves so not in a large tour group and our gut feeling seems to align with the majority here who suggest dropping Israel and adding more time to Jordan and Egypt. We were originally planning on only traveling to Jordan and Egypt but I very much wanted to see Jerusalem so we added that to the itinerary but now doesn't seem to be the time to be traveling in Israel. Again, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Thanks again for the advice.

Hi Tim, one thing to add- since it sounds like you're dropping Israel, you might want to consider adding days to Jordan. If you're only going to be in Amman/ Dead Sea/ Jerash/ Madaba, 6 days is enough time but it would be pretty tight with adding Petra and Wadi Rum, which you'll want to do.

If you can still add to your itinerary, stay overnight at Wadi Rum in the desert. They have camps in varying degrees - ours had the word luxury in it. We had a bathroom, heat/ac, and a could make tea, with a small sitting area looking out onto the desert. It was magical to watch the sun set and rise over the hills.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

We are looking forward to spending a night in Wadi Rum and have decided that rather than adding time to the Jordan portion of the trip, we will take the time that had been allocated to Israel and spend 4-5 days exploring Istanbul. We can get a direct flight to Istanbul and will dip our toes into Turkey before eventually doing a much more extensive trip to the whole country in the future.

Hi Tim- That sounds like a great trip. We just went to Istanbul for the first time last month and absolutely loved the city. Enjoy!

I read an article that said tourism in Jordan and Egypt has cratered, so you might get pretty gòod deals on airfare and accommodations. Let us know how it works out for you.