Itinerary

Day 1: Tel Aviv

Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport and transfer to your hotel.

Day 2: Tel Aviv

Breakfast

Enjoy a day at leisure in Tel Aviv.

Day 3: Tel Aviv - Haifa

Breakfast

Drive to the Diaspora Museum. Proceed along the coastal plain to Caesarea, capital of Judea under the Romans. See the excavations of the Crusader city, Roman port, aqueduct and the amphitheatre that has been restored to its former glory as a concert venue. Continue via the Druze villages to Haifa.

Day 4: Haifa - Kibbutz

Breakfast, Dinner

View Haifa Bay and Western Galilee from the summit of Mount Carmel. Continue to the golden domed Bahai Shrine to see the exotic Persian Gardens. Proceed to Safed, the centre of Jewish mysticism, and visit the ancient synagogues and artists' colony. Next, the Golan Heights to see the former Syrian bunkers, Kuneitra and the new Israeli town of Katzrin. Tonight's stay is at a kibbutz guesthouse.

Day 5: Kibbutz - Sea of Galilee - Jerusalem

Breakfast

Start the day with a visit of Tiberias. Drive to Capernaum to see the ruins of the synagogue and octagonal Church of St. Peter and then to Nazareth. Visit the Church of the Annunciation. Drive via Beit Shean to Beit Alpha to the remains of the mosaic floor of an ancient synagogue depicting the zodiac.

Day 6: Jerusalem (Old City)

Breakfast

Visit King David's Tomb and the Room of the Last Supper on Mount Zion. Enter the walled city and walk through the newly restored Jewish Quarter. Take in the Roman Cardo, Herodian Quarter and the Western Wall. Walk along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Proceed to Mount Scopus and then to the Mount of Olives for a magnificent panoramic view of the Old City. Continue to Bethlehem, stopping at Rachel's Tomb and to visit the Church of the Nativity.

Day 7: Jerusalem (New City)

Breakfast

Travel to the Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem to see the Chagall stained glass windows. Continue to Yad Vashem, the memorial to the Holocaust and then to the Israel Museum. Visit the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed and the miniature model of Jerusalem as it was during the Second Temple period. View the Knesset, Israel's Parliament and the Givat Ram Campus of the Hebrew University.

Day 8: Dead Sea Region

Breakfast

Drive through the Judean Desert to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, almost 400 m below sea level. Stop at Qumran to visit the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

Continue along the shores of the Dead Sea to Massada. Ascend by cable car and tour the ancient fortress where the Zealots made their last stand against the Romans before committing mass suicide in 73 AD. Descend by cable car. Time and weather permitting, an opportunity will be provided to float on the Dead Sea. Return to Jerusalem.

Day 9: Jerusalem

Breakfast

Day at leisure in Jerusalem.

Day 10: Jerusalem

Breakfast

After breakfast, transfer to Ben Gurion Airport.

Eilat Extension

Extend your journey and visit the sundrenched resort of Eilat on the Red Sea.

Day 10: Jerusalem - Eilat

Breakfast

Travel south to the Negev Desert, visiting Israel's Air Force Museum at Hatzerim. Stop for a camel ride and see an authentic Bedouin tent. Visit Sde Boker and look at Ben Gurion's hut and grave. Stop at Mitzpeh Ramon to gaze into the Ramon Crater. Arrive at Eilat.

Day 11: Eilat

Breakfast

Day at leisure in Eilat or take an optional tour (extra cost) into Jordan to see the rose-red city of Petra.

Day 12: Eilat - Tel Aviv

Breakfast

Visit the underwater observatory, one of the largest sea aquariums in the world, built into a coral reef. Drive to Timna to see the copper mines and King Solomon's pillars and marvel at the huge multi-colored rock formations.

Day 13: Tel Aviv