Classic Tour – Saturday Arrival (8 Nights)

Saturday - Ben Gurion Airport / Tel Aviv

Arrive at Ben Gurion Airport, where you will be met by a representative and transferred to your hotel. 

Overnight Accommodation in Tel Aviv.

Sunday - Diaspora Museum / Caesarea / Druze villages

Depart Tel Aviv and drive to the Diaspora Museum for a visit.

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

Overnight Accommodation in Haifa. 

Monday - Haifa / Safed / Golan Heights

The tour of Haifa will begin at the summit of Mount Carmel where you will take in a breathtaking panoramic view of the Haifa Bay and Western Galilee.  Continue on to the golden domed Bahai Shrine to visit the exotic Persian Gardens.  Proceed to Safed, the center of Jewish mysticism, where you will visit the ancient synagogues and the artists’ colony.  Continue to the Golan Heights to see the former Syrian bunkers, Kuneitra and the new Israeli town of Katzrin.

Overnight Accommodation on a Kibbutz. 

Tuesday - Sea of Galilee / Nazareth

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 proceed to Nazareth.  Here you will visit the church of the Annunciation.  Drive via Beit Shean to Beit Alpha to see the remains of the mosaic floor of an ancient synagogue depicting the zodiac.

Overnight Accommodation in Jerusalem.

Wednesday - Jerusalem: The Old City

Visit the tomb of King David and the room of the Last Supper on Mt. Zion.  Enter the walled city and walk through the newly restored Jewish Quarter.  Visit the Roman Cardo, the Herodian Quarter and continue to 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.

Overnight Accommodation in Jerusalem.

Thursday - Jerusalem: The New City

Drive to the Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem to see the Chagall stained glass windows.  Proceed to Bayit Vegan to visit the miniature model of Jerusalem as it was during the Second Temple period.  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 see the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, and the Givat Ram Campus of the Hebrew University.

Overnight Accommodation in Jerusalem.

Friday - Qumeran / Massada / Dead Sea

Drive through the Judean Desert to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, almost 1300 feet (400 meters) below sea level.  Stop at Qumeran to visit the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  Drive 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.

Overnight in Jerusalem.

Saturday - At leisure

Overnight Accommodation in Jerusalem.

Sunday - Jerusalem / Ben Gurion Airport.

After breakfast, transfer to Ben Gurion Airport for departure.