Israel Group Vacation
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Anonymous
It would be cheaper to join for a year and go on the trip than do it through that $14K provider! |
Anonymous
I really disagree. The family will get so much more out of the trip with someone to share the history, context etc. |
Anonymous
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Definitely think it’s worth having a tour guide in Israel but if you’re willing to put in some time planning it and working with a guide in advance, I’m not sure you need a group tour (unless you want one, in which case go for it!) There are so many tour guides you could use - I’m just naming a few I have seen recommended but so many more:
https://debratours.com/ https://www.israeltrails.com/ https://www.aussieguide.guide/ https://israelwitharky.com/ |
Anonymous
The poster that mentioned $14k did not say it was pp.
Maybe a bad assumption but I thought s/he meant $14k total plus food and airfare. Which is cheaper than $5k pp plus airfare for a family of 4. We've considered trips through our synagogue but they seem pretty pricey. |
Anonymous
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Oh it was me. Let me get the receipts. I haven’t even told my husband how much the trip cost. Family of 5 - 2 adults 3 kids
Winter break It was very expensive. Flights- slightly above $1K pp direct IAD to TLV so $6K total Tour planned for us with private guide who drove us plus entry everywhere and 4 nights of lodging -$14K I did 5 nights of Airbnb in Jerusalem myself - about $300/night 4 breakfasts were included and maybe one dinner, airport transfers both ways. And we bought the rest of the food I think. We didn’t go to fancy restaurants - in the Airbnb we went to the grocery store and basically every time we ate out we had hummus falafel and shawarma. Fwiw. I don’t usually pay that much for a trip. I usually moonlight as our own travel agent. I did get what I paid for - I had a call with the company and said what I was looking for and they made the whole schedule and booked everything and we just showed up at the airport and they took care of everything. But I paid for it!! My husband is Israeli (but moved here when he was 6, and he hadn’t been been back since 2003 or so) & his family told us we should do a tour for our first trip. Next time - now that I know the country a bit more - I would maybe do a tour guide for a day or two for a certain specific thing but otherwise do more on our own. Our oldest son said he wanted a not over the top bar mitzvah and then a family trip to Israel. |
Anonymous
| It actually makes me feel better that it would have been roughly same price for us to go with our synagogue if I had to pay $5Kx5. |
Anonymous
Honestly, this sounds very inexpensive compared to most other options. You basically traded 4-5 private tour days for 10-12 group tour days. |
Anonymous
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To be clear I had a private tour for 7 full days. I booked the lodging in Jerusalem myself but we still had the tour all of those days except shabbat. They planned stuff for us to do on Shabbat but we were on our own.
They had planned a day of our touring for our first full day in Tel Aviv too but when I got the schedule I said - scratch that day - we need to rest after flight and see family. I made a few comments on the first draft of the itinerary & they updated. It was cool and flexible. And our guide even gave us certain options of what did we want to do during the trip too. We felt very taken care of. He gave us a great food tour of the Machane Yehudah Market. I want to go back and do another one with him! Israel maven was the company and I do recommend them. I have recommended to my friends IRL. |