Herzliya/Tel Aviv for two weeks

[Anonymous]

Any suggestions on what to see? Tagging along with DH who'll be there for work. Will have a two year old with me. Have beach access and a pool but would like to get out and see things too. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

A lot has to do with your travel radius and if you have a car. Your best bet would be to search the "Tried and tested great things to do with kids in Israel" Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/kidsdaysoutisrael/

If you do a search, search for words like "Tel Aviv" or "Herzliya" (with various other spellings). If you have a car, you can check neighboring cities like Ramat Gan (with the safari) and Ra'anana (with Park Ra'anana). There's a small playground at Gordon Beach in Tel Aviv. Also with a car, Caesaria is great for kids because they can run around and it's great for adults because it looks amazing (but don't think too hard about what would actually happen there). The Bahai'i Gardens in Haifa are beautiful, but they don't allow food in the gardens and everyone has to stay on the path. Unless your 2-year-old is amazingly well-behaved, it's not doable for much time. The gardens are also not particularly stroller-friendly. If you do bring your child, just across the road from the top of the Gardens is the Louis Promenade, and if you go up the stairs, you'll find a fabulous playground with amazing views of Haifa and the Mediterranean. There's also loads to do in Jerusalem, especially the Western Wall, the Israel Museum, and amazing playgrounds. If you have membership to a science museum with ASTC reciprocity (like the Maryland Science Center), you will be able to get into Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem, MadaTech in Haifa, Carasso in Be'er Sheva, and Clore (Weizman Institute) in Rechovot for free. I think that Bloomfield is the best of the bunch at 2 years old, but I wouldn't recommend making a special trip; all the major science museums within a 200-mile radius of DC are more updated and larger than Bloomfield.

I hope this helps! Enjoy your trip!

[Anonymous]

Make sure to eat at Al Hamaim on Rainbow beach. We lived close by for our time in Israel (State Dept). Whenever we had visitors it was the first place we'd take them.

If you go to Caesarea, try Helena for a meal. Great setting and good food. Well, all the food in Israel is good.

Lucky you!

[Anonymous]

Oh what a wonderful time you will have!

The ancient Roman port of Caesarea is nearby and the amphitheater is well preserved - as is the ocean-side bath where Pontious Pilot vacationed. Heady stuff!

Not too far down the coast is the old Israeli town of Jaffa (or Joppa depending on who's spelling you choose). Its amazing and ancient & fun for a day trip.

You might want to visit the capitol, Jerusalem, but hire a guide for that. While there, you would visit the Western Wall - which is also a very moving experience, but not as moving as Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem.

On second thought, bringing a 2 year old to these last two suggestions might not be a good fit; save those for when she/he is older and can appreciate them more.

Actually, for a toddler, you might want to simply enjoy the beach for much of the time. What child does not love the beach?

Have a wonderful time on the trip!

[Anonymous]

PP 15:14 here. Forgot to mention. The ocean is very treacherous with riptides so be really careful. The Israelis are very serious about lifeguarding and putting out warning flags. If someone goes out too far, they shout at the offender over loudspeakers in Hebrew. I was really careful when going with my little ones.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thank you for these suggestions!! I have a question about Shabbat in these areas. Is there a particular dress code my family and I should follow? Any etiquette I should be aware of? Are businesses open? I want to be sensitive. Pardon my ignorance, but I've never been to Israel so just don't know!

[Anonymous]

In Herzliya and Tel Aviv, you shouldn't have to worry much about Shabbat. All the non-kosher restaurants will be open (the hotel restaurants are all kosher and will not be cooking on Shabbat, so food where you're staying will be pre-made and reheated). Many museums are open on Shabbat as well. The beaches should also be open.

Tel Aviv and Herzliya aren't known to be particularly religious areas, especially in the hotel/tourist districts. If you want to visit a synagogue (or go to Jerusalem on Shabbat), women should wear skirts that go to the knee or lower, shirts with 3/4-sleeves or long-sleeves, a neckline that covers the clavicle, and a dressy hat. Men should wear nice pants and a dressier shirt (suits aren't so big in Israel for men). But in Tel Aviv and Herzliya, you can pretty much wear anything to most places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you for these suggestions!! I have a question about Shabbat in these areas. Is there a particular dress code my family and I should follow? Any etiquette I should be aware of? Are businesses open? I want to be sensitive. Pardon my ignorance, but I've never been to Israel so just don't know!

No dress code but things are definitely closed. Plan accordingly

[Anonymous]

Also, if you do visit a religious area/restaurant/café, the owners are usually very good about posting signs in Hebrew and English about which tables are which, etc.

Fun fact: besides seeing lots of English signs (and of course Hebrew), you will see signs in many other languages all over Israel! Russian was one of the more common ones I saw, but there were many other languages represented too.

Like the USA, Israel is an immigrant country and very multi-cultural.

Its so multicultural in fact, that I met a young girl working in a shoe store in the Herzliya mall who had recently made Aliyah from Colombia, South America! She did not speak English (and I don't speak Hebrew) so we had to use Spanish to communicate.

In Israel, it is even possible to find people - mostly older people - who still speak Yiddish, which has much in common with German.