Crown Plaza in Haifa might be a good base for a Northern Excursion.
Bahai Gradens are a great destination themselves, and they are right next door.
For "wandering the desert" check out the incredible hoodoos (look it up) that can be seen from Masada north almost to Beit Shaan. This also puts you by the Baptismal site, a great little visited stop a little north of Rout 90 and 1 intersection.
Originally Posted by
ludocdoc
I've been several times, and will be traveling with my gf for her first visit to the country. I expect to rent a car for at least part of the trip. We're stuck going over school break as she is a teacher, so we're going in April -- over part of Passover. We leave US on a Wednesday and leave Israel Saturday night. So 9 nights in country, including 2 Shabbats. My first 2 visits were 6 and 2 weeks, so it's easy for me to bite off more than we can chew in 9 days. I'm looking for a little site advice, but more than that logistics advice -- rental car part or all the time, are trains useful, realistic one day itins with road conditions, special days to visit (I know about the light show at Davids Citadel, when I went to Petra there were certain nights they lit up the Siq - that sort of detail)
I haven't set the order in stone yet, but the things we want to see include:
Thursday: Arrive, Drive to Dead sea area
Friday: Negev hike (maybe Timna area or Mitzpe Ramon), dead sea chillin
Saturday: Masada at sunrise, drive to... Jerusalem?
Sunday-Wednesday (maybe Tuesday): Jerusalem several days including WW tunnels, Yad Vashem, etc.
Wednesday-Friday needs help. I'm not sure we can do this all from one base (ie Tel Aviv or Haifa or Tiberias) or need to change hotels a lot. For sure:
Tsfat (or whatever English transliteration it is)
Jaffa
Acco
Tiberias and hike in Arbel Nat'l Park
She's less into Caesarea and Rosh Hanikra (hmph). She's into Ashkelon if theres time. I've suggested Tels Dan and Meggido. I think Tel Aviv is the least Jewish/Israeli of the things she wants to see -- it's a nice city, but I never found it to have much Israeli ambiance. The Diaspora museum does appeal.
Friday: return to Jerusalem for last night, nice hotel overlooking walls, etc
Saturday: Her birthday. Walk old city again, shopping in Muslim quarter, etc, late flight home
Given the Sabbath and it's Easter week, I'm trying to avoid Easter Sunday and the buildup in Jerusalem as much as possible. I am enamored with the idea of starting the trip "wandering in the desert" and building through Masada and Roman times to the modern somehow, but logistics will make a chronological visit a bit tough.