Looking for recommendations. My wife and I are in Israel on business late February. We'd like to hire a guide for a private tour of old Jerusalem. I've been; Mrs. Flews hasn't. Please & thanks.

Cheers,

Depends on how much you're looking to spend, how long you want the guide for, how much of the Old City do you want to see...
You looking for a Jewish angle, Christian angle, Muslim angle...?

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We used Avitours. They were great! We told them what we were interested in, they made suggestions and together it was an awesome adventure! I will definately use them again!

Thanks for the posts. I'll check into the suggestions.

As for how long and what, we're probably looking at half a day for the tour, something like 4 hours or so. This is what I did last time and we covered all the quarters, starting at Mount Olive, quite nicely. Might include a bit to eat. It's a quick overview, yes, but that's the point of having a personal tour guide - to share detail as we go, find short-cuts, and take us efficiently though the 'must-see' bits...

Cheers,

By the way, we also intend to see Yad V'Shem, but separately, and don't need a tour guide for that.

Cheers,

I visited Israel as a solo traveller earlier this year. I got some quotes from tour guides and found these too costly for a solo traveller. (I am aware this may not apply to you as there are two people travelling). My next option was to consider group tours, my hotel recommended a company (http://newjerusalemtours.com) that operates walking tours in Jerusalem, I joined one of their free walking tours of the Old City, it was excellent. The company also has a half day walking tour of the Mount of Olives, I'd taken this tour a few days later and would recommend it. Both times the walking tours had less than 10 participants. If you can't find a private guide, definitely consider this company for walking tours.

To get to Yad Vashem it's best to take a taxi, I found the bus stop to be too far from museum and the walk would be unpleasant in the heat.

My wife joined me on a business trip in Israel recently. Our hotel in Tel Aviv recommended a tour operator with numerous packages available, including both group tours and private tours to most destinations. We booked one group and one private tour.

Group tours can be frustrating because you are at the mercy of the slowest people. Even with a small group (ours was 9 guests) there's usually a person who can't walk fast, a person who needs long bathroom stops, 2 people who disappear into every gift shop they pass, etc. Go with a big group and it's even worse. Like an elementary school field trip you could spend half the day just getting on and off the bus and counting heads to make sure nobody's left behind.

Private tours avoid all the frustrations of group tours because it's just you and your guide. You decide what to see and at what pace; the guide offers suggestions and takes you through everything like an expert. The downside is price. Ours was 500 USD from Tel Aviv for a full day. Comparing notes with friends who've visited separately this year that seems to be the going price. Your hotel can help with recommending a specific operator and making the reservation.

If I were doing it all over again for the first time I would seriously consider a mix of self-guided touring and free or inexpensive walking tours. One friend toured Israel this way on her first visit and really loved it. I considered doing the same but felt I didn't have enough time to plan so I went with the guides. But after 2 days I ditched the packaged tours, canceled my remaining reservations, and struck out on my own. I wish I'd done that from the start.

As someone previously mentioned Sandeman's New Jerusalem Tour, I would recommend it. I personally haven't done that tour, but have done the same company's tours in Paris and Dublin(?) and they were great. They're free tours, and are really just highlights. So what we did on the tour is we'd do the tour, see a little bit of everything, get some history, etc and then we'd note the one's we really liked and go back and visit them in detail after. On the one's I did, we generally didn't enter the places on the tour, just stood outside and learned about it. So, assuming all is the same in Jerusalem, I'd recommend it. I also live in Israel, so I know that the itinerary they have is solid.