I'm interested in finding a local tour guide to show us around Jerusalem in mid-February 2020. I'm aware we can easily find a tour company online, via Get Your Guide, and from the hotel concierge, but would appreciate the FlyerTalk community's experiences. Ideally, the person is young, fit, knowledgeable, good with kids, energetic and fun!

You should post this question on the Tripadvisor forum. There is also an FAQ there about hiring local guides.

Hiring a guide for the Old City is an excellent idea. You can do the New City on your own - the Israel Museum, Yad Vashem, Makhaneh Yehuda Market, etc, etc.

Yeah, TA Israel forum has a wealth of information and is a great resource. However, beware that there are several megaposters / "Destination Experts" who are tour guides. The forum is really cliquey, and lot of the megaposters are friends or at least have met up in real life. The guides are megaposting on TA for the primary purpose of promoting their business (under the guise of just trying to be helpful to tourists). They don't explicitly self-promote so as to stay within TA's rules, but some of the non-guide megaposters are constantly promoting their guide megaposter "friends" when people ask for guide recommendations. This is not to say that these folks aren't great guides, so, OP, just make sure you read "real" trip reports and reviews by actual tourists who have used particular guides -- and don't just rely on the recommendation of a TA "regular."

I think that you are exaggerating this conflict of interest. If you check the comments posted on Tripadvisor by these guides, they never suggest to anyone who wants to tour on their own that they must hire a guide. On the other hand, these guides visit the tourist sites daily and are able to provide much more accurate and up-to-date information and general advice than persons such as myself (I am not in the travel industry).

What you're saying isn't far from my point -- the guides don't actually self-promote (i.e., telling people to hire them) but their mere presence on the board is self-promotion. They aren't providing information just do be helpful; they're doing it because it helps their business. Sure, they can offer great advice. Other country TA forums have guides and tour operators who are regulars / DEs, but there isn't the same network of non-travel industry regulars who shill for the travel industry regular friends.

Do you have any PROOF of this "shilling" or do you just slander people randomly according to your prejudices?Why do you think that all guides posting in all other countries could not possibly have any interest in increasing their income?

The proof is right on TA. If you disagree, we can agree to disagree. Yes, TA in general is full of travel industry people engaging in self-promoting; in other country forums, it's often poorly done and blatantly obvious. On this particular forum, it's done in a more sophisticated manner.

Moderator note: The OP asked for guide recommendations from this community. Please address that question and discontinue the off-topic bickering regarding members of other communities.

l etoile
sr moderator

Hey,

I had a tour led by Eytan Rund. I highly, highly recommend him. He makes history fun and accessible. He can take you off the beaten path, is extremely knowledgeable about the usual tour site, is a certified tour guide, etc. He�s also great with kids, full of energy, and is an all-around great guy. Contact me for his email/ info.