I will be going to Israel at the End of February with my wife and 3 y.o., well traveled son. I have read the past threads and spoken with friends but I am as confused as ever how to partition the days that I have. Some say to spend 3 days in TLV, others say to avoid it all together.

Our personal preference is seeing and doing things when we are on traveling as opposed to sitting on a beach and doing nothing.

I know that we want to spend time in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and maybe Elat. Originally I wanted to go to Petra also but I have concluded that given the time constraints that it would be too much and a little aggressive with the 3 y.o.

Israel experts: How would you divide up the days between the above cities. Any and all information is appreciated.

Thanks!

Keba

If you want to see and do, you have nothing to look for in Eilat. Eilat is a resort city where you visit the pool, the beach and the restaurants.

I suggest staying 2-3 nights in Jerusalem and the rest in Tel Aviv - including taking some day tours to the North (Haifa, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee). If you want to travel on your own, a night at a northern hotel is a great option.

With only 7 days in Israel, I don't think I'd waste more that 1 day in Tel Aviv. Don't get me wrong, I love Tel Aviv, but there is SO MUCH more to see in Israel.
You should consider spending at least one night in either Tiberius or Sfat (Safed) in the Galilee area- or better yet, go to the other side of the Kineret and stay at Ein Gev. It's a great place. Two nights might be better, theres a lot to see in the north. From Tel Dan, to the Golan Hts, Mt. of Beatitudes, Nof Ginosaur, a boat ride on the lake.
Don't forget to factor in a night on the Dead Sea. It's a long trip from Tiberius to the Dead Sea Spas, (think about avoiding a trip down the West Bank and detour around Ramallah as well) but well worth the trip. Drop in at Qumran for a look at the place where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls, take the aerial-tram to Masada (allow at least 2 hours on top to explore this magnificent fortress), and take a swim in the Dead Sea. You will NEVER forget the sunrise over the mountains of Jordan the next morning.
And what to say about Jerusalem, so much to see, so little time. The Western Wall, The Rabbi's Tunnel, The Old City, David's City, Davidson Archaeological Seminar/The Southern Steps. Shopping in the Jewish/Muslim?Christian Qtrs. Ths Shrine of the Book, Mt. of Olives, Gethsemane...there's just waaaaay to much to do and see in Jerusalem.
And make sure to take a swing west from Jerusalem on your way back to Tel Aviv- it's beautiful wine country, alot like Napa btw. Stop for dinner in Joffa and then your last night in Tel Aviv- reward yourself with an evening swim in the Mediterranean.
Ben Gurion airport departure- a model of efficiency that American airports should observe.
Enjoy your stay in Jerusalem. Oh, I'm not from Israel, but I enjoy several trips a year there for my work as a photo-journalist at a Texas-based ministry.
Have fun, the people are great, and Israel is VERY family-friendly.

If you head east on the highway to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv/Ben Gurion airport, stop at Mini-Israel. There is a lot for a three-year-old to see, and you'll be able to get a quick (fairly) overview of the entire country. It might help you map out your stay. It's a fun place in an amusement-parky kind of way. Worth a stop.

Welcome to FlyerTalk filmtex!

I consider myself pretty good at packing a trip in - but after being is Israel this past summer will agree that only having 7 days means you need to make some decisions/cannot see everything. Also - do you really have 7 days, or does that include the arrival and departure day? If that includes arriving and leaving - that could mean you really have just 6, or 5 days for seeing stuff?

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon - so had one night in Tel Aviv and then drove around a few places the next day (Sunday) on the way north (went to the Palmach Musuem, which was a great intro to Israel). Staying one more day in Tel Aviv would have been better - in fact we did a day trip back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem to see Jaffa, hit the antique markets, and see a few more things (i.e. hit mini-Israel) on our last day (Day 11). But a night - full day - night - and leaving Tel Aviv day #2 is plenty of time there.

Our route from Tel Aviv took us to Haifa on the way to Tiberius. Day 3 we did the Golan Heights and Day 4 we did Safed and a few other places up north. There is a lot of cool stuff up there. With the 3 year old, I would skip Safed, so you could get down to 2 days total.

We did one day driving from Tiberius to the Dead Sea (drove down the west bank, stopped at Qumran, then hit the mud), slept in Dead Sea, woke up the next morning, went to Masada, and then drove to Jerusalem. That was plenty of time and we got there early enough to walk the old city a bit before things started closing.

Jerusalem is the place to focus. We did one day of the Old City (markets, route of the cross, Kotel tunnels); one day driving around all the edge cities and neighborhoods, the main market, etc; and a day of Yad Vashem and a few other musuems. So you can fill 3 days easy and more if you want.

I went to Eilat - had a nice time - but would skip it with such a short time (and might skip it in general unless you did what we did, which was continue to Egypt).

Here is how I would break it out assuming your 7 days do not include the arrival and departure:

Day 0 Arrive
Day 1 Tel Aviv
Day 2 Tel Aviv - Tiberius (see stuff along the way)
Day 3 Golan Heights/Sea of Gallilee sights
Day 4 Tiberius - Dead Sea (spend afternoon at spas)
Day 5 Dead Sea - Jerusalem (Masada in the morning)
Day 6 Jerusalem
Day 7 Jerusalem
Day 8 Departure

If you have less days, then I would cut the Dead Sea and just do Masada as a morning day (1/2 day) trip from Jerusalem.

^ ^ ^

One remark about the Dead Sea - if you spend a night there, take full meals with the hotel (HB or FB) as there are no restaurants in this area. It's best during the weekdsays as the Dead Sea became a very popular place for corporate vacations on the weekends - this can get quite noisy.

Thanks everyone for all the great info.

We plan to arrive on a Sunday which I don't even really consider since we will be very tired. I have the full Monday - Sunday and an early departure on Monday.

Keba

Our Original Plan:
We were not able to get our original flights because the low fare we were chasing went up before we were able to book it. After freaking out I found flights that got us into TLV Saturday morning and departing the following Saturday morning. We booked the first night in TLV and then three nights in Jerusalem followed by three more nights in TLV.

I knew that the hotels we were staying at in TLV were on the beach but all of the weather forecasts before we left predicted highs in the mid 60's and cloudy or rain so spending any time there was not in our plan. When we arrived at our hotel the weather was very warm and sunny and as soon as my 3 y.o. saw the beach (which was very active) he wanted to go. The only problem was that we had no swim wear. Wanting to be a good dad, we set out on Sunday morning to look for bathing suits for the three of us, not so much for that day but for the return to TLV that Wednesday.

The reality:
We went to Jerusalem and walked around the old city and vicinity on our own but we realized that without a guide we would miss a lot so we procured a guide for that Monday morning. We spent the morning in the Old City and museums and learned and saw a lot. The weather forecasts were completely wrong and it was sunny and very warm while we were there and the revised forecasts were showing temperatures in the mid 80's by the end of the week for TLV. On a whim, I checked on some last minute flights to Eilat and they were remarkably reasonable. A quick check of hotels using SPG points got us Herod's Place for 7K/night (maybe the best value of points in the entire chain) so we made a division to Eilat for a 1.5 days and bought the clothes that we needed. The hotel was very accommodating to children and we had to pry my son away from the beach and pool at the end of the day. We spend the last 1.5 days in TLV going to the shuk's, Old Jaffa, a museum and back to the beach late Friday for a nice long swim in the (freezing) Mediterranean sea.

Lessons learned:
Don't ever trust the 5 day weather forecasts
A trip to Israel will be more about what you missed than what you saw
If there are beaches or pools always bring a bathing suit
We should have gone straight into Jerusalem instead of overnighting in TLV


Thanks to everyone above who helped me plan this trip. We will definitely be going back

Keba

Where did you take the weather forecast from?

Weather Underground / Weather Channel.com

I never trust their forecast, even for the USA. I always try to find a local TV station for the USA or the national weather service for the coutry I travel to.
Here is a good site for weather in Israel. Although it's partly in Hebrew, you can figure out the signs.

With a three year old to consider I'd cut the time in TelAviv short and concentrate on Jerusalem and Galiee first and spend the final night in Tel Aviv for Jaffa and maybe some beach time. You could book into kibbutz accomadation in Galilee which would be a unique experience, beautiful surroundings and very three year old friendly. Definitely go for a guide in Jerusalem.

Day 1: Arrive in Tel Aviv, bus/taxi to jerusalem, explore by night
Day 2:Jerusalem Religion tour
Day 3ay trip to nazareth, sea of galilea
Day 4:Jerusalem historical tour
Day 5ay trip to Bethleem, afternoon jerusalem environs
Day 6: Day trip to Masada/dead sea, en gedi
Day 7: Left over jerusalem, fly back

^

...and straight to the kotel. It puts everything else in perspective.