I'm concerned about not being able to go into Bethlehem to see the Christian sites. If on a tour, and they don't go, how safe is it to do it on your own? Perhaps a taxi, bus, or private tour? I've hea
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Cat:Middle East and AfricaForum:0EE6B35C
Cat:Middle East and AfricaForum:0EE6B35CDiscussion:e3cb8097-7067-4232-838f-5514c1c2d793
I'm concerned about not being able to go into Bethlehem to see the Christian sites. If on a tour, and they don't go, how safe is it to do it on your own? Perhaps a taxi, bus, or private tour?
I've heard one can go in if they are not with a Jewish tour guide, but I'm not sure how accurate this info is. Suggestions and info appreciated.
You can do it on your own, though that might be a little more intimidating navigating the checkpoint. But people do it. You'd either need to take an Arab cab from the Old City all the way in, or an Israeli cab to the checkpoint, then a Palestinian cab on into Bethlehem. Take your passport; you'll need it at the checkpoint.
You can also go with a Palestinian guide. I recommend Sam Salem, who now lives in Jerusalem but originally comes from Bethlehem. If you look at Trip Advisor's Israel forum, you will see rave reviews about Sam. He is a lovely, kind man whom you will enjoy spending time with, and he knows Bethlehem like the back of his hand. You can reach Sam at (054) 216-8441 or at guide.holy@gmail.com. Please tell him I sent you.
Douglas, thanks for the info. Can you tell me about how much time we should allow for this? Is half a day enough? How late into the evening would it be safe to travel to Bethlehem? I ask because most of our days are full with tours, and I ned to figure out how I can fit this in.
Douglas, thanks for the info. Can you tell me about how much time we should allow for this? Is half a day enough? How late into the evening would it be safe to travel to Bethlehem? I ask because most of our days are full with tours, and I ned to figure out how I can fit this in. Millie Posted by Countessp
I was with a tour group but I visited Bethlehem on a half day tour.
In case it doesn't work out for you to use the guide who has been recommended to you, I would like to recommend another. Wisam Saalsa lives in Shepherd's Field right outside Bethlehem. He is a Palestinian Christian who does tour guiding part time. His main occupation is woodcarving. His whole family is involved in that work and has been for many year, centuries perhaps. He is thoroughly familiar with all of the Christian sites in Bethlehem and the history of the area. He can be reached by e-mail at wisamts@yahoo.com.
Regardless of whether you go with a guide or not, if you are planning to do any souvenir buying while in Israel, I would encourage you to do some of it in Bethlehem which is a very poor town. We were told that some tourists zip in on tour buses, look at the sites, and then hurry back out while ignoring the circumstances of the people there. So please take time to have lunch and/or dinner and patronize some of their businesses if that would fit into your plans at all.
PLEASE NOTE THAT USING A ZERO BEFORE THE AREA CODE IS INCORRECT EXCEPT IF YOU ARE CALLING ISRAEL FROM EUROPE. FROM THE USA OMIT THE ZERO (E.G. 54 AND NOT 054).
Just returned from Israel/Jordan and wanted to thank Doug for his "right on" advices in both the forum and his "book". We used both as we traveled independently through Israel. His insights were helpful in guiding us - and his recommendation for guides (especially Sam Salem for Jerusalem!!!) was right on. Don't despair about travel in Israel or Jordan for that matter. We were there for more than 3 weeks, rented a car, drove down (and up) route 90 several times, went into Bethlehem (with an Israeli taxi driver we found outside the Israel Museum on a Saturday afternoon - who connected us to a Palestinian guide), drove around Sea of Galilee, went up to Sfad, Rosh Pina and down to Ein Gedi and Eilat. Safety was never an issue. The people were friendly and the atmosphere was calm. We did not go near Gaza but did have the opportunity to enter Arab villages and meet with the children and their teachers and parents - we even went on a picnic with them. We were invited into many homes (Druze, Christian Jordanian, Moslem Arab, Jewish, etc.) along the way and met with people of diverse and interesting backgrounds. "Shlepping suitcases" was not so difficult in exchange for the opportunities afforded by a flexible itinerary and and open mind. Caveat: If you plan to rent a car (car rental offices are closed from early afternoon on Friday until Sunday morning - so keep that in mind if you want to rent a car for the weekend), be certain to have your original drivers license (not a copy) and your passport available at the rental office (without the passport, you will have to pay the VAT). As to Saturday in Israel - in Eilat - everything seemed to be open; in Jerusalem, we had no problem finding ways to keep busy; in Tiberias - no problem either. Remember: Friday is the Muslim Sabbath, Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. Sunday is a "regular" day in Israel - offices, schools, etc. are open! Check your guide book and call ahead. Go, have a great time and experience the land and it's people.
I am so pleased to hear that your trip went well for you, that you found my non-commercial guide helpful, and that Sam Salem worked out so well. (Isn't he wonderful?!) Thanks for the follow-up report!
Doug, can you recommend a tour company from the USA to Israel? I'm not up to visiting Israel independently. I just want to stay a few days and really want to visit Bethlehem.
Honestly, I have never traveled with a tour group in Israel, so I am not the best person to judge this.
I will tell you that both on this forum and on the more active Israel forum on Trip Advisor (www.tripadvisor.com), people have consistently spoken highly of both Gate 1 and Margaret Morse tours. I think the latter may have a primarily Jewish focus, however, but it's worth checking. People seem pleased with both. I get that independent touring is not for everyone, so I wish you luck on this.
Do other readers have input or suggestions?
Finally, when you say you don't have much time, try to book as much as you can. Any tour of less than 12 days or so (2 of which are typically in transit back and forth) will just fly you through Israel with little time to really experience anything. Two full weeks is better.
I hope that you have a wonderful journey! And if you'd like to read my free, noncommercial guide on travel to Israel, feel free to write me at Labatt@fuse.net. It is a 42-page .pdf file, and I will send it to you as a file attachment via return e-mail. (That goes for anyone reading this, by the way.) No strings -- I'm not even in the travel business -- I just like to help people plan their trips. It may give you some ideas on what to look for in tours.
Fern, I highly recommend Gate 1. I took the 11 day Affordable Israel tour in 2007 and it was fantastic. In addition to Jerusalem and Bethlehem you will see the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, both of which are well worth the time. Please give this some thought.
I am visiting Israel in October with Gate 1 Travel. Several years ago I booked a Med. cruise with them & was extremely pleased. I was especially impressed with my hotel in Genoa. It was far & away the best hotel I've ever stayed in while on a tour.
My current trip is called "11 Day Israel Special". The hotels they are using are:
Dan Panorama - Tel Aviv Pastoral Kfar Blum Hotel - Galilee Mount Zion Hotel - Jerusalem
Those hotels get good reviews, not only from Frommer's, but Trip Advisor as well.
I just want to say that when my relatives came here to Israel they have rented a car in Jerusalem with Eldan and everything was great, I mean the service, the car, etc. I can personally recommend them. http://www.eldan.co.il/en/branches.aspx
And more than 30 students were murdered on a college campus at Virginia Tech in the United States. Would anyone recommend not traveling to Virginia on that basis?
The bombings are, thank God, something of the past. Israel is as safe or safer (in my view) than any major American city. And Eilat in particular has been virtually untouched by the violence of the early 2000s. But the entire country has been very calm for years. Please, folks, listen to people who know the country, not your scared family members whose image is shaped by media reports from years ago.
Just wanted to back up Douglas' post. It is safe here, much safer than cities in the US and elsewhere. As a parent, I can tell you that I am perfectly comfortable for my 20 and 23 year old daughters to travel freely, on their own and late at night too. I assure you, I would not be comfortable with their doing that in NYC or Chicago, etc.
The media is on the hunt for headlines and so tend to focus on the negative.
Come - relax - you'll have a great time and will wonder what you were worried about.
Not sure why you seem to be poking fun at Israeli law. I have nothing against Sam Salem and perhaps he has all the proper licensing and is an excellent guide.
I simply wish to remind all visitors to Israel that it is illegal for anyone to guide you in our country who is not licensed to do by Israel's Ministry of Tourism. By using a licensed guide you can feel confident that your guide is properly trained and educated to ensure he/she knows what he's talkiing about. Using a guide not licensed by the Ministry of Tourism may also result in insurance problems should any mishaps occur.
Concerning Sam Salem. It is my understanding that he is NOT a licensed guide and therefore it is NOT legal for him to take you around. People have reported that if stopped he tells them to say he is your friend!! Licensed guides, by law tour with their licenses visible at all times. It does NOT take a rocket scientist to determine if the guide does or does not have a license.
When Sam drives you, regardless of the lie you are told to tell ( we are friends) he IS taking money. As such he needs to have proper insurance as a taxi driver. The licensed guides who also drive are, in effect carrying the same license as any other cab driver.The vehicles they drive say either say "taxi" in Hebrew and, if they can also guides would have the Ministry of Tourism symbol on them ,( These individuals seem to sometimes work as only a cabbie) Those who function as only a driving guide would just have the Ministry symbol on them. You can not get the appropriate insurance if you are not a licensed driver to take paying passengers. Yes, he may have insurance--but it is the insurance that we all carry on our personal vehicles. If everything works you are fine, but if there is an accident you risk convincing Sam to personally cover all of your medical expenses, etc.etc. You can be sure, the minute his insurance company realizes he committed fraud he will be dropped like a hot potato.
Jon - you just joined Frommer's in order to post one single post - a glowing report regarding Sam Salem - so for starters - you post looks suspiciously like advertising which is not allowed on the forum. You never asked any questions planning your trip, didn't ask for help and now came back not even to post a trip report and share with us what you did, etc - but just to praise Sam - this is already a big question mark.
However, since you phrased your post in a manner of throwing down the gauntlet - allow me the privilege of responding.
Sam Salem may be the nicest, most charming, wonderful person on the face of the earth. He may be very knowledgeable, entertaining, exciting and anything else - what is not is licensed. The State of Israel - a sovereign, democractic nation has the right to pass laws as it sees fit - laws for this country - and anyone living here and visiting here is expected to obey these laws.
Sam Salem is NOT a licensed tour guide and he does not hold a chauffeur's license - as such it is illegal for him to guide tourists anywhere here and it is illegal for him to drive anyone around as part of these tours.
The fact that he has been known to couch tourists to say that he is a friend showing them around indicates that he knows what he is doing is illegal.
I don't know where you live, but I assume that if I come to visit your country you would expect me to obey the law there.
I assume (maybe I'm wrong) that while in Israel you didn't rob any banks and if you rented a car you didn't drive the wrong way on a one way street - a lawy obeying person does not get the right to pick and choose what laws appeal to him.
You are lucky in that you did not have a traffic accident while touring -had this happened, regardless of whose fault it was, Sam does not have the proper insurance and the insurance investigators would discover very easily the true picture of your relationship with Sam - you would have found yourself uninsured - as would Sam.
In case you think this is a bizarre, local regulation - most countries in the region (Jordan for example), many countries in Europe and many others require that any tour have a local guide with them at all time.
In your post you stated that it "is fully legal to take you around Israel" -- it is NOT.
What is legal is for you to tour on your own - but if you want a guide, you need to hire one who is properly licensed, who has studied for two years and passed a rigorous series of tests to earn the license and then continues to meet continuing education requirements to retain their license.
If you want to hire Sam, no one can stop you - but do not mislead others into thinking that he has a license, is properly insured or anything else - take the risk yourself, but don't risk someone else's vacation for them.
I visited Israel and the Palestinian Territories this year with my family and hired more than a couple of tour guides, one of whom is Sam Salem. In my research I posted frequently on the Trip Advisor forum and have posted there for several years. I've recently expanded my research to other forums, including this one, as I research another trip to the Holy Land and am saddened to see the vitriol against Sam Salem as a Biblcal & Cultural tour guide.
Sam was spectacular as our tour guide. We spent a few nights in Bethlehem, his home town, and the transition to areas off-limits to Israeli tour guides was seemless. His impeccable knowledge of Arabic, Hebrew, English; French and Spanish as well as his knowledge of local customs and people were invaluable. Sam's years of working in the United States also afford him a knowledge and comfort with American culture that I believe the Americans who have engaged his services find reassuring.
I am a person who does her own research on the history of an area before traveling there so personally I'm not looking for the most erudite guide on a subject, although I did find Sam's guiding to be on target with what I had researched before I left.
I also am keenly aware of insurance issues, (my husband teasing me that if I get any more life insurance on him that he's going to feel it's a hazard for his health). For this trip and other trips I have bought insurance in the United States to cover medical expenses and emergency medical evacuation. Personally, I would not be wanting to make any kind of international calls (whether to Europe, Israel, the Palestinian Authority or other parts of the Middle East), trying to process any kind of insurance claim. So while for me the issue of whether my guide carries insurance coverage is a moot point, I did ask about it as I was engaging Sam's services as a measure of his professionalism and was told that he has a chauffeur license and insurance. This is something that you can easily enough ask to see as proof. Incidentally, I was never coached in any way on what to say if stopped by whomever.
Along the lines of accidents and what could conceivably happen while traveling abroad or at home, I did sustain a head injury of my own fault while in the West Bank. I was quite scared, wondering what would happen to the rest of my family and our trip (since I was the sole organizer) if I had a concussion or worse. I had the above-mentioned medical and evacuation insurance so I wasn't worried about the ultimate expense but suddenly the logistics of it all loomed large in my mind (a sure sign I did not have a concussion!).
Sam immediately put my mind at ease as he delineated the steps he would take if I needed more care than what I was immediately getting. This involved knowledge of how to contact at the American Embassy and the channels to go through. This is where it's obvious to me that his work in the United States and for the United Nations in Israel have given him incomparable experience; his language skills which bridge all scenarios in Israel and Palestine once again are critical.
Incidentally, I've often wondered as I've seen Israeli-licensed guides obvious self-interest in their histrionic remarks about non-Israeli-licensed guides, -- how easy is it for Palestinians to be awarded a licensing guide? As easy as it is for, say, Palestinians to get a building license?
I found this thread attached to this link (#66 of the posting) also interesting when pondering the issue of licensed Israeli tour guides:
When we toured the Armenian quarter, we engaged the services of an Armenian guide. When we toured the Jewish quarter, we engaged the services of a Jewish guide. When in Palestine, it seemed reasonable (and the only feasible way since Israeli guides aren't allowed in there) to hire a Local guide.
