Anyone holidayed in Israel? Any recommendations?

[Vittoria]

We are thinking of going to Israel. Somewhere with good snorkelling. Anyone have any recommendations/reviews?

My recommendation would be not to give money to a government that will use it to shell civilians.

That would be every government in the world then, including the UK.

Beside the mistaken political objections however - still waiting for recommendations.

well, I can't help living here I was born here, however I do have a vote and can tell my govt what I think.
I wouldn't choose to go somewhere with such an appalling record.

What record is that? Should we go to Jordan instead?

Cornwall is nice

Doesn't have the red sea undorunatley.

And we actually support a two-state solution to the Israel/Paleestine situation, so that means being both pro Israeli and pro Palestinian. I buy jaffa oranges. I also buy fairtrade. I don't want to support terrorist organinisatiosn who abuse the Palestinian people though, so that includes Hamas

Recommend Aquaba in Jordan, don't know about Israel i'm afraid.
We went there last May, amazing country, relatively short flight for kids and very kind respectful people. Brill diving and can be combined with trips to Petra / desert safaris across the Wadis. Our 3 year old loved it and was welcomed EVERYWHERE we went!
Had no hassle and can't wait to go back!

Vittoria - ignore madlentileater, hardly useful comments!

If you're looking for good snorkling, the Red Sea is the place to go. But not the Israel part. The only town in Israel on the Red Sea is Eilat and it's not great, seriously. You're better off heading for Egypt. There are some fantastic resorts along the Red Sea, from backpacker hangouts to really posh 5-star hotels.

I learned to scuba dive in the Red Sea and it was absolutely amazing! But even when we ran out of diving money and had to snorkel instead, it didn't make much difference - there was so much brilliant sea-life just under the surface... can't recommend it enough.

Israel is lovely, btw, don't get me wrong. In fact, I'm in Israel as I type this, visting the in-laws. There are amazing things to see and do, but not snorkelling!

Thanks Cathers & Annie.

Thing is Annie we are wanting to go to Israel partly in reporations for our really ignorant swallowing of the anti-Israeli rhetoric we get over here. The fact that I considered signing the petition against Isreali academics and serioulsy considered buying a yashmagh to wear on uni campus, without ever really looking into the terrible tactics that Hamas use to provoke the IDF into responding, and hopefully harming, Palestinian civilians. The fact that we have boycotted Iseali goods in the supermarket. We have been utter chumps basically.

We really want to visit Isreal. We could always boarder hop for a bit of snorkelling in Eqypt!

And finding out about Rachel Corrie - what the papers leave out here is shocking!

We went to Eilat on our honeymoon. We stayed in The Orchid Resort which is a Thai owne hotel just outside but the taxis were very convenient to get into the town, which ahd some lovely restaurants on the boardwalk. The public beach opposite the hotel was fine for snorkelling, we also took a boat trip down to Coral Island in Egyptian waters. Then we went to Petra for a day trip and up to the Dead Sea. We did look at going to Egypt but found the flexibilty of going out to a different place to eat was more appealing.

Well, if you want to go to Israel specifically, it's lovely. Best time to visit is March when all the spring flowers are out, the hills are green and it's not too hot. Any other time of year it's rather brown, dry and boring. Jerusalem is amazing - such an incredible amount of history! Dead Sea is great fun, further north the scenery is very different - great pine forests and fantastic nature reserves. Haifa is a great base for exploring the north. And if you want to add in some snorkelling, Eilat is fine, but I'd still recommend you hop over the border to try an Egyptian resort or two.

I'm glad to see you've decided to think and explore a little for yourself rather than swallowing everything the UK media throws at you regarding the situation here. My DH is Israeli, so my sympathies are a little loaded, but still I don't really believe either side is any more 'right' than the other. Both have genuine grievances, both have done some awful awful things. I don't know what the answer is, but blindly blaming one side or the other is not at all helpful.

I just hope this thread doesn't get too political!

PS - I haven't been to Jordan (thought I'm only a couple of miles from the border and really should visit it some time!) but I hear it's amazing. If you can manage to fit it in too, it's probably well worth it.

Cool, thanks for that!

Quick final word though - best not to visit any part of the Middle East between May and September (inclusive). It's just far, far too hot to go outside in daylight hours, which will severely limit your options on what to do! I've always said it's an appalling waste of a summer - all that sun and too hot to go outside and enjoy it!

Would second Jerusalem, spent a week there as a backpacker - great place to explore itself, and do day trips from. I then went to Petra in Jordan with a girl i met in the Hostel. If you were to stick to Israel only i'd do Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I was there in May which was perfect weatherwise.

I think Israel is one of the most beautiful and interesting places in the world. You can stay on kibbutz hotels, visit the most amazing cities - jerusalem for a start. You can float in the dead sea and it has a spa there. i dont know about snorkelling, but i do know its a small country so you an easily travel around and explore. nightclubs and bars in jerusalem are amazing.

when i went there i met lovely highly intelligent people. the kibbutz system is one of the most enlightened in the world where people of different races live and work together. the israelies have had to put up with years of terrorist activity so no situation is black and white

The Dead Sea is a brilliant experience but don't waste time going to Masada - it is a load of rocks on top of a very hot rock!

The country is great - I second the advice to go in the Spring though. It is such a compact country and lots to see. We had an annual tradition of visiting the 4 Seas in one day. We would hire a coach, loading it up with alcohol, then we would meet at Herziliya beach (north of of Tel Aviv) for Kahlua loaded coffee for breakfast: that would be the Med. Then we would drive up to the Sea of Gallille (nicknamed "Fred"), then head down to the Dead Sea and then end up at Eilat for the Red Sea - by this time we were all extremely merry!

Head out of Eilat to Coral Beach (but it is true that Eilat is not the best place for the coral - the fish are fine). Eilat being the only port on the Red Sea for Eilat is basically a huge harbour and the yuck that the ships discharge isn't the best thing for the ecology! If you like fish and seafood, head for the Last Refuge restuarant (also out of town on the way to Coral Beach).

I went to Israel 8 years ago and had a really lovely time. We stayed in Eilat (sorry, can't remember the name of the hotel) and went diving there at a lovely marine park where you can dive with dolphins.
We took a coah tour up to the Dead sea and then up to Jerusalem which was amazing (although there were a few places we couldn't go) and then flew back down to Eilat.
We went in December when the weather was quite nice although I must say the Dead Sea was bloody cold and only us crazy tourists were in it at 7am!

Annie is right about not going in the summer. We are in the ME now and the temperature is mid 40's most days now, far too hot to be enjoyable.

I would love to go again, particularly as we are living quite nearby but unfortunately we cannot go at the moment as apparently where we live now we would not be able to return home if we had Israeli stamps in our passport.

We've also done Hurghada in Egypt which had good diving but I wouldn't let the negative comments put you of Israel.

So we misseed the spring window? Maybe an autumn break?

MumOverseas-youcan go-take a piece of paper with you and they will stamp that instead of your passport.They are used to doing it for exactly the reason you mentioned-I have done it many times.

God, I'd love to go to Israel. My sister went last year and had the most amazing time. She travelled all over - went to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, then down to Eilat. Best holiday of her life, she said. She wants to go to Syria next year, but has been advised off the record to 'lose' her passport with Israel stamps in it if she a) wants to get into Syria and b) ever wants to go back to Israel...

I find the argument about not going to Israel because of it's government's 'record' totally bizarre. Do you only go to countries with squeaky clean governments?@madlentileater? Where's that then? Mars?

whooosh, thanks for that information. I had heard before that people sometimes do that but I'd be a bit worried that they wouldn't do the stamp on the paper but in the passport and I couldn't go home! Mind you, might be a good excuse not to come back here
Are you from the same place as me then?

Would you all have gone to South Africa then, pre democracy?
surely you would draw the line somewhere?
I just think there's more to life than beaches and nightclubs.