The Statistics
Number of days spent in country – 12
Cities/towns visited – Tel Aviv, Haifa, Akko, Jerusalem, Bethlehem (in the Palestinian Territories), Eilat
Number of different lodgings – 5
Flights – 0
Bus journeys – 6
Trains – 3
Boat rides – 0
Combi/collective/taxi journeys – 2
Bike rentals – 1
Days of rain – 0
The Budget
Total US dollar amount spent – $1,157
Average cost per day, per person -$48.22
Average lodging cost per night, per person – $22
Most expensive lodging – Our Airbnb stay in Tel Aviv was $33.50 per person, per night, but it was well worth it since two beds in a dorm room there would have been only slightly less. Through Airbnb we were able to stay in our own air-conditioned room, in a fantastic area, in the apartment of a lovely couple who helped make our time in Tel Aviv so much better than it would have been on our own.
Least expensive lodging – $15.75 per person for a dorm bed at Corrine Hostel. It’s got some crappy reviews on the hostel sites, but we didn’t think it was that bad.
Average food/drink cost per day, per person – $12.25 We had to really cut back on the food spending to compensate for the cost of lodging. This doesn’t mean we ate less, it just means we didn’t go out to restaurants generally. It’s super easy to grab cheap and filling shwarmas and falafel all over the place. For dinners we mostly cooked for ourselves, which really means we ate hummus and pita by the kilo, and went to the market for fresh tomato, cucumber, cherries, apricots and olives. It was fantastic.
The Best
Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem – This is the world’s largest Holocaust museum and memorial. We went on a Friday morning since it was one of the few tourist things open on Friday, and our biggest mistake was not giving ourselves enough time. We spent nearly 3 hours here before we had to leave because the museum was closing, and we could have spent easily twice as long. It’s the most organized and thorough museum we’ve ever been to. There are dozens of short video narratives given by a number of survivors, and those were really the highlight for me. Their stories are incredible and heartbreaking. In addition, the museum has amassed a huge collection of person items salvaged from the camps, or thrown from the trains that took the victims to the death camps. They do a very good job of bringing light to so many individual stories, as well as providing a thorough historical overview. Give yourself twice as much time as you think you’ll need, and bring a package of tissues.
In Akko you can visit ancient underground tunnels that were only recently re-discovered!
Akko – A smaller city north of Haifa that not as many tourists include in their plans. Akko has a lovely old city that’s really worth visiting if you’re in the area. We went for most of a day as a side trip from Haifa and had plenty of time to see most of the old city. We also had some fantastic falafel from a street vendor there.
Green Bikes in Tel Aviv – Tel Aviv has recently implemented a new bike rental system similar to what London has done. There are bike stands set up all over the city and you can pick them up and drop them off at your leisure. You can rent by the day, week, or month, and it’s very affordable, even on a tight budget. For less than $5 each we were able to pedal all over the city!
Taking a dip in the Dead Sea – Incredible! We had read all the stories about how you simply can’t sink, but to experience it for ourselves was so much better than we anticipated. You really can’t sink! We had a blast covering ourselves in the mud and watching crazy lines of salt dry on our skin.
The Worst
Eilat. We had heard that Eilat was fantastic from a number of people, but honestly, we weren’t impressed. We snorkeled one day, which was nice, but other than that, we found it kind of ‘meh’. It’s a good stopping point if you are travelling between Israel and either Jordan or Egypt, but we didn’t need more than a day there as there’s not a whole lot going on and the beaches aren’t anything to get excited about.
The Parallel Life 
The museum sounds amazing and yet haunting at the same time
It is, we were really blown away by how thorough it was, like I said, we could have spent all day there.
The museum sounds really interesting. We’ve been learning a lot about the Holocaust in Europe – it’s just so sad and hard to believe it happened that recently.
The food sound amazing. I’m hungry now after reading your post. 🙂 You got us hooked on falafel!
I’d love to go visit some of the museums in Europe and see how they compare in terms of their coverage of the Holocaust. Perhaps we’ll make it to one on our next trip.
Almost five years later but we are finally making it to Israel so I’m brushing up on your blog! Hope to see you guys soon! I miss y’all! 🙂
YESSSSS!!!! So awesome, we really loved Israel. I just sent you guys a message on Facebook. You are always welcome in CO – send me an email (not sure if I have a current email for you?) and let’s catch up!