3 Days in Tel Aviv: Suggested Itineraries

We thought the trip would just be a ride to the dead sea and back (which is hard and expensive to do on your own), but it was much longer. We were picked up from our hotel, taken to a central station, from there we made a stop in Jerusalem to pick up others, and then it appeared that we were on our way. However, even after that we made a stop in an area for people to take pictures with camels and the Ahava factory. Overall, the 2 hour drive took close to 4 hours.

The Dead Sea area they took us to was very nice and had a decent cafe. Spa services were weak and I would not recommend them.

Doing what: Dead Sea Spa and Wellness Trip from Tel Aviv

Petra itself was amazing the organization on the Israel side was non existent only drivers , who were late and arrogant , no rep with names of people going to the airport , I had not been given a flight number or time
On the Jordan side it was okay ish

Doing what: Petra Day Trip from Tel Aviv - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Great one day trip. All went well and as expected. It took about 15 minutes for the Eilat guide to find me when I arrived by plane in Eilat; but all went well afterwards. Jordanian driver and guide did a fine job; good food at a restaurant in Petra; I recommend this trip.

Doing what: Petra Day Trip from Tel Aviv - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Good guide. The facilities at the spa were not impressive, but OK.

Doing what: Dead Sea Spa and Wellness Trip from Tel Aviv

Our Tour Guide, "Ayyha" )sp?) was less than pleasant. We had signed up for the Dead Sea Tour only, but it became evident that people going to Masada were also on our bus. Our Tour guide offered to include us on the trip to Masada, and we also wanted a massage; this proved to be impossible to discuss with her. Any questions from us regarding price, or how long things would take were met with responses like: "look - do you want to go or not...you must decide now..there is no time to discuss". Some customers left the bus by accident when we arrived at the Dead Sea, and rather than explaining politely (they spoke very little English) our Tour guide referred to them as "Taiwan" and hollered at them: Taiwan - you -get back on the bus!" over and over again until they figured out what she wanted. She never explained things very well and seemed like she would have rather been anywhere else than there. The stop at the factory would have been fine if we hadn;t been attacked by sales people who kept trying to order us into a sales room for a sales pitch. The experience did NOT encourage us to buy from them. Our bus was a "Sasha" tour bus, and our trip was Friday the 2nd of November, I believe. We really feel that the web site could be better at explaining what our options were and how much it would cost. Trying to extract this information from the Tour Guide was not possible...we would have been better customers...no one likes to feel like they are being railroaded.

Doing what: Dead Sea Spa and Wellness Trip from Tel Aviv

Petra was fabulous and I would definitively return. However, there was much confusion with my return flights and I was put on a later flight from Eliat which was delayed and so thus returned to Tel Aviv very late. It definitely took away from the experience of the day. The other issue was we did not have an opportunity for breakfast since we left so early and were not served lunch till 4PM. This was after we had done the quite strenuous hike. Poor planning!!

Doing what: Petra Day Trip from Tel Aviv - UNESCO World Heritage Site

This tour started out a bit rocky when my guide inquired as to my plans upon completion of my half-day tour. When I informed him that I intended to return to Tel Aviv and spend the day on the beach, he promptly inquired as to how I planned to return to Tel Aviv, as the half-day tour ends in Jerusalem...YIKES! So, my half-day tour turned into the full-day Jerusalem/Bethlehem tour...LOL! I simply paid the difference between the half-day and full-day tours (which, ironically, woul have been the same price paid had I taken a taxi back to Tel Aviv).

With all of that said, I'm REALLY glad that I took this tour. Jerusalem is TREMENDOUSLY fascinating, and we only visited the old city. My guide was EXCEPTIONALLY knowledgeable and excellent at pointing out various interesting aspects of the city.

From Jerusalem, I journeyed to Bethlehem with the rest of the tour participants, and I'm SOOOO glad I took adventage of this opportunity. While there isn't really anything special in Bethlehem, what I appreciated was the opportunity to see, first hand, the Palestinian perspective (as Bethlehem is a Palestinian territoy)...WOW! EYE-OPENING!

For those choosing only the half-day trip, I simply encourage you to have a plan for getting back to Tel Aviv. Furthermore, I would simply suggest proceeding with the full-day trip. The difference is merely a few hours, and you're returned to your start point in Tel Aviv.

Doing what: Jerusalem Half-Day Tour from Tel Aviv: Dome of the Rock and Western Wall

Given one's individual situation, this tour may or may not be worth doing. I was TREMENDOUSLY limited in the time that I had in Israel, and I wanted to see/do AS MUCH as possible. So, to this end, the trip afforded me the opportunity to check-off yet ANOTHER item on my bucket-list. However, if I had it to do all over again, instead of purchasing the tour from Tel Aviv, I would have simply purchased the tour from Eilat. Then, I would have driven from Tel Aviv to Eilat and back (possibly not in the same day, but possible, if necessary). I feel that I spent A LOT of time waiting in the airport, and had I driven I could have seen more of the country (Yes! It's desert, but it's pretty.), and I could have spent some time in Eilat which has SO MUCH to offer!

The tour started off a bit awkwardly, as there was no one at the airport in Tel Aviv to direct me. Then, upon arriving in Eilat, there was no one in the airport to receive me. Instead, I had to go outside the airport and ask one of the guards who informed me that usually there will be a bus or van that says "Petra" for which I should look. After about 20 or so minutes of waiting, the van circled back around (I never saw it, initially). From this point, it was smooth sailing.

Crossing over into Jordan was easy. MAKE CERTAIN that you have money for the Jordanian visa if you require it ($55 USD/220 NIS...one of the ladies on my tour was able to use her debit card.) Returning to Israel takes a bit longer, but just relax.

Doing what: Petra Day Trip from Tel Aviv - UNESCO World Heritage Site

I changed it to the whole day excursion to include the transportation back to my hotel. There is never enough time but it is a very good formula for a first time.

Doing what: Jerusalem Half-Day Tour from Tel Aviv: Dome of the Rock and Western Wall

The guide was great, the food and bus were fine, Petra itself was very interesting. The only problems were that there was no onje at Sde Dovin cash per person at the border to let us know where to go or what to do. Our first contact with any tour representative was in Eilat. Also, it was not made clear that there was a $55 charge to be paid in cash for the Jordanian visa.

Doing what: Petra Day Trip from Tel Aviv - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Excellent guide and tour.
My only problem was that I had not understood that it was my responsibility to get myself back to Tel Aviv.
So be aware of this.
However, the guides provided me with a very creative solution - so it ended well.

Doing what: Jerusalem Half-Day Tour from Tel Aviv: Dome of the Rock and Western Wall

Hi, I highly recommend to visit Mini Israel, only 30 minutes from Tel Aviv on the main road to Jerusalem.
You can see all Israel must see sites in hust a few hours. The park has more than 300 models of archeological, historical, religious and modern sites.You can also see there models from Tel Aviv like Azrieli Towers, old Jaffa, Bauhaus buildings..and even the Opera house and the beach promenade.
Smadar

Petra is a mesmerising relic of the past, well worthwhile spending a whole day exploring.Unfortunately, the Viator organised trip disappoints due to the time wasted crossing the border and travelling within Jordan.Be prepared to wait/queue for up to 1hr for the Israeli customs desks to open so that you can have your passport stamped. Once over the Israeli border but still in the intercountry fenced-off zone, we waited for nearly another hour on the Jordanian side, without being informed of what caused the delay. It transpired that the Jordanian tour counterparty waited for a large American group (30+people) to join our relatively small international party (10 people) despite us having turned up good 40min before them and having submitted our passports for inspection. Seeing the paid Jordanian "passport helpers" assist many other groups before ours despite us having arrived first was infuriating. The rain and cold did not help either.
Once we set off, our journey was punctuated by the mandatory tourist trap visits and was protracted by the driver being extremely careful not to exceed a speed limit of 40km/h.
We arrived at Petra at 13:00!! This left us with 2.5 hrs to explore a tiny part of it so that at 16:00 we could have the included lunch. You could imagine we had starved to death by then. After the meal, we were leisurely driven back to the border (3.5 hrs), where we nearly missed our 20:55 flight back to Tel Aviv.
A word of advice: book a tour to Jordan, drive to Petra and stay overnight there. The 2.5 hrs in Petra are definitely not worth $1000 for two travellers and the cross-border hassle.

Doing what: Petra Day Trip from Tel Aviv - UNESCO World Heritage Site

I had a great trip. The guide was very good. He was informative and amusing and he kept everyone on time which made the experience all the better.

Doing what: Dead Sea Spa and Wellness Trip from Tel Aviv

Great taste of all the things one will want to explore in Tel Aviv later. The morning pick up was chaotic, and the guide firm to manage a big groupbut knowledgeable and really did her best to be sure everyone had a great experience! Thanks Maya

Doing what: Jerusalem Half-Day Tour from Tel Aviv: Dome of the Rock and Western Wall