He did reach out to me for advice and this is what I replied. Feel free to post what you would have advised
Hey Ben,
If you're booking with AMEX, don't miss this Matmid promo and don't forget to wait 24 hours after transferring to get exec rates:
https://www.dansdeals.com/airfare-deals/mileage-deals/el-al-matmid-discounted-coach-business-class-awards-upcoming-matmid-devaluation/I'd love to see a review of LY 787 J from EWR-TLV and LY 777 F from TLV-LAX, but I know that'll cost an obscene amount of points/cash
If you do fly F though, you should be able to have a travel agent make special meal requests from TLV...as long as they're kosher
A week is a tall order, especially on a blogger schedule. If you can swing it, I'd probably do a 5th night free award at the Waldorf Jlem, and then a night or 2 each at Sheraton TLV, Ritz, and SPG Design Elma Arts. I'm assuming you're going before March, otherwise the W TLV may be an option.
Just bear in mind that Israel does not have a service oriented culture, so a 5 star hotel will never exist there.
That being said, the Waldorf J'lem is in a fantastic location and does a decent enough job. I can put you in touch with the GM there if you need standard award space or to confirm a suite or a deluxe balcony room in advance.
Conventional wisdom is to avoid Jerusalem on Friday/Saturday, but I'd stick around. The experience of seeing an entire city in a hustle and bustle preparing for Shabbos (walk around the machne yehuda shuk or the streets of meah shearim) is neat and then seeing it come to a halt on Friday evening/Saturday is something you won't find elsewhere. You can still tour Christian/Muslim sights/temple mount in the old city on Saturday and if you're up to it, see the crowds filling in the western wall area on friday night.
-Definitively book a western wall tunnel tour well in advance:
https://english.thekotel.org/western_wall_sites/western_wall_tunnels/-And I love the ramparts walk in Jerusalem on top of the old city walls, you can get a birds eye view into everyday life in all 4 quarters of the old city from there.
-The holocaust museum is obviously a must do.
-City of David tour, be prepared to get a bit wet
Aside from that, Jerusalem is a good base for a fascinating day trips to::
-Masada tour/Dead Sea floating/Ein Gedi hike
-Dig for a day archaeology at Bet Guvrin
-A tour of Hebron and the cave of the patriarchs.
-If you want to take a tour of the west bank for a view of the conflict from both sides
TLV has beaches and a big bar and nightclub scene, but not much historical. I wouldn't focus too much time there. People love the dialogue in the dark exhibit, which has to be booked well in advance. :http://www.childrensmuseum.org.il/eng/pages/childrens_activity/dialogue_in_the_dark.aspx
And the Palmach museum is neat as well:
http://www.palmach.org.il/Web/English/TheMuseum/Default.aspxThere are a ton of awesome wineries if you're into that. I can give you more info on those if you'd like.
Up north along the Mediterranean sea, you've got the Roman ruins in Caesarea, the high-tech companies in Haifa, the grottoes in Rosh Hanikra.
Inland north there's Tiberias on the sea of galiliee, the ancient city of Tzfat, and the Golan Heights. I love Nimrod's fortress and Baniyas waterfall in the Golan.
There are more authentic israeli possibilities, like staying in a kibbutz for a night or staying in a "Zimmer"
https://www.zimmeril.com/And that's ignoring the possibilities of goind down south to Mitzpe Ramon, Eilat, and trips to Petra or Sinai...
Anyway, I hope that wasn't too overwhelming. Happy to follow up on anything.
Enjoy,
Dan
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