Haifa Israel TR

[jose34]

Part 1- Intro:
I am writing this trip report since there are not so many trips written about different cities in Israel and felt it was hard to find information online especially information about minyanim. There are a lot of trip reports written in general but not about specific trips overnight trips to specific cities in E”Y.

Summary:
Day 1: Rosh Hanikra, Marat Hekeshet - Rainbow Cave:
Day 2: Carmel Tunnel Tram in Haifa, Nesher Bridge and Hike, Carmel Forest, Haifa Beach, Caesarea Beach for Sunset

Stayed at: Crowne Plaza Haifa ( IHG Free night)
Rented a Car in Jerushalayim for two days.   

“Religious Info”:
Mincha Marriv in Kiryat Shmuel - Minyan Factory – located at Mohiliver Street 14, Haifa;   20 minutes from Haifa proper; 
Shacharis and Mincha (next day) in Hadar Neighborhood Haifa located at Michael Street 17 Haifa

We planned a lot for this trip and as mentioned before planning is hard in E”Y since there is not so much information is available online. Also we had to plan 1.5 itineraries since there was a possibility for rain. With siyata dismaya the rain held up but it was cloudy and moist but we enjoyed that (more information below). A lot people helped me to plan this trip. First of all thank you to the DDF for help especially @Proisrael that helped me find a Mincha and Marriv minyan. One last point, we did this trip during non bein hazmanim and it was the best in some places there were no one and I mean no one around, it goes without saying there were no lines anywhere.

[davidrotts63]

Following

[shwarmabob]

Nice! an pics? you didn't go to Eliyahu's Cave?

[Denverite]

Looking forward to the rest, hoping to plan some stuff in the North and greatly looking forward to this!

Also, love your thought on the Crowne Plaza Haifa.  What is the neighborhood like if you were there for Shabbat?

[jose34]

Nice! an pics? you didn't go to Eliyahu's Cave?

Nope.

[jose34]

Looking forward to the rest, hoping to plan some stuff in the North and greatly looking forward to this!

Also, love your thought on the Crowne Plaza Haifa.  What is the neighborhood like if you were there for Shabbat?

Can be done. Nice area to walk around outside. The hotel is designed to be used for Shabbos. Not that it will help in this regard but I do hope to post pictures of the inside the hotel room.
There a few shuls nearby but not by stretch of the imagination a Charaidi neighborhood.

 

[jose34]

Part 2:
Day 1:
Picked up the rental car and left Yerushalyim to head up to Rosh Hanikra. GPS was telling us to take Highway 6 but we took the 2 instead since it does not cost money, also I think the Highway 2 is the most scenic highway in E”Y. The 2 took us all the way up to the Carmel Tunnels ( underneath the city of Haifa) but we had the GPS set to “No Tolls”  only realized it once it started taking us around and into the city,  however we ended up fixing that problem and getting on in the second entrance into the tunnels. Nevertheless the tunnels are like 20 shekal the whole way and from the second entrance its like 15 shekal or something like that. Leaving the tunnel the road continued to the town of Nahariya and eventually up to Rosh Hanikra. Trip up took us 2.5 hours. 

Rosh Hanikra:

One of the more popular places that everyone goes to so won’t go into much detail but see the pictures. It is one places in which we had to pay on this trip. It cost 48 shekel per person. There is only one way to go down the caves – the cable car and you have to pay for that. The view from Rosh Hanikra is pretty cool however it was cloudy so were not able to see that far but in my opinion clouds and rain make life interesting. 
Cable car they claim is “the steepest cable car in the world” and it probably is. We got a the cable car down and backup to ourselves! After going down to the cave (grottos) we watched a video about the history of Rosh Hanikra. The “movie” was a shown on one of the walls of the caves. After that we went into the grottos. Hard to describe exactly what grottos are but they are caves with water and you on a walk on a path above the water. It is a Circular Path. We came out by the “Elephants Foot” a big huge part of the earth aka. rock that meets the water directly with no sand. It’s a scenic place to take a picture. Went back up the with cable car saw the the sign that points to Jerusalem and Beirut  took some more pictures and headed to our next destination.

Rosh Hanikra Cable Car






Marat Hekeshet:
Redish rocked Rainbow shaped arch: Around 20 minutes from Rosh Hanikra. Actual address is somewhere off the 8993 Road ( more info here: https://www.touristisrael.com/keshet-cave/6166/)  The way to drive there from Rosh Hanikra is you drive on the regular road for  like 10 minutes then you drive up a long circular, mountain road. Like your climbing a mountain (similar to the road that goes from Tiverya to Tzfat) then you make a right and enter the park.  Turn Left and drive around the park until you get to a big parking lot. You should see signs that points to points to Marat Hakeshet. This area has an area to make a picnic it also a good place to make a bbq as well as nice size parking lot.
There is a hike before actually get to the Marat Hekeshet. First paved and then the trail splits off and passes through a gate and becomes more grassy and rocky.  Make sure to follow the path markers. Hike was around 20 minutes each way. The arch was really pretty and there a nice view from it also. People go repelling off the arch (we didn’t ). It is a beautiful area. After that we took the trail a little longer, saw a herd of mountain goats from farther down the mountains, then turned around and headed back. Literally the only person we saw in the park was a park ranger when we got back to the parking lot. And then we got in the car and it… started pouring!
From there we headed to Kiryat Shmuel to daven Mincha/Marriv. The GPS took on an interesting way ( not sure which other way it could have taken us). The road we went on went through some mixed Arab/ Israeli towns which made me a little queasy, these were regular Israeli roads like the 70 and the 85 etc… but I guess these go through some mixed towns. We also saw the sign for Akko. Trip took around an hour – hour fifteen minutes with a little bit of traffic.






Kiryat Shmuel
The shul in Kiryat Shmuel is in a nice neighborhood. I would say it’s a mix of sefardi and mizrachi with a little mix of everything else. (Thanks @Proisrael). In the main shul there is a stunning Aron Kodesh! However most of the minyanim did not take place there but only in the side shuls and in the entranceway.  Mincha started from a 20 minutes before shkia and there were a few minyanim leading up to shkia. Marriv was 20 minutes after shkia and later on in the night. I think Shacaris the next day was from 7:00 and on, every half hour but we davned in Haifa proper (see below). After davening we left and headed towards the Crowne Plaza Haifa. Trip took around 30 - 45 minutes with traffic at night just blindly following the GPS.

Crowne Plaza Haifa
When we got there and wanted to check in to the hotel but the hotel desk agent first started telling me how she is giving me an upgrade, acceses to the lounge and was being all nice but then she asked me for payment, I told her I was using an IHG free night, she looked confused and said, “Yeah with  your points – You have to make a reservation with your points.” I told her no with a Chase Free Night. She tried calling IHG but did not get through. Eventually she took my credit card just in case and told me to send her the screenshots of the reservation. She was nice about it but she was just confused. Find it hard to believe that no one ever redeemed a Chase IHG Free Night in Haifa. In the end, by the morning she sorted it out and the stay was indeed totally free.
I would rate the hotel as a 4/10. It was nice but not amazing – it’s not supposed to be this big fancy hotel. However it had an older feel. Everyone I interacted there was friendly. Room was clean but more basic. (See pictures). I also got a handful of upgrades including a nice view and access to the hotel lounge.   

Stay tuned for Part 3....

[Traveler718]

Great TR so far! Any chance of getting the next installment soon for day 2. We're planning to be in that area after Shavuos and would love hear/see more about what you did and your itinerary feedback and suggestions.

[jose34]

Great TR so far! Any chance of getting the next installment soon for day 2. We're planning to be in that area after Shavuos and would love hear/see more about what you did and your itinerary feedback and suggestions.

Thanks.
See day 2 in Part 1.
I will try to write it in full detail by next week.
Day 2 really was a bunch of hikes though... Was gorgeous  weather for our standards - partly cloudy, moist a little bit of rain 60 degress .

[Traveler718]

Bump - any chance of getting part 2 soon?

[a good yeshiva bachur]

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[shaulyaakov]

Regarding the Crowne Plaza, it astounds me how poor the quality of the brand is across the board. I don't understand how IHG doesn't have anything close to a Hilton/Marriott/Hyatt (Regency), or Sheraton line hotels.