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Sample 10 Day Itinerary

This is a sample, skeleton itinerary. Travellers need to adjust their personal itinerary around Shabbat, when various sites are closed.

Day 1 - Jerusalem

Arrive in Israel. Overnight in Jerusalem.

Day 2 - Jerusalem

See the panorama of Jerusalem's Old City from atop Mount Scopus. Enter the walled Old City's Zion Gate. Visit the restored Jewish Quarter, the Cardo of which was the Roman "heart"of Jerusalem. See the Old Yishuv Court Museum and visit the excavated Herodian Mansions: their mosaics, friezes and mikvehs intact after 2,000 years. Descend to the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, and walk through the Western Wall tunnels to the Old City bazaars. Finish your tour at the Tower of David Museum in the ancient Citadel.

Day 3 - Jerusalem

Visit the Jerusalem Theatre and Bet Hanassi (home of Israel's president), and the leafy streets of the German Colony. See the giant bronze Menorah outside the Knesset, Israel's parliament, en route to the magnificent Supreme Court complex. Immerse yourself in the Israel Museum with its art, archeology, Judaic artefacts and Shrine of the Book which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Day 4 - Jerusalem

See the Chagall Windows at the Hadassah Medical Centre, and visit Yad Vashem; Israel's museum and memorial to the Holocaust. Continue to Mount Herzl, with its graves of Theodor Herzl, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and the fallen of Israel's wars, before discovering ultra-orthodox Mea Shearim, evocative of the shetls of Eastern Europe, and the colorful Mahane Yehuda Market.

Day 5 - Dead Sea

Descend through the stark Judean Desert to the Dead Sea, lowest point on earth. Visit Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947. Ascend Masada by cablecar and tour the remains of Herod's palace-fortress, where in 73AD, the zealots chose suicide over surrender to Rome. Spend the afternoon at a Dead Sea Spa. Overnight at the Dead Sea.

Day 6 - Galilee

Pass the oasis of Jericho and travel north to Galilee. Visit the vast, Roman city of Bet Shean, still undergoing renovation, then see the splendid gardens of Bet Gabriel on the Sea of Galilee shore. Ascend the monumental Golan Heights, with its kibbutzim and world-class winery. Admire the view of the Sea of Galilee, then spend the night at a hotel on the lake shore, or high in the hills.

Day 7 - Galilee

Drive to Zippori, a major city 1,500 years ago, where some of the world's finest mosaics were recently unearthed, including the "Mona Lisa of Israel". See the 2,000 year-old catacombs and sarcophagi of Beth Shearim. As an option, spend the afternoon rafting on the river Jordan. Dine in Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Day 8 - Akko/Haifa

Take a morning drive to Safed, one of Judaism's four holy cities, and wander through its attractive lanes to ancient synagogues and artists' studios. Cross lush Galilee to Akko (Acre), the ancient port immortalised by the Crusaders, the Turks and the British. See the underground Crusader City, the Mediterranean battlements and the exotic markets. Drive on to the port city of Haifa, draping the slopes of biblical Mount Carmel, and the magnificent new Bahai Gardens, Israel's "eighth wonder of the world." Overnight in Haifa.

Day 9 - Caesarea/Tel Aviv

Visit Atlit Camp, where the Holocaust survivors were incarcerated, then follow the Mediterranean to Caesarea, with its Roman theatre, Crusader fortress and Turkish port. Visit Zichron Yaacov, a town founded by the Rothschilds in the 19th century, then continue to Tel Aviv, Israel's largest metropolis.

Day 10 - Tel Aviv

Experience Tel Aviv's major sites and moods. See the dazzling New Opera House - part of the Golda Meir Centre for the Performing Arts. Visit the Tel Aviv Museum. Admire the Art Deco and Bauhaus architecture of Rothschild Boulevard and the revitalised Neve Tzedek, and Independence Hall where, in 1948, David Ben Gurion declared the State of Israel. Experience the beautifully restored 4,000-year-old city of Jaffa with its cobbled streets lined with artists' galleries and boutiques. Take an evening stroll around the bustling Tayelet promenade, alive with cafes, entertainment and crowds. Overnight in Tel Aviv.

Day 11

Depart for home, or continue your holiday in Israel with a journey south to the Negev Desert and Eilat on the Red Sea.