Travel Review: Luxury Israel Tour, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee, Local Wine & Cuisine, History

We had an outstanding trip in every respect and found our travel agent to be exceptionally responsive in both the trip planning and follow-through during our stay in Israel.  We would highly recommend his services to anyone planning a future trip to Israel.  Despite the 7 hour time difference, our emails were responded to promptly and thoroughly while we were planning the trip.  Several conference calls were made for last minute reviews and details--all at our convenience.  When adjustments were needed, our agent made them.  We wanted a very full itinerary with the objective of seeing as many of the religious sites (Christian, Muslim and Jewish) as possible as well as historical sites.  We also asked for  a tour guide who could provide an overview of the political situation there.  Our agent did an outstanding job of fitting in all of the major sites via an aggressive schedule (per our request).  It was very well-organized and allowed us to cover ground efficiently.  More importantly, the sequencing flowed in such a way as to carefully build upon our knowledge  as we went.  Finally--and most importantly, we had the best tour guide we have ever had and we all travel extensively.  I have been pleased with my Zicasso trips--but our tour guide for 8 full days, helped make this trip truly exceptional.

Finally, we really enjoyed the Norman hotel and the Mamilla and recommend getting larger rooms and/or suites while in Israel.  The suite at the Mamilla was really great when we were doing so much walking on rough terrain.  It was nice to have a free lounge where we could stop for cold refreshments, wine and/or coffee and a lite snack.  Also having the space to spread out and rest after so much activity was very refreshing. Don't cut corners on the hotel options--you will need to have R&R time.