Nazareth, Tiberias, and Sea of Galilee Day Tour - Small Group

I really can’t recommend this tour enough. My husband and I weren’t sure what to expect and every stop surpassed all of our expectations (with the exception of the bathroom situation at the first stop, the Christian store---that was bad). The churches, Jordan River, Sea of Galilee, Mary’s home, Joseph’s home, Peter’s home, and all of the Ancient remains we saw were completely breathtaking. Eric, our guide, did a wonderful job of answering our questions. He was very knowledgeable and approachable. I really think this is the #1 must-see tour for any Christian heading to Israel. I got more out of this than anything in Jerusalem. Ben Harim tours are very organized. I was stressed out that morning because we were getting picked up in Tel Aviv, but everyone else on our shuttle got picked up in Jerusalem. However, they picked us up on time and there weren’t any issues. We ended up switching to a large bus because the large bus was English-speaking only. We felt very comfortable leaving our luggage with the driver in the bus, and nothing was stolen while we were on the various tours. One tip: I wouldn’t pay extra for the small shuttle. I remember when booking the options were a large bus or a small, air conditioned shuttle. I decided to spend more for the “small, air-conditioned shuttle” because that sounded better, but we ended up switching to a large bus anyway which was more comfortable and more spacious than the little shuttle. It was like any other coach bus in America, air conditioned and clean. My only qualm with the tour was that I had emailed ahead of time asking if we could get picked up in Tel Aviv and dropped off in Jerusalem at the end of the tour and they said we could for an extra $60. We paid the $60, but then everyone was given that option at the end of the day anyway. There was one bus going back to Tel Aviv and one going to Jerusalem and everyone was given the option of switching, so I’m not sure why we had to pay extra.

1- The tour could have been packaged as a hlaf-day one. After the Annunciation Chapel, there was of little value based on the way the tour was conducted. 2- Lunch took too long. About 1.5 hours. Overpriced ($22) for a bland fried/baked Tilapia (although they called it St. Peter’s Fish). 3- our guide could have researched better. She simply described the obvious or what was already common knowledge. And in the case of the latter, some of the info she gave was imprecise or conflicting. Maybe it was because she couldn’t express herself in English well even if this was marketed as a tour in English. I ended up listening to other guides whose explanations were informative. At the end of the day, I was just glad the tour was over.

First, I cannot stress enough that the small group tour is worth the extra price. The tour itself in the mini-bus was very enjoyable with a knowledgeable and respectful guide. I very much appreciated how our guide explained the sites outside and let us walk through the churches and experience the sites ourselves after receiving the explanation, instead of disrupting other visitors and services and blocking access to sites by having us form in a group in small spaces. I think this should be done by all tours. Regardless of one's religion, this is an interesting and beautiful tour of the northern region which is filled with historic sites. If people have more time, it looked very nice to spend a night at a hotel on the sea of galilee. The one huge downside was the pickup process. I was the third pickup in the "big pickup coach" and it was already 30 minutes late. We then drove around picking up people (sometimes only a couple minutes apart) for over two hours. Many people had to change transportation multiple times and wait for long periods to be picked up. It would be much more considerate to have two to three pickup places and everyone is responsible for getting to these pick up places themselves. It is not worth it to be picked up at your hotel.