Private Tour: The Best of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea

Our private tour was from Ashdod to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. This is probably the best private tour we have ever had. Lior was our tour guide and driver. Lior contacted us the evening before the o tour to introduce himself and to find out where were going to be and what we would like to do for our tour. He met us right where the shuttle bus to Gate One dropped us off. Lior was very professional and courteous. He had water bottles in the minivan for us. We started our drive for Ashdod to the Old City (about 1.5 hours). Lior pointed out points in interest on the way there and gave us a history of the area as we passed thru it. We arrived at the Old City and the road to the Jaffa Gate was closed due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot and a huge amount to pedestrian traffic in the area. He found a parking garage close by and we walked in from there. First thing I notice was the IDF presence as well as a police presence. We felt completely safe entering and touring the Old City. Both my wife and I are late 50s to late 60s and bad knees and an injured back. Lior went at our pace, he wasn’t in a hurry to get us anywhere. We stopped for breaks and refreshments as needed. We were interested in seeing the Old City from the Jewish perspective. He catered the tour to make sure we saw everything we needed to see to make the tour complete. We stopped for lunch at a local shawarma restaurant. He knew the owner and we got great service. We had a fantastic lunch of Israeli salad, Turkish relish, shawarma, hummus, and Arabic bread. Some of the best food we have had. He showed us some shops that were all merchants that he trusts. Very reputable folks that were selling their wares without any pressure to buy. From the Old City it was off to the Dead Sea to Bob around in the water. You get about chest deep in the water and you can no longer touch the bottom. I felt like I was a bobber on a fishing line. You just can’t go down!!!! You can see Jordan for the beach. We have been in the Dead Sea from the Jordan side looking at Israel. In Jordan the tour stopped at a resort to go swimming, on this tour we went to a pay beach. I have to admit the other side was a nicer experience. I am sure that Lior did not pick the site as it was the one on the tour. I would not hesitate to book with Bein Harim again.

He kept trying to guide us to specific restaurants, uninformative , wasn’t friendly and left us early

I took this tour from Tel Aviv. Overall it was a good tour of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, however, I thought it was quite expensive ($131) for what it was. Our tour guide, Hava, was nice and made the tour entertaining. Two things I didn't like. One, and maybe this is common with all tour companies, is taking us to a particular souvenir shop and making it seem like we are getting a great deal or something by shopping there. It's obvious that there is some sort of kickback that the tour guide or tour company gets from the shop, so it would be better if they were upfront about it instead of trying to hide it. Second issue was the ride back to Tel Aviv. Instead of dropping everyone off at their individual hotels it would have been better to go to a central location in Tel Aviv and drop everyone off there. Otherwise it takes a lot of unnecessary time navigating through traffic, etc...