Seven reasons to book a tour in 2018’s top travel destination: Israel

Anyone who reads this site or follows me on Instagram knows I’m not very religious – I put more eggs in the science basket than anything else. But I also LOVE history and the connection between the past and modern society, which is why Israel is such an appealing travel destination for me. It’s popped up on all kinds of lists of “Top Destinations for 2018”, including ones from major pubs like Travel + Leisure. So no wonder there’s all kinds of interest in Israel tours! 

However – there are some places around the world where you can see everything yourself without booking a tour, and some places where you’d be doing yourself a disservice to skip out on one. I’ve been looking into Israel a lot and it seems like a place where organized tours are a smart way to see everything, especially the unique sites outside the major cities.

So, I’ve put together a list of seven reasons I’d book a tour in Israel. While this is a sponsored post, I didn’t receive any guidance or messaging from the company – these are legit all MY reasons why I like organized tours while traveling.

Why book an Israel tour?

There’s something to be said for flawless transportation in foreign countries!

1. 1. You don’t need to arrange transportation: Booking a guide for a day can be expensive, and you never know how reliable they’ll be. When you book a pre-set tour, you can count on your transportation being on-time, comfortable, and professional – you don’t want to end up in the desert with a flat tire because you booked an amateur driver. Plus, it’s just so damn easy. Why arrange it yourself when someone’s done it for you?
   2. You don’t need to worry about entrance fees, passes, long lines, etc. This is especially great if you sign up for a tour that involves visas and a border crossing – they’ll help you out with all of that! In some places you may need to PAY for your own entrance fee (some tours include it, some don’t) but the important part is you don’t have to deal with lines or figuring out where to go. Your tour guide has done it 100 times and will get you in and out of where you need to be like a pro.
      
   3. On that note: your guide is a pro and knows all the best places. Why bother building the route yourself when a pro has already done it? You’ll be able to see more in one day than you would in two days if you did it yourself – oh, and you don’t have to worry about getting lost! Plus, since you’re not driving, you can really enjoy yourself on the tour and focus on the experience, not the map.

Tours in Israel are super affordable:

4. Israel tours are affordable. One-day  tours including transportation, a knowledgeable and licensed guide, and all your entrance fees start at under $90 USD. You couldn’t even rent a car for that little! Since your tour operator runs tours all the time, they’re able to negotiate better prices and save money, which allows them to make tours less expensive. If you try to do it yourself, your guide is NOT going to be trying to save you money.

5.You can almost always cancel for free. Not sure if a tour is right for you? No problem. Book it now and know that you can cancel for free if you decide you’d rather do your own thing once you landed in Israel. This is big for me – I like to do advanced planning but sometimes things come up during travel and you need to change your plans. I always recommend using a company that allows you to cancel and change your plans, since to me, that means they’re professional and have good customer service. Booking-tours.com is one, of course, or I wouldn’t be talking about them!

6. You’re probably not going to get to these places on your own: Some of these places are difficult to get to and hours away from major airports and cities. Booking one of the dozens of Israel tours is a chance to get to places you’d never be able to find or arrange transport to on your own. While I haven’t done any Israel tours, I can tell you from doing organized mountain bike tours in Thailand and caving tours in Belize that the sense of adventure from seeing such off-the-beaten-path places is worth every penny.

Good luck finding this on your own.

7. You’ll fire up your sense of adventure.  Israel tours offer more than than historical sightseeing and amazing history – they’re also scuba diving, rad hiking, ATV desert tours, hidden canyons and soooo much more. Booking a tour is a reliable, fun,  and (importantly) SAFE way to experience extreme adventure in a foreign country. Personally, I’d love to pop on this jeep and hiking tour through ancient trade routes, but I wouldn’t say no to a scuba diving adventure, either!

I want to go to there.

8. (Yep, bonus reason!) IT’S A GREAT WAY TO MEET PEOPLE! Especially for couples or solo travelers, organized tours are a great way to meet other likeminded and fun travelers. We met a dutch couple on a trip in Vietnam and ended up at the Tokyo Fish Market at 5 am with a Russian duo we met on a tour of the Golden Gai. So yeah – you’ll meet travel buddies on tours!

Thinking about looking into Israel tours even more?

If you’re thinking about booking any Israel tours, or tours in Jordan, Egypt or Dubai, I strongly recommend bookmarking this page.  When you’re ready to book, use code HIKEUPYOURSKIRT or click this link to get a promo rate on your tour.  ALSO: looks like there’s another code out there that may work if the one above doesn’t – try BOOK20. 

Pin the image above to come back and book later!

This is a sponsored post from booking-tours.com, but if you keep up with this blog you know I don’t agree to sponsorships I don’t believe in. Booking-tours.com offers a really safe way to see the middle east with some awesome adventures I’d never even though of, so I really recommend checking it out. Israel is high on my bucket list so who knows, maybe we’ll be on the same tour!

Want help planning? You can email booking-tours.com through their site with questions and they’ll offer no-pressure ideas and suggestions. Just tell them you found out about it on hikeupyourskirt.com!