Eretz Israel for my FIRST TIME!!! ever..!

Also if you go into a place that is not Charedi ONLY Speak English, I am sure you realize there are issues going on and if you speak English with an american Accent, you will be treated like a tourist and not like a local and be treated better.

b) places to avoid All Arab neighborhoods & enclaves.

c) Places MUST SEE Kossel & Tzefas

Please remember to get outside of Yerushalyim to see the country – there is holiness everywhere, not just in the city.

How exciting to go be going for your first visit

Regarding kashrut, best to speak to your rabbi what hechsherim he considers acceptable in Israel. Can get a bit tricky especially when travelling around the country.

Generally, the most accepted ones are eida chareidit, rav rubin and belz, but best to get a list and what symbols to look out for.

Definately must visit the kotel, the jewish quarter in the old city and generally just walk around and take in the holiness of Yerushalayim. The shuk at machaneh yehuda is also great but just need to know whats acceptable. If you get a chance also go up North to Tzfat, Tiveria etc. Beautiful up there and a lot of history.

As for beaches, there is a seperate one in Ashkelon, Tel aviv (specific days only) and at the dead sea.

Hope that helps

Jono, FYI the Rabbanut hechsher is accepted by the Religious Zionist public. In fact, I heard about someone who will not eat yivul nochri produce because it has the blood of terror victims in it.

Not sure when you are going, but if you going for Succos or any other Yom Tov dont forget they only keep 1 day and most people hold you need to keep 2 days (Except maybe if you are Satmar as I think the Satmar Rebbe held even tourists keep 1 day in Israel)

always runs with scissors fast: First, enjoy yourself. When going to the Kotel, before I bought a car, I would take a taxi to the Kotel. It’s not expensive and you can avoid Arab areas, which Egged goes through.

I would make an effort to get to the big Birkas Kohanim at the kosel. It will be taking place this year on Thursday, October 1st. Shacharis begins at 8:15 a.m. and Birkas Kohanim will be at about 9:00 a.m. and then again in musaf at about 10:00 a.m.

a MUST is the blind museum in the children’s museum in Holon. it is worth traveling from far. there also is an option for the deaf museum, but if its one of the two- the blind one, is an eye-opening experience (no pun intended)

Definitely spend a lot of time strolling through Chareidi neighborhoods. Malchai Yisrael on almost any day can make 13th Ave. look calm. Take the tunnel tour at the Kotel. You can safely take the #1 and #3 Egged buses to the Jewish gate of the Kotel that goes directly to the Kotel Plaza.

There are some great tours to Tzfas and Tiberas, we did Atzeret which is a frum tour. Visited lots of kevorim, although they do rush you a bit which makes a nice slow davening a bit challenging.

Stay out of East Jerusalem and the Arab quarter of the Old City. If you rent a car, don’t trust the GPS, since it doesn’t know political realities. Instead, have someone reliable map a safe route for you.

Most of all, enjoy the Holy Land. I didn’t get there the first time until well into adulthood and virtually kicked myself for not going sooner. It is a wonderful place, davening at the Kotel is so inspiring! And it’s also such a funny place, there’s always some sort of shtick going on, whether it’s the Nach nachs dancing on top of a van near the central bus station, crazy taxi drivers, or people who sit down at your table at a falafel place and start telling you a vaad. BTW, the falafel in Israel is phenominal, nothing like what we’re used to here. In fact, all the food is really good albeit the kashrus is confusing.

Rundown on Yerushalayim public transportation:

There are bus cards called Rav Kavs- they are green and purple and will get you on any public bus in the country (while you may need to pay extra for different locations or distances on intercity buses, they can be loaded onto this Rav Kav). They can be purchased on buses or at the Tachana Merkazit. You can load money on them either on the bus or at machines at light rail stations. (I don’t remember ticket prices but it’s cheaper than NYC and you have free transfers for 1.5 hours.)

There are many local buses in the Geula/Meah Shearim area, as well as a bus station that has buses to probably 95% of the cities in Yerushalayim you’d probably be interested in visiting. There are two area buses, the 1 and the 3, which will take you directly to the kosel, but like people said they do go through an Arab neighborhood for a few minutes. 99.9999% of the time there is no problem, but I definitely understand preferring not to take them (especially as I was among the .00001% of people who did once have a problem…). It is also a quick walk from Meah Shearim to the kosel, but you will probably want really good directions or someone to show you around.

You’re also a quick walk from Meah Shearim to the center of town, including Machane Yehuda. Many stands have great hashgachas, including Eida Chareidis.

If you’re there for Sukkos, I also recommend going for Birkas Kohanim if only so you can just see the huge numbers of klal Yisrael all in the same place.

There are kosher beaches in Ashdod, Netanya and I’m sure other places as well.

There are several buses to Beit Shemesh, including the 415, 417, 418 and 420. They all go to roughly the same places but have different routes, so check with your hosts for the bus you should take. You will have to buy a ticket on the bus (though you can buy a return ticket to be put on your Rav Kav). If you want to go to Ramat Beit Shemesh, take the 417 specifically.

A good bus tour can be a great way to get a lot of sights in that you otherwise would have to get to yourself. Basically, sightseeing in Israel is either cheap or convenient. I’ve done both routes- the pay-for-a-bus-and-get-ferried-from-kever-to-kever route and the so-the-bus-to-the-nearest-town-comes-in-an-hour route- and for a tourist, a bus is definitely worth springing for. You can get basically anywhere by public bus (including Yam Hamelach like you mentioned) if you really want to, but you should probably look into more practical methods.

When in the Old City, don’t freak out but also stick to main areas unless you know where you’re going. While people there are really nice and mostly speak English, if you’re not familiar a lot of the streets look the same and can be really confusing.

Have an incredible time!

If you have (or plan to rent) a smartphone with the proper bands for Israel, be sure to download Moovit and Google Maps. Moovit will be a great help with the buses, and Google Maps will help you figure out walking and bus routes.

there are a lot of mountains for great running experiences.

true but that doesn’t mean you have to stop just because you’re in Eretz kodesh.