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16-Nights Israel & Jordan with Dead Sea - Small Group from $8,525
Insight Vacations
OFFER ID 1543144
Israel & Jordan With Dead Sea - Small Group, Winter
See modern marvels, ancient wonders and stunning scenery on this 17-day guided tour of Israel and Jordan. Travel to Tel Aviv, where you’ll see the Habima National Theater, one of the first Hebrew-language theaters. In Jerusalem, ride a cable car to Masada — a desert fortress atop a rock plateau — then ascend to the top of Mount Scopus for panoramic views of the city below. Later, visit a Holocaust museum and see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Shrine of the Book. Buy a hand-crafted souvenir during a visit to the Iraq-Al Amir Women's Cooperative, which teaches local women trade skills. See the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Petra, an ancient city carved from the rose-hued stone of the surrounding mountains and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Take a jeep safari into the desert of Wadi Rum, where you’ll join local Bedouins for tea and authentic Jordanian cuisine under the stars. Spend two days relaxing by the Dead Sea.
Dining Summary
- 16 Breakfast (B)
- 6 Dinner with Wine (DW)
- 4 Dinner (D)
- 1 Lunch (L)
- Choose between two carefully selected activities
- Sea of Galilee: Enjoy a relaxing cruise on Lake Kinneret, the very place Jesus is said to have walked on water.
- Sea of Galilee: Find out more about the ancient Galilee Boat and hear the story of its excavation.
- Choose between two carefully selected activities
- Amman: During a city tour of Amman, visit the Citadel, the grand Roman Amphitheater and the Archaeological Museum.
- Amman: Explore Amman's street art scene on a guided graffiti walking tour.
- Personal radio headsets give you the freedom to wander during visits to famous highlights, without missing any of your Local Expert's fascinating commentary.
- Hotel and restaurant tips are included - you'll never have to worry about how much to give, nor search for foreign currency. We also include all taxes and porterage charges at hotels.
- We carry your bags for you and promptly deliver them to your hotel door.
- From time to time, your Travel Director will delight you with an Insight Flourish, which is a local specialty representing the destination.
- Stay connected with friends and family with our complimentary coach and hotel Wi-Fi (where available).
- If your arrival and/or departure flights are as per the itinerary start and end dates, then transfers are available at scheduled times. If your flights are outside these times, or you have booked additional nights accommodation with Insight Vacations, you may purchase transfers or make your own way from/to the airport.
- Tel Aviv: Enjoy a Welcome Reception and mingle with your fellow travel companions to begin your journey.
- Tiberias: Participate in a Friday night Shabbat dinner.
- Jerusalem: Toast the adventures of your travels with a lively Highlight Dinner.
- Amman: Savor local flavors over dinner with your Travel Director and fellow travelers.
- Amman: Enjoy lunch at Beit Khairat Souf, a local café hosted in the home of the Bataresh family. This women-owned café aims to create a platform for local women to become financially independent. This experience advances UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality, supporting women empowerment in a region suffering drastically from women unemployment
- Petra: Taste authentic Jordanian flavors as you experience a traditional desert dinner when you dine at the Ammarin Bedouin camp.
- Amman: Toast to your adventures with your fellow travelers at a lively dinner.
- Amman: During a city tour of Amman, visit the Citadel, the grand Roman Amphitheater and the Archaeological Museum.
- Amman: Explore Amman's street art scene on a guided graffiti walking tour.
- Tel Aviv: Meet a local artist for a private tour of their studio in Jaffa's artists’ quarter.
- Sea of Galilee: Find out more about the ancient Galilee Boat and hear the story of its excavation.
- Aqaba: Join a Stone Mosaic Class to learn about the ancient art of mosaic design and craft your own masterpiece.
- Amman: Visit the Iraq-Al Amir Women's Co-operative supported by the TreadRight Foundation. Learn some skills behind these traditional handicraft activities from the ladies of the cooperative and admire their work, which helps boost their financial livelihoods. The Cooperative, which is managed and run by local women, has provided training projects for more than 150 women from all villages of Wadi Seer on a variety of handicrafts. Here women are provided with job training skills enable them to gain access to economic opportunities that might not have otherwise been possible. This experience advances United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 5 & 11: Gender Equality & Sustainable Cities and Communities.
- Hula Valley: Join a ranger for a safari tour of the Agmon Hahula nature reserve. Visit the ecological garden, protecting endangered plant species native to the region.
- Tel Aviv: Explore with your Local Expert and see the Habimah National Theater, Rabin Square and browse around the Carmel Market.
- Tel Aviv-Yafo: Visit the ancient port and artists' quarter and see the famous clock tower and old harbor.
- Caesarea: With your Local Expert, explore the Roman and Crusader ruins of Caesarea, formerly one of the splendid cities in Palestine.
- Nazareth: Visit the Church of the Annunciation built on the site where the angel Gabriel is said to have appeared to Mary.
- Sea of Galilee: Enjoy a relaxing cruise on Lake Kinneret, the very place Jesus is said to have walked on water.
- Capern
16 nights from $8,525 per person
Insight Vacations: Israel & Jordan with Dead Sea - Small Group, Winter
Day 1 - Welcome to Tel Aviv
You will be met at Ben Gurion Airport and driven to your hotel in Tel Aviv.
Accommodations: Sheraton Tel Aviv Hotel.
Day 2 - Exploring Vibrant Tel Aviv Relaxed Start
Morning sightseeing showcases the highlights of this vibrant city, including the Habimah National Theater, Rabin Square and Carmel Market. Venture along the seashore to the ancient city of Jaffa to see the famous clock tower and the old harbor. Visit the artists' quarter with its galleries, boutiques and picturesque narrow lanes. Walk along the seaside promenade at sunset for spectacular views, as local musicians and street artists take to the stage. Meet a local artist at their gallery for an insight into their work and inspiration.
Accommodations: Sheraton Tel Aviv Hotel.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 3 - Caesarea to Galilee
Travel from Tel Aviv, along the coastal road to Caesarea. Explore the ancient Roman and Crusader ruins, including the huge amphitheater. Travel via Haifa to Acre, fought over for centuries and captured in turn by Saracens and Crusaders, including Richard the Lionheart. See the fortress, the old harbor area and Crusader crypt. Continue to Nazareth and visit one of Christianity’s most sacred places, the Church of Annunciation, built on the site where the angel Gabriel is said to have appeared to Mary. Head on to your hotel in Tiberias, which is located on the Sea of Galilee. The day concludes with a brief introduction to life on a Kibbutz. This evening, break traditional challah bread with your travel companions over a cheerful Shabbat dinner.
Accommodations: Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Tiberias.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Day 4 - Hula Valley Relaxed Start
Join a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience and meet a ranger for a tour of the Agmon Hahula natural reserve. This nature reserve is home to endangered plant species native of the Hula Valley, and also hosts a bird park on one of the most important migration routes in the world.
Accommodations: Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Tiberias.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 5 - To the Dead Sea
Explore Galilee with Insight Choice. Choose to cruise the serene waters of lake Kinneret for glorious views of the Golan Heights. Alternatively, find out more about the remains of a first century fishing boat that was found embedded at the bottom of the lake. Visit Capernaum, where Jesus is said to have entered the synagogue to teach, before heading to the Mount of Beatitudes, where he preached the Sermon on the Mount. Journey through ever-changing landscapes along the Jordan Valley, past ancient Jericho, to take a dip in the buoyant salt waters of the Dead Sea.
Accommodations: Herods Dead Sea, Ein Bokek.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 6 - Masada and the Holy City of Jerusalem
Take a cable car ride up to the fortress of Masada, where Jewish zealots held out for three years against King Herod's armies. Travel through the Judean Hills to Mount Scopus for breathtaking views of Jerusalem. Visit King David's Tomb on Mount Zion, and the Room of the Last Supper. Enter the Old City and follow the winding cobbled alleyways to the magnificent Wailing Wall, the most sacred monument in Judaism.
Accommodations: Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Jerusalem.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 7 - Exploring Jerusalem
Today is dedicated to exploring the multiple facets of Jerusalem. Visit Yad Vashem, a memorial for those who perished in the Holocaust. Continue to the Israel Museum and retrace the history of the city. Visit the Shrine of the Book, home to ancient Dead Sea scrolls, and look out for the most ancient one, the Isaiah scroll, dating from the third century B.C.
Accommodations: Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Jerusalem.
Meals: Breakfast
Day 8 - Optional Bethlehem Experience Relaxed Start
Enjoy a relaxed morning or alternatively choose to meet your Local Expert at the West Bank border and continue to the Holy city of Bethlehem. The Optional Experience includes visiting the Church of the Nativity, one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world. The structure is built over the cave that tradition marks as the birthplace of Christ, and is considered sacred by followers of both Christianity and Islam. In the afternoon, visit the Garden of Gethsemene and walk through the Old City to see the Temple Mount, one of Islam’s holiest sites. Continue along the Via Dolorosa past the Stations of the Cross, Ecce Homo Arch, and the Pool of Bethesda, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At night, toast your adventures over a hearty Highlight Dinner with wine.
Accommodations: Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Jerusalem.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Day 9 - From Jerusalem to Amman
Travel through the Judaean Desert to the border of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. You are met on the other side to journey through a landscape that has changed little in the last 2,000 years. Once at your Amman hotel, relax and settle in before meeting your Jordanian Travel Director for drinks and dinner.
Accommodations: Amman Marriott Hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Day 10 - Exploring Amman and Jerash
After breakfast depart for Iraq Al-Amir. Join a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience and visit a women's cooperative, working with women and girls from the nearby Wadi Al Seer villages. The association is supported by Insight Vacations through The TreadRight Foundation and provides training and work opportunities for women in the region. Then, the journey to Jerash reveals the most beautifully preserved example of a Greco-Roman city still in existence. Enter through Hadrian's Arch, to explore the grand ruins of the Temples of Artemis and Zeus, where you can listen to the Whispering Column. Overlook the vast Oval Plaza and Cardo Maximus, the key Roman road. Enjoy an al fresco lunch of natural produce and family recipes at Beit Khairat Souf, during a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience. This women-owned café is combatting female unemployment and aims to build a strong community of women leaders. Return to Amman where the rest of the day is at leisure.
Accommodations: Amman Marriott Hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 11 - Madaba, Mount Nebo, Shobak and on to Petra
Continue to Mount Nebo, one of the most revered holy sites of Jordan, where Moses is said to have stood and seen before him the Promised Land. At Madaba, visit the famous Greek Orthodox Church of St. George with its amazing 6th century mosaic map depicting the entire Holy Land, stretching from Jordan and Palestine in the north, to Egypt in the south. Follow the King's Highway to visit Shobak, an authentic 12th century crusader fortress, perched on the side of a rocky mountain. Admire the towers and Arabic calligraphy on the external walls before stepping inside to discover the original Crusader chapel, palace complex, and even a set of secret passages!Later, head south for one of the highlights of your journey: the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Petra, voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Accommodations: Petra Marriott Hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Day 12 - Exploring the Lost City of Petra
This day is devoted to the beautiful ‘rose-red city, half as old as time'. You enter this lost city through a narrow gorge, the Siq, with walls that rise up to 200 meters. Emerge from the path to see the magnificent Treasury, carved out of solid rock and standing over 40 meters high. Wind your way through the canyon to explore the ancient tombs and the Roman Amphitheater, which once seated 3,000 spectators. Dine with locals at the Ammarin desert camp with a stunning backdrop.
Accommodations: Petra Marriott Hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 13 - Wadi Rum with the Bedouin
Head to Wadi Rum, the Valley of the Moon and a UNESCO Word Heritage Site recognised for its natural drama and cultural significance. Enjoy a jeep safari through its majestic, red-hued, Mars-like desert landscape, where you will see stunning rock formations and learn about the history of the area and the local Bedouin culture. In Aqaba, the only coastal city in Jordan, delve into mosaic designs during a Stone Mosaic Class—an ancient Jordanian tradition that provides a fascinating glimpse into the past.
Accommodations: Mövenpick Resort & Residence Aqaba
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 14 - Amman
If you wish, start the day with sunrise yoga at the Bedouin camp, before returning to Amman. Explore Amman with Insight Choice. Choose between joining a guided sightseeing to discover the highlights of the city and learn about the history and culture or alternatively, explore Amman's street art scene on a guided graffiti walking tour. Later, Check in at your hotel where the rest of your day is at leisure. Join in a lively dinner to celebrate the end of your Jordanian adventures.
Accommodations: Amman Marriott Hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Day 15 - Optional Dead Sea Extension Relaxed Start
Transfer to the Dead Sea for its warm, soothing and mineral-rich waters. Pamper yourself at your resort which offers a wide range of treatments to soothe the body and mind.
Accommodations: Dead Sea Marriott Resort & Spa.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner with Wine
Day 16 - Dead Sea at Leisure Relaxed Start
Enjoy the entire day at your leisure. Lying more than 400 meters below sea level, this is Earth's lowest point on dry land. Its famous hypersaline water makes floating easy. The surrounding desert offers many oases and historic sites to explore.
Accommodations: Dead Sea Marriott Resort & Spa.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 17 - Depart Amman
After breakfast, you are transferred to Amman Airport for your onward flight.
Meals: Breakfast
Vacation Details
* This departure has been designated a guaranteed departure by the operator, meaning that the minimum number of guests has been met, although still subject to weather and other conditions.
Fine dining, on-site bars or lounges and room service with extended hours are characteristic of deluxe establishments. Guest services usually include valet parking, concierge services, baggage assistance and laundry services. Other on-site facilities often include shops and boutiques, full service spas, full fitness facilities with pools and tennis courts. Business amenities may include available up-to-date technology and support staffs available for services. Attention to detail is apparent in the guestrooms which typically have stylish furnishings, quality bedding and bath products and often provide an evening turn down service.
All fares are quoted in US Dollars.
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