Two-week tour of Israel’s historic sites, fantastic food and trendy clubs — Tel Aviv has it all
Tel Aviv has everything you could want from a modern city — plus 16 white-sand beaches and outdoor gyms
EVERY year it is the same old conundrum – where can you find the perfect holiday?
It’s all about the weather, the beaches, fantastic food, banging nightlife, amazing scenery and masses of history.
Right now, Israel and Jordan might not be at the top of your list. But perhaps they should be.
While both are right next to some of the world’s hottest flash points, each is enjoying periods of relative security and both have all of the above — and more.
A two-week tour around Israel’s main sights and a brief two-day trip over the Jordanian border to Petra provides more genuinely memorable moments than any number of obvious and safe seen-it-all-before easyBreaks to Europe.
It takes just four and a half hours after leaving rainy Gatwick behind to land on the golden coastline of Tel Aviv.
It has everything you could want from a modern European city — plus 16 white-sand beaches, outdoor gyms, endless juicing cafes and a boardwalk.
We stayed first at the Brown Hotel, close to Tel Aviv’s old town.
Here, young trendies flock to the rooftop for sundowners, free prosecco and a play in the outdoor hot tub while listening to achingly cool Seventies soul playlists.
Later, we moved to the fabulous Rothschild Hotel, where we spent hours people-watching from the gravel terrace, eating seemingly endless dishes for breakfast.
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Tel Aviv is enjoying a serious food revolution and is surely one of the best places to eat in the world. Cool restaurants, cheap restaurants, expensive restaurants — Tel Aviv has them all.
After a few days we moved to the cheaper but no less cheerful Margosa Hotel in neighbouring Jaffa. The old sea port with its largely Muslim population is a maze of side streets, boutiques and market stalls.
It is fast becoming one of the coolest parts of Tel Aviv, boosted by fashionistas and a burgeoning vegetarian scene.
Everyone who visits is urged to eat at the famous Old Man and the Sea, where diners can choose from a huge array of fish and 20 different salads. Tel Aviv and Jaffa — where religion is hardly mentioned and a gay scene thrives — revealed themselves to be surprisingly modern, cosmopolitan places full of art galleries and quirky shops.
But a different side of Israel can be found just a 40-minute drive away in Jerusalem.
Thousands of years of conflict in the cradle of religion have left indelible marks everywhere.
As a visitor, making sense of the crush of people, the bewildering mess of buildings old and new and the sheer wealth of history is impossible without a proper guide.
Our incredible Israeli expert Zel Lederman was worth every shekel.
In the afternoon we saw the Old City, a maze of cobbled alleyways still split into four quarters — Christian, Jewish, Armenian and Muslim.
At sunset at the Western Wall — previously known as the Wailing Wall — Orthodox Jews chanted and bowed incessantly as hundreds of young Israelis danced and sang around them.
GO: Tel Aviv
GETTING / STAYING THERE: Return flights from Manchester to Tel Aviv on September 5, plus five nights, room only, at the 3H Yam Hotel An Atlas Boutique Hotel is from £385. Book at or call 0333 777 4740.
MORE INFO: A private tour of Jerusalem with Zel costs from £192 ($250) for four hours. See .
A private two-day tour of Petra including flights, accommodation, dinner and breakfast, a two-hour Jeep safari of Wadi Rum and a four-hour tour of Petra, costs £540 ($700) per person.
Email [email protected] or call +96 27982 15375.
Meanwhile, inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre just yards away, Christians muttered prayers at the site where Jesus’ tomb is believed to be situated.
Jerusalem is like no other city you will ever experience — and for that reason alone is a must-visit. It would be a big mistake to go to Israel and not slip across the border to see the beauty of Jordan.
An easily arranged 50-minute internal flight from Tel Aviv to Eilat, in the far south of Israel, takes you to the border.
Don’t be tempted to spend any time in Eilat. It’s dusty, insanely hot and full of people who look like they might know Vladimir Putin’s mobile number.
Following in the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia, we headed to Wadi Rum to tour its sands in an open-sided 4x4.
Also known as The Valley of the Moon, this epic landscape of red sand and wind-carved mountains is truly breathtaking.
Our guide introduced us to Bedouin tribes, who we drank sweet tea with around a campfire before we climbed a rocky outcrop to watch a magnificent sunset. Then, a two-hour drive took us on to Petra.
The full story of the ancient city is still unfolding today.
Established around 312BC by the nomadic Nabatean people, it was once the greatest trading centre in the Middle East.
The Nabateans accumulated huge wealth and used it to carve magnificent buildings from the pink sandstone.
After the fall of the Nabateans, the city — hidden among huge rock formations — was forgotten about by all but a handful of Bedouin people.
They kept its existence a secret for nearly 2,000 years until Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt came along in 1812.
It is an awe-inspiring place, but tragically one that many seem too wary to visit.
As our guide Ziad told us: “Three years ago, I was doing between five and seven private tours of Petra every week.
“Now I am lucky if I am doing five a month.”
So the next time you are thinking about that perfect holiday, take some time to think about Israel and Jordan. And don’t let the terrorists win out.