The 9 Best Tours in Israel (2026)

Updated August 2026 · 9 picks

The best tours in Israel in 2026 are the Western Wall Tunnels and City of David in Jerusalem, the Masada sunrise climb paired with the Dead Sea, and a Galilee or Golan day trip from the north. Israel is small enough that almost everything is a day trip, so the real decision is guided or self-driven. Nine worth paying for, below.

The list at a glance

Western Wall Tunnels, Jerusalem Old City, Jerusalem
Masada sunrise and the Dead Sea Dead Sea, Southern District
City of David, Jerusalem Below the Old City walls, Jerusalem
Machane Yehuda food tour, Jerusalem Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem
Golan Heights jeep and winery day Golan Heights, North
Akko underground Crusader city Old Akko, North
Tel Aviv Bauhaus walking tour Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv
Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee Nazareth and the Kinneret, North
Old City free walking tour, Jerusalem Jaffa Gate, Old City, Jerusalem

1. Western Wall Tunnels, Jerusalem — Old City, Jerusalem

The full length of the Herodian wall, underground — guide-only, and the best hour in the Old City.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Solo · Couples · Groups

The visible Western Wall is a fraction of the retaining wall Herod built around the Temple Mount. The tunnel route runs north along the buried remainder, past the Western Stone — a single block weighing several hundred tonnes — and through Second Temple street level and later Mamluk vaults.

Entry is only with a guide on a timed ticket booked through the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, and slots sell out days ahead in high season. The route is narrow in places and involves stairs.

It is the tour that most changes how you read the rest of the Old City, because it shows you how much of it is stacked on top of something older.

Good to know: Book online weeks ahead in spring and autumn — the timed slots genuinely sell out.

Google Maps Website

2. Masada sunrise and the Dead Sea — Dead Sea, Southern District

Up the Snake Path in the dark, sunrise over Moab, then floating in the Dead Sea by mid-morning.

₪₪₪ UpmarketBest for Couples · Solo · Groups

The Snake Path opens before dawn so you can be on the summit for sunrise over the Jordanian mountains across the Dead Sea. The climb takes about 45–60 minutes and is steep; the cable car runs later in the morning if you would rather not.

Herod's palace complex, the storerooms and the Roman siege ramp are all still legible on the plateau, and the site is much better with a guide or the audio guide than cold.

Nearly every operator pairs it with Ein Gedi and a Dead Sea float, which is the right combination — you are hot and salty by 10am and back in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv by evening.

Good to know: Carry three litres of water per person even in winter — there is no shade on the path.

Google Maps Website

3. City of David, Jerusalem — Below the Old City walls, Jerusalem

The original Jerusalem, plus a wade through Hezekiah's 2,700-year-old water tunnel.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Families · Couples · Groups

The City of David sits on the ridge below the Old City walls, on the spring that made settlement there possible in the first place. The tour covers the excavations, the Canaanite fortifications and the stepped stone structure.

The reason to go is Hezekiah's Tunnel — 533 metres of Iron Age water channel that you wade through in knee-deep water in the dark, cut by two teams working towards each other from opposite ends.

There is a dry Canaanite tunnel alternative for anyone who would rather not get wet. The site sits in a contested part of the city, which a good guide will tell you about rather than around.

Good to know: Bring a head torch and shoes you do not mind soaking, and go early — the tunnel gets a queue.

Google Maps Website

4. Machane Yehuda food tour, Jerusalem — Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem

Tastings through the market, from halva and kubbeh to the bars that open in the stalls after dark.

₪₪₪ UpmarketBest for Couples · Groups · Solo

Machane Yehuda is the best food market in the country to be walked through, because the stalls are dense, the vendors are used to tastings, and the market has two entirely different personalities by day and by night.

A good tour hits the halva grinders, the spice stalls, a kubbeh soup counter, the burekas bakeries and a few of the newer chef-run stalls, with enough context on the Iraqi, Kurdish and Persian communities behind them to make sense of the mix.

Evening versions cover the bars that open in the shuttered stalls once the produce sellers pack up, which is a genuinely different tour of the same lanes.

Good to know: Skip lunch beforehand — a tasting tour here is a full meal and then some.

Google Maps Website

5. Golan Heights jeep and winery day — Golan Heights, North

Basalt tracks, plateau lookouts and volcanic-soil wineries in one long, excellent day.

₪₪₪₪ SplurgeBest for Couples · Groups · Families

The Golan is the one part of Israel where a 4x4 genuinely opens up terrain you cannot otherwise reach — old military tracks, the Bental and Bental-area lookouts, the fenced plateau and the Odem forest.

Operators run half-day jeep routes out of Katzrin, Merom Golan and the Hermon foothills, and most will combine them with a winery visit; the volcanic basalt soil and the altitude make this Israel's strongest wine region.

It is around three hours' drive from Tel Aviv, so it works far better built into an overnight in the Galilee than squeezed into a day trip.

Good to know: Stay overnight in the Galilee rather than driving back — the round trip from Tel Aviv in a day is brutal.

Google Maps Website

6. Akko underground Crusader city — Old Akko, North

A whole Crusader city buried under the Ottoman one, and the best fish and hummus in the north above it.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Families · Couples · Solo

When the Ottomans rebuilt Akko they built on top of the Crusader city rather than clearing it, so the Knights' Halls, the refectory and the Templar tunnel survive more or less intact underneath the old town.

The combined ticket covers the Hospitaller fortress, the Turkish bazaar, the hammam and the Templar tunnel running down to the harbour, and the audio guide is unusually good.

Above ground the walled town is a working Arab port city, and the fish restaurants and hummus counters are a substantial part of why you come.

Good to know: Buy the combined site ticket at the visitor centre rather than paying per site.

Google Maps Website

7. Tel Aviv Bauhaus walking tour — Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv

The White City explained — why several thousand modernist buildings ended up on a sand dune.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Couples · Solo · Groups

Tel Aviv holds one of the largest concentrations of International Style buildings anywhere, built through the 1930s by architects trained in Germany, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage site on that basis.

Tours run around Rothschild Boulevard, Bialik Square and the Engel House, and the point is learning to read the vocabulary — the thermometer windows, the curved balconies, the pilotis — so the rest of the city becomes legible.

Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv runs a fixed weekly tour, and the municipality's free Saturday morning tour from Rothschild is a good, cheap alternative.

Good to know: The city's free Saturday tour leaves from Rothschild Boulevard — turn up ten minutes early.

Google Maps Website

8. Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee — Nazareth and the Kinneret, North

The Basilica of the Annunciation, Capernaum, Tabgha and the Mount of Beatitudes in one loop.

₪₪₪ UpmarketBest for Families · Couples · Groups

The core Christian sites of the Galilee sit within about forty minutes of each other, which makes for an efficient and genuinely beautiful day: Nazareth first, then down to the lake for Capernaum, Tabgha and the Mount of Beatitudes.

Nazareth is also the best Arab food city in Israel, and stopping to eat there properly rather than at a coach-park restaurant transforms the day.

Boat crossings of the Kinneret from Tiberias are touristy, but the lake seen from the water is the view the whole itinerary is really about.

Good to know: Shoulders and knees covered at the churches — the basilica in Nazareth enforces it.

Google Maps Website

9. Old City free walking tour, Jerusalem — Jaffa Gate, Old City, Jerusalem

The cheapest useful orientation in Israel — a few hours across all four quarters.

₪ BudgetBest for Solo · Couples · Groups

Several operators run tip-based walking tours from Jaffa Gate covering the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Armenian quarters, the Cardo, the Holy Sepulchre and a Western Wall viewpoint.

It will not get you into the Tunnels or onto the Temple Mount, and it is a survey rather than a deep dive, but as a first morning it saves you a day of wandering and gets the geography straight in your head.

Abraham Tours and Sandemans both run reliable versions, and the guides are licensed more often than not.

Good to know: Budget ₪50–₪80 a head as a tip — the guides are paid by you and nobody else.

Google Maps Website

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a guided tour in Israel, or can you do it yourself?

Most sites are easy to reach and signposted in English, so a rental car covers a lot of the country. Guides earn their fee where the site is layered and the story is the point — the Old City of Jerusalem, the City of David, Masada, Akko — or where access is restricted, like the Western Wall Tunnels, which can only be entered with a guide.

How much does a day tour in Israel cost?

Group coach day trips from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem run roughly $70–$130 per person depending on distance and whether entry fees are included. A private licensed guide with a vehicle is typically $600–$900 for a full day for up to six or seven people, which works out cheaper than a group tour once you are four or more.

What is a licensed tour guide in Israel?

Israel licenses guides through the Ministry of Tourism after a two-year course and an exam, and licensed guides carry a badge. It is worth insisting on one — the licence is the difference between someone who has learned the archaeology and someone repeating a script.

Do tours run on Shabbat and holidays?

Many do, but Jerusalem effectively closes from Friday afternoon to Saturday night and public transport stops. Tours to the Galilee, the Dead Sea and Eilat generally still run on Saturdays, often with Christian and Arab-owned operators. Check before booking a Saturday out of Jerusalem.

Which tour should you do if you only have time for one?

In Jerusalem, the Western Wall Tunnels or the City of David — both take you underneath the visible city and reframe everything above it. Outside Jerusalem, Masada at sunrise combined with the Dead Sea is the single most memorable day in the country.

Are free walking tours in Israel any good?

The tip-based Old City and Tel Aviv walking tours are a genuinely useful orientation on a first morning, and the guides are usually knowledgeable. They are not a substitute for a paid deep dive at a specific site, and the tip norm is around ₪50–₪80 per person.

1. Western Wall Tunnels, Jerusalem — Old City, Jerusalem

2. Masada sunrise and the Dead Sea — Dead Sea, Southern District

3. City of David, Jerusalem — Below the Old City walls, Jerusalem

4. Machane Yehuda food tour, Jerusalem — Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem

5. Golan Heights jeep and winery day — Golan Heights, North

6. Akko underground Crusader city — Old Akko, North

7. Tel Aviv Bauhaus walking tour — Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv

8. Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee — Nazareth and the Kinneret, North

9. Old City free walking tour, Jerusalem — Jaffa Gate, Old City, Jerusalem

Frequently asked questions

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