Tours with Shmuel

Touring with me offers you the benefits of the extensive knowledge, experience and personal attention of a local tour guide. In a short amount of time, you accomplish far more than with a group or do-it-yourself tour. Here are some of the tours that I have led that are popular:

With Jerusalem as your base

  • Complete Tour of Herodium: From Lower Herodium to King Herod’s Tomb
  • Choose from Qumran, En Gedi, Masada & Dead Sea
  • Wadi Qelt & Jericho: Desert monastery, Herod Palaces & Mosaics at Hisham’s palace
  • King David: Mount Zion vis a vis City of David
  • West Bank is Yehuda & Shomron
  • Mount Gerizim
  • Temple Mount, the Haram el-Sharif
  • Crusader Tour of Jerusalem: Discovering Relics left behind by the Crusaders
  • Alternative Hurva Synagogue Tour: Historical Architectural tour of iconic synagogue
  • Barluzzi Architecture Tour: 20th Century Architecture of Jerusalem Churches

Farther afield

  • Roman Cities of the Decapolis: Bet Shean or Hippos
  • Photography Tour of Desert and Sea: Seeing Israel through your Camera Lens
  • Agamon HaHula to see Bird Migration
  • En Avdat in the Negev desert
  • Choose a Mahtesh: Ramon, Large or Small
  • Nabatean Spice Route
  • South to Eilat…
  • Tours of Jordan: Petra & Wadi Rum but also Amman, Jarash, Dana Biosphere Reserve

Contact me to book or customize the tour to your particular interests.

Personal Itineraries

I build a tour itinerary in consultation with you so that you get a tour that matches your interests. I guide  Jerusalem (I live in the German Colony) – the Old City, Jewish Quarter, Christian sites, the ancient City of David including wading through Hezekiah’s tunnel. These tours combine history, archaeology, religion, architecture, etc. I guide tours in Tel Aviv-Jaffa a combination of history, architecture, art and culture.

I offer a tour of the Israel Museum including highlights like the Shrine of the Book housing the original Dead Sea Scrolls, that has been called “a milestone in the history of world architecture” and the Second Temple Period model. I also do tours of the museum’s main 3 galleries: Archaeology, Judaica and Art. I am happy to take you to the Rockefeller Museum as well (appropriate for Hisham’s Palace).

I am happy to take you farther afield, day trips from Jerusalem to Herodium, desert monasteries, Qasr el-Yahud, the traditional site in the Jordan River where John baptised Jesus, Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, the oases of Ein Gedi and Ein Feshka in the Judean desert, the Dead Sea and Masada. To get started contact me.

© 2010, Bezalel Haberman-Browns, used with permission
Shmuel guiding at Lower Herodium, one of his specialties

Planning your Itinerary

For people who have a week or more in Israel I work out a personalized itinerary of places and can handle all logistics, like hotel reservations, transportation, restaurant recommendations (at no extra cost). There are fascinating historical and archaeological sites in Israel – like Caesarea, Tsippori/Sepphoris, Beit Shean/Scythopolis, Sussita/Hippos and Banias. In Akko (also spelled Acre) learn about the “greatest jail break in history” and visit the other Holocaust museum and Bahai gardens, We can explore the Golan in the north or the Negev desert in the south. I can share with you nature spots off the beaten track, a quiet spot for a picnic and hikes suited to the whole family. For something more challenging I can recommend hikes which involve climbing metal rungs on a cliff face like Nahal Og or the Yehudia Reserve where you drop into water pools which are a delight in the hot summer months.

I am excited to be able to offer two unique tours: 1) As someone who takes photos whenever I travel and knows Israel well, I specialize in tours for those interested in photography and who want to experience Israel through a camera’s lens, and 2) as someone who is into good food and health, I offer a culinary tour that includes fine restaurants and off the beaten path local eateries, including Israeli wines and beers.

I do archaeological/nature tours of the Shomron with a dash of history and religion to sites like Shilo, Bet El, Sebastia, Mount Gerizim and off the beaten path, for example, two Roman fortresses in the Shomron, Deir Qal’a and Deir Samaan, that were built in 4-5th C to protect strategic roads that passed through Nahal Shiloh, used in Byzantine period (6th C) as monasteries (with church, mosaics, water systems, grape and oil presses).

I am authorized by the Ministry of Tourism to guide tourists in Bethlehem and Jericho. I can also arrange tours to Jordan including Petra & Wadi Rum; Amman, Jarash, Dana Biosphere Reserve.

Whatever your interests I am happy to work with you on a personalized itinerary – just fill in the short contact form.

For some sample itineraries that I’ve done and suggestions on places to visit please review the articles that I’ve posted by clicking on the “BLOG” tab in the menu. You can also search by keyword or category to help you find what you’re looking for, then contact me.

Here are some sample itineraries that I’ve done: