Highlights of the Holyland and Petra Trip Experience - 9 Days

Customer Reviews

• BB

  Bryan

  · November 8th, 2022
  The old Jerusalem and Petra were 5s. Akko, Haifa and Caesarea were 4.5. Other days were 3.5. I would have liked more cultural focus than Christian holy sites.
  
  Trip date: October 2022
• CM

  Cecilia

  · November 2nd, 2022
  The tour in Israel was ok. With the upgrade on the hotel the accommodations and the food were nice. Big problem on the first arrival nobody to transfer me to the hotel I was in panic mode for a while I have to ask other company tour guide for help. The problem with tour radar is they are just broker they are not the tour people. On the last day to Petra the company who tour radar contract, sub-contract another person to manage the tour, she sub-contract also with someone else at the Jordan side. Bottom line, it was a nightmare. The people who I ended with, had an old bus. The bus broke in the middle of the dessert for 1 and half hour, by the time we reached Petra hardly have time for few pictures no lunch( supposed to be included) and under the stress of might losing my flight with the possibility to lose my international flight. I will think twice to book with someone who is not responsible for the tour itself.
  Show more
  Trip date: October 2022
• TV

  tracy

  · April 6th, 2022
  Too much in so little time. 1st guide struggled to keep the group organized and if was difficult to hear and keep up. The last guide in Jordan couldn't separate his faith with his job and prevented him from presenting the history of the area. We had a great time,
  Show more
  Trip date: March 2022
• SC

  Sydney

  · February 25th, 2020
  Honestly, the only reason this is getting 4 stars is because of Yariv (our archaeologist tour guide) and Alex (our amazing driver) which I would give them 7 stars if I could for their work, knowledge, wisdom, and professionalism. I have never experienced a tour guide of this caliber and he made the trip interruptions/nuances seem irrelevant. Yariv was excellent beyond comprehension!! Wow! The hotels were meager and provided the bare-bone essentials. Pack your own body wash supplies/body creams. We got the 3 star accommodation option but didn’t realize we were heading to our first hotel under renovation. The hotels were more like 1-2 stars for U.S standards. Think hostel style and if you’re a couple expect to have a personal twin size bed for each person in each place. Breakfast and food stops were ok and others meager, not much healthy options in these tourist sites. I felt like we were eating shawarma and falafel everyday. So not enough greens and good veggie options. Buy healthy nut snacks at the markets for when you’re in the bus to hold you over. Make sure to pack extra empty bottles and towels to swim in Dead Sea/Jordan river. Empty bottles (30ML each) will assist you to collect your own holy water from the sites which they don’t mention here because they want you to purchase them in each sacred site (if so, expect to pay $7-10 for each little water bottle). We opted out of the dinner option but didn’t realize we couldn’t opt in when we changed our minds day of and one night we ate from food at the bar which was awful. On Shabbat pack something white and try to opt in for dinner option. Ask before you book your tour if this option is available. In Jordan River, pack another white garment in your luggage instead of paying money for a white garment to get baptized in the river (cost $10-15 at the store for cheap quality). In the Jordan River there were hoses coming out from the ground and we could utilize but not enter the river because of ‘high rain’. We bathed from hoses that poured water In from the Jordan River. They provide this option for us tourists which was very disappointing and hardly felt like a baptism. This felt very staged. Also keep in mind you’ll be with different groups who are staying at different hotels so picking up each group who stays at different hotels in the am and also dropping off in the pm after the tour. This can take 1-3 hours of your time each day. The tour each day is from about 9:30am-5pm everyday. Expect to be in each site for about 30-1.5 hours tops. Most times you’ll visit these places for 30 min and feels like not enough time to soak up the space and the energy of each holy site. The last leg of the trip was a flight to Jordan. The driver who drove us to airport took us to the wrong terminal and was a nightmare to switch terminals with our luggage. Thought we almost missed the flight. The one day Visit to Jordan was ok. We didn’t have Yariv as our tour guide and the tour/new group felt flat at this point. We needed to have the same tour guide and the group with is through the entire trip. Jordan needs a proper 2-3 days to soak in.
  Show more
  Trip date: February 2020
• CB

  Charlene

  · January 4th, 2020
  The taxi can did not pick us up at the airport after Jordan. Therefore, we never got to stay in the hotel we paid for. We were supposes to get a lunch on our trip in Jordan, we never got it. The tour guy need better people's skills and management skills.
  Trip date: December 2019
• FB

  Frank

  · May 21st, 2019
  CTO tours gives you a great value. The tour was excellent and Juval the tour guide was just super. They really look out for you to make sure that you are comfortable. Since the tour is such a great value for the money, the only suggestion I would give others is to pay for the hotel upgrades for the portion of your trip in Tel Aviv and Elat. The rooms were old, kind of musty, the mattresses were bad and the furniture was old and very used. Its not a complaint because you do get so much for your dollar, so paying a bit more for your rooms would have made the trip even more enjoyable.
  Show more
  Trip date: April 2019