I want to briefly address what it was like to drive in Israel, just in case you are visiting and considering it. In short, it was generally easy.
My Driving Experience In Israel
After taking a train from Tel Aviv Airport to Jerusalem then spending a few days exploring by foot (or bus), we rented a car from Europcar just a few doors down from the King David Hotel.
The process was tedious, but no different than most U.S. rental car counters (it’s why I love Emerald Aisle from National). The office was about a mile away from the garage, which required taking a shuttle and then going down several levels. The car seat for my three-year-old looked about 20 years old, but I wasn’t going to cancel the journey north because of a questionable car seat…I drove carefully (especially with all the traffic cameras conveniently placed along major highways). The car was beat up and I just cannot stand Hyundai, but that was the best they had in automatics…
On that note, just don’t speed in Israel. There are cameras everywhere!
If you’re renting a car, you’ll also probably want to avoid Highway 6, also known a the Trans-Israel Highway. The toll is less than 30NIS (about $9) which is not bad at all, but your rental car company will hit you up with an administrative fee that more than doubles that amount and you actually don’t save that much time.
We took the costal highway up to Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee, which was very picturesque. Traffic was not bad until we reached Nazareth.
Driving in Nazareth was extremely difficult; I don’t recall ever driving in a more difficult city, including in Manhattan. The streets were narrow and crowded and street signs are few and far between. Google Maps did well overall, but failed me a couple times. Finding streets parking in front of my guest house was a miracle…
When we returned to Tel Aviv to spend our last night at The Jaffa, I did find street parking outside the hotel, but I couldn’t read the street signs (Hebrew only) or the meter, so I just had the hotel valet it.
The drive to the airport was painless on a Sunday morning.
CONCLUSION
With the exception of Nazareth, driving was easy in Israel. I briefly considered taking the car into the West Bank Zone B/C (to visit Jehrico), but (wisely) decided not to risk it. Doing so would have invalidated the insurance on the car. You can drive through the Israeli-controlled Zone A without insurance fears. If you are exploring Israel on your own, a car is a must: don’t be daunted by driving. Even in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv it was very manageable.
You should have used Waze instead of google, I believe it was developed in Israel and I personally think it is a better driving app anyway. It has updated information about traffic that the others don’t have.
Waze was indeed developed in Israel (and still is).
Its main advantage is knowing the current traffic, thanks to its many users in Israel, making it invaluable during rush hour.
” I briefly considered taking the car into the West Bank, but (wisely) decided not to risk it. Doing so would have invalidated the insurance on the car. ”
” Not 100% true at all. I drive up North on the 90 thru the Jordan Valley and its 100% covered ins wise . What you cant do is drive into Area A which is under the PAs control. So yes BethLeChem and Ramallah are out, but driving towards The Dead Sea and make a left using the Jericho by-pass rd is 100% OK even thou its the so called West Bank. For that matter driving to The Dead Sea and Masada means driving in the so called West Bank
Please correct your statement so that others will know its only “Area A” where the ins will be invalid and driving in those areas with an Israeli license plate is simply asking for TROUBLE But Areas B & C which are under Israeli control are indeed OK to drive in and thru and not The whole West Bank
Why does this site’s entries not open in feedly? I alwayd have to clikc to go the website just to read the post. Im getting tired of this, can soneone tell me how to avoid this or fix the website so it loads coreectly?
I wonder if GPS is used anymore. I have an old Garmin but for the US. Everytime I go overseas, I debate whether to bring my phone, get a burner phone, or don’t have a phone. I don’t like my pocket computer (which is what a smartphone is) to be subject to control by customs, immigration, and potentially intelligence agencies. Even though I am a nobody, intelligence agencies want to collect as much info as possible, even phone numbers, credit reports, everything. I know because I watch Jason Bourne, ha ha ha.
Years ago in Israel, everyone put wide red tape on the top of the back end of the trunk lid. I don’t know why. Maybe it was for reducing reflection? I see that it’s not used anymore. I also see that the rental car was plastered with green Europcar stickers. Not good.
It said “keep distance” to remind drivers to keep a safe distance from the car in front of them.
It was placed on all leasing cars, which accounts for a large number of Israeli cars.
Do you need an International Driving Permit, or is any state-issued valid US license good enough?
A state issued valid US license is fine.
So is any license from (almost) any country which is in Latin letters and has the basic required fields (name, license class, expiration etc).
When you rent a car in Israel, you should always rent directly at either Hertz or Avis. Never choose any other rental company, because of the car fleets: older and cheaper car models can be easily found and most of the rental branches in Israel are operated by 3rd party companies.
And of course always go with an automatic transmission, just like the US you can barely find manual cars in Israel.
And from my experience the MasterCard insurance didn’t cover Israel (and also 4 other countries worldwide but that’s all) so make sure to be covered.
Besides that, driving in Israel is easy. Just avoid the rush hours.
LaGuardia? You make a wrong turn in Albuquerque? 😉
I had to laugh at this post and the rental car garage. I take small private groups to Israel and usually rent small vans from Europcar. The whole experience at that rental location is odd, the directions over to the garage aren’t clear. The people are friendly but I’ve spent way too much time sitting on the old junky couch in the corner waiting for them to clean or pull my vehicle around, never a big hurry it seems 🙂 I always make sure to take a ton of damage photos in Israel or Ireland with a timestamp camera app as these cars do take a beating.
Also, you nailed the driving in Nazareth. I’ve driven all over the world and few places are worse (Istanbul is worse). Parking in Nazareth isn’t fun either. Driving in the rest of Israel is not bad at all. You can drive through the Westbank on the main (IDF controlled) highways but if you get off the main road you may run into trouble with Israeli license plates, better to skip that experience, trust me.
I’m convinced that the rental car stickers in Israeli serve mostly for protection. It does open you up a bit to scams, etc. but overall if you turn down the wrong road in your Israeli car the locals (IDF, Palestinians, etc. ) know you are a tourist and are mostly welcoming of the tourist in my experience. The Israeli military checkpoints aren’t a big deal unless there is a security threat.
I love israel i lived there for the last 20 years. The greatest place in world for me.