One Week in Israel: An Offbeat Itinerary
A full week based in Jerusalem, the entire gateway list from the 6 day itinerary , the Dead Sea and Masada, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv, Jericho, and a slower Ein Gedi day, plus one flexible day built in for whatever the week’s Shabbat closures or flight schedule demand.
| Day | Focus | Travel time from Jerusalem |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrival, an Old City taste, settle in | None, city-based |
| 2 | The Dead Sea and Masada | About 1.5 hours each way |
| 3 | Bethlehem | About 30-40 minutes each way, including the crossing |
| 4 | Tel Aviv | About 35-40 minutes each way by fast train |
| 5 | Jericho | About 1 hour each way, tour only |
| 6 | Ein Gedi, slower this time | About 1.5 hours each way |
| 7 | Flex day, Old City or Tel Aviv encore | None to 35-40 minutes, your choice |
Book these before you go
- Book a Masada and Dead Sea small group tour on GetYourGuide , entry fees included
- Book a Bethlehem half-day tour on GetYourGuide
- Book a West Bank day tour covering Jericho on GetYourGuide
- Compare Jerusalem hotel rates on Booking.com
Day 1: Arrival and an Old City taste
Settle in near the Old City or the German Colony and keep the afternoon light rather than packed. Walk Jaffa Gate to the Western Wall plaza, free and open 24 hours, and back through the Jewish Quarter, roughly 20 minutes each way. Confirm your passport and ETA-IL confirmation ahead of the week’s two West Bank crossings.
Day 2: The Dead Sea and Masada
Tours leave by 6:30-7am, about 1.5 hours through the Judean Desert. Take the cable car up Masada (combined with entry, roughly NIS 59-77) or the offbeat Snake Path before dawn for the sunrise crowd’s view. Float in the Dead Sea, the shore is salt-crusted rather than sandy. Details at Masada National Park .
Day 3: Bethlehem
Bus 231 or a permitted taxi crosses Checkpoint 300 into the West Bank, passport and ETA-IL record required to re-enter. See the Church of the Nativity, then the Milk Grotto and Shepherds’ Field just outside town.
Day 4: Tel Aviv
The A1 fast train runs direct and hourly, roughly 35-40 minutes each way, fares from about 31 ILS. It doesn’t run Friday afternoon through Saturday evening, so keep this day off a Saturday. Spend part of the day in Jaffa, the four-thousand-year-old port town most beach-only visitors skip. Check current schedules on Israel Railways .
Day 5: Jericho
Jericho’s Tel es-Sultan excavation is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited sites, reached almost entirely by organized day tour given shifting access rules for independent travelers, roughly an hour each way.
Day 6: Ein Gedi, slower this time
Skip the ten-minute add-on most Masada tours give Ein Gedi Nature Reserve and come back for the reserve’s longer Nahal Arugot canyon trail, with pools most day-trippers never reach because their tour bus already headed home. Finish with a second, unhurried Dead Sea float. Details at Ein Gedi Nature Reserve .
Day 7: A flex day, Old City encore or a second Tel Aviv half-day
Keep the last full day open on purpose. If any earlier day got bumped for Shabbat, the light rail and buses stopping citywide Friday afternoon through Saturday evening, this is where it lands: a repeat walk through the Old City’s Muslim and Christian Quarters, which stay open on Shabbat, or a second, shorter Tel Aviv trip for the beach if the coast is what stuck with you. Confirm your departure transfer timing the night before, Ben Gurion Airport sits near Tel Aviv, roughly 50 minutes from Jerusalem by road, not a short hop.
Do you need a rental car across a full week like this? No. Every day trip on this itinerary runs on public transit, the fast train, or an organized tour, and a car only adds friction re-entering from the two West Bank crossings. Rent one only if the trip continues north into the Galilee or beyond.
A full week is the version that actually needs the flex day; build it in rather than assuming every day will run on schedule, Shabbat alone guarantees at least one week does not.