Galilee & the Sea of Galilee
Israel
Green hills, a freshwater lake below sea level, and the places the Gospels are set in
Photo by Thalia Tran on Unsplash
Photos by Lukáš Kačaliak, Chana, Lukáš Kačaliak and Micah Camper on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Israel
March to May for the wildflowers, and October to November — the summer around the lake is humid and heavy
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 130mm in Jan
Where it is
32.79°N, 35.53°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Walk down Mount Arbel to the lake in the early morning
- See Capernaum and the Beatitudes before the coaches
- Spend an afternoon in Safed's galleries
- Eat at a Druze village rather than in Tiberias
- Taste Golan wine where it is made
Galilee & the Sea of Galilee travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Israel
Mid-rangeCards everywhere. Change money at a licensed change shop rather than a bank or a hotel — the rate is visibly better and they take no commission.
ATMs & cards
Bank Hapoalim and Leumi machines are everywhere and charge a fee; the standalone machines in tourist streets charge several times more.
Avoid these
- the machines in the smaller villages, which are few
Use these instead
- Bank Hapoalim
- Bank Leumi
- Discount Bank
Tiberias and Safed have banks; the Druze villages and the roadside places are cash. Everything closes for Shabbat.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Israel
Reasonably safeSafe in the ordinary sense, with a caveat this guide will not soften: the Golan is a border area, parts of it are still mined and fenced, and the region's situation changes faster than any page can be updated. Read current government advice before you go. The lake heat in summer is severe.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (9 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the Golan — a border area, with fenced and mined ground that is signed and meant literally
- current advice before travelling — the situation here changes faster than any page can be updated
- the summer heat by the lake — it is 200m below sea level and humid with it
- swimming off unmarked shore — the lake drops away and there are no lifeguards outside the beaches
Ordinarily safe, in a region whose situation is not ordinary. Read the current government advice before booking, not after..
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Israel visa rules
Travel authorisation requiredup to 90 daysabout $7 (25 ILS)
ETA-IL has been required since 1 January 2025 for the nationalities that used to arrive visa-free, and airlines check it before boarding. It is valid two years or until the passport expires. Entry is recorded on a paper slip rather than a passport stamp — keep it, you will be asked for it at hotels and at the airport on the way out.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
A B/2 visitor visa applied for at an Israeli consulate before travel.
How to get it: Apply online at least 72 hours before departure. Approval is usually immediate but can take days, and travel is refused without it. A previous Israeli entry record can complicate later travel to a handful of countries in the region — Lebanon, Syria and Iran among them.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: travel authorisation
ETA-ILRequired
Before you fly; allow a few days for it to come back.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- flight number
- the full address of your first night
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of Israel
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
Getting treated
Among the best healthcare in the region, and expensive without insurance — Magen David Adom will treat and then bill. Travel insurance is essential and worth checking for a war or civil-unrest exclusion, which is not standard cover.
Sun and dehydration between May and September, when the coast runs above 30°C with high humidity. In the event of a rocket alert the routine is not improvised: install the Home Front Command app, know where the shelter or stairwell is where you are staying, and follow the instructions rather than the crowd.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodSt Peter's fish grilled whole on the lake shore, and the Druze villages on Mount Carmel and in the Golan cook the best food in the north. Golan wine is taken seriously.
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- GettWorks here
- YangoWorks here
- BoltNot here
Gett the Israeli one · Uber taxis only
- Against a taxi
- Level with the meter, which drivers will offer to turn off in exchange for a worse price.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Jerusalem — 7 hours ahead of you
1 hour of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–10:00 your time, 16:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 02:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 02:00–10:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Israel
Why these are Israel's numbers and not Galilee & the Sea of Galilee's
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 2.3× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 63% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Galilee & the Sea of Galilee, so these are medians for all of Israel. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Israel, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Hebrew
- Hello / goodbye / peaceשלוםsha-LOM
- Pleaseבבקשהbe-va-ka-SHA
- Thank youתודהto-DA
- Yes / Noכן / לאken / lo
6 more phrases
- Excuse meסליחהsli-CHA
- How much?כמה זה עולה?KA-ma ze o-LE
- OK / fineבסדרbe-SE-der
- Cheersלחייםle-cha-YIM
- Do you speak English?אתה מדבר אנגלית?a-TA me-da-BER ang-LIT
- Good morningבוקר טובBO-ker tov
English is spoken almost universally in Tel Aviv and widely everywhere else, so nobody needs Hebrew to get by — but toda and beseder are used constantly and repay learning. Hebrew reads right to left; the transliterations below are what you say, not what you see on the sign. "Ch" is the throat-clearing sound, not the one in "church".
Religion
Jewish, with large Muslim and Christian minorities
Three religions with their holiest sites in the same small country, which is the source of both the interest and the friction. Shabbat runs from Friday afternoon to Saturday night and stops public transport and much of the economy; Tel Aviv observes it loosely and Jerusalem does not. Dress modestly at religious sites of any of the three, cover your head where asked, and do not photograph people praying at the Western Wall on Shabbat, when photography is forbidden.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Plan around Shabbat: from Friday afternoon to Saturday night, buses, trains and many shops stop
- Dress modestly in religious quarters — Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and the holy sites, not the Tel Aviv beach
- Expect direct speech. Bluntness is not rudeness here and questions arrive without a preamble
- Carry your passport; there are bag checks at the entrance to malls, stations and markets
- Learn toda and beseder, which will get you through most transactions
Don't
- Do not photograph soldiers, checkpoints or security installations
- Do not bring up the conflict lightly. Everyone has lost something and no visitor is going to settle it
- Do not expect kosher restaurants to serve meat and dairy together, or to open on Shabbat
- Do not touch or hand things to strictly religious people of the opposite sex; a nod is the greeting
- Do not queue politely and expect it to work — you will be there all day
Where to stay in Galilee & the Sea of Galilee
No Holistay rentals in Galilee & the Sea of Galilee yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Galilee & the Sea of Galilee on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Ben Gurion TLV
2hfrom the airport· 106 km as the crow flies
2h by road; a hire car is what this area needs.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
