We traveled the width and breadth of the Holy Land for a month, but there simply wasn't enough time (and sometime money!) to do absolutely everything on my list. Some of the time skipping an activity or site was due to Israel's minor obsession with needing reservations. A smaller portion of the adventures that awaited us were do to random age requirements. I am going to list all of the things that crossed my mind, my message boards or my path that we will just have to put off for next time (when ever that may be!). I can't vouch for any of these things, but they are worth looking into.
In NO particular order:
Qatsrin: Ancient Talmudic ruins in the north. General info on Katzrin and the area
Beit She'an: More ruins, fairly to the north, but they have a light and sound interactive hologram show set amongst the stones that is supposed to be very well done The parks website
Sachne National Park and Hot Springs: Constant 83 degree water with waterfalls, very near Beit She'an and right next door to Gan Garoo. We should have gone, but the thought of changing everyone and then back again was just to overwhelming for us to deal with at that time. Might make a great winter activity.... It is also called Gan HaShlosha
Rosh HaNikra Grottos: I really wanted to go, it was just too far north and closed too early for us to squeeze it in. http://www.rosh-hanikra.com/default.asp?lan=eng
Tiberias: In the summer it is like a steam oven, but I would like to go back to the Kineret, walk around and go to Rambam's burial site. If I could have come up with one other great reason to go to Tiberias on this past trip I would have, but my kids were getting burnt out on graves.
Holon Children's Museum: Particularly the "Dialogue in the Dark". You need to reserve, and there is an age restriction of 8 years old and above. It does have other parts to the museum for younger kids if you need to split up, but as far as I can tell you still need to reserve and go around with some sort of a guide. I could be wrong, but that is why we skipped it. http://www.childrensmuseum.org.il/front/ShowCategory.aspx?CatID=99
Tnuva Factory Tour: They have two factories that offer tours, one in Rechovot and one in Tavor. They both have a minimum age of 6, but are supposed to be interesting, and entertaining and fairly inexpensive. With my son Mendel who has an anaphylactic allergy to all things dairy we simply could not go there. What was I supposed to do, cover him in saran wrap? Keep jabbing him with the epi-pen and tossing Benadryl into his mouth? Oh, and FYI tours are ONLY in Hebrew, by advanced reservation and very select days. You also need to tell them if you keep mehadrin kosher.The Tnuva Website is all in Hebrew...
Bamba Tour: Yes, we like factory tours. This one we had planned to do. We called in May to book July and were told to call again in June. My sister called June 6th and was told the ENTIRE July was full. And yes, Mendel is allergic to Dairy but not to peanuts (TG!)http://www.osem.co.il/en/home/The-Bamba-House–Visitor-Center
Afrikef: At some point during our stay I had planned on going to see the monkeys, but I was misinformed that it was farther than Be'er Sheva (pretty far south, and hotter as you go) so I nixed the plan. Sadly, I later found out that it is rather close to where I was staying. What's the point of the place, not much, but there is an enclosure of free roaming monkeys. Admission is on the high side for random attractions, but next time I think we will Go see the monkeys !
Safari Park: This is near Tel Aviv. You drive into the Safari Park with your own car and drive around the animals, even lions. You stop and some of them come up to your car, keep your windows closed. That would have been great. Again, awesome, a bit pricey for what it is, and just not enough time for such a random activity. We had already dinged up our rental car and should have just gone for it. http://www.safari.co.il/content.php?id=3
Please let me know if you check any of these out for your self and if they are worth while to do on a future trip. If you have any other must do outings that I didn't get to, I would love to hear about it. Leave a comment!
Erica
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