Masada, Ein Gedi, and The Dead Sea from Tel Aviv

The tour guide and the bus driver were the best. It was really an experience that I probably will never experience again

Overall sites were nice to see, but underwhelming guide. It’s just walking around Masada, or Ein Gedi without any real guidance or leadership

We were at the meeting point at 6:25, there were other people, but no one from the company. In about 10 min I saw a bus parking around the corner, but again no one came to talk to us. Almost at 7am, a guy who barely spoke English waved everyone in, but didn’t check any reservations and only said that we were going to Jerusalem, which confused some of the tourists since everyone was there for different tours and some didn’t have it in the itinerary. The bus driver didn’t speak English at all and wouldn’t turn the AC off, so people were freezing. Once in Jerusalem it didn’t get much better, cuz there was still lots of confusion with who stays on the bus and who’s not. A guide finally showed up and was rather rude to my friend who just tried to clarify things. We ended up bringing a different group through the traffic on top of the mount Olive and at that time we’re 1,5 hours behind the schedule. When we asked our guide if there’s going to be a bathroom and coffee stop, he first refused because he wanted to catch in on time, but we reminded him, that we were on the bus for 3 hours at this point. The guide wasn’t very captivating and kept repeating himself which was distracting especially in comparison with the guide from a different company we had a day prior, so we opted to explore Masada on our own. We checked in with him what time do we need to be back and he was adamant that we need to leave not later than noon. We got back 10 min prior not hold the group back and ended up waiting for everyone till 12:35pm with some others who opted not to join the guide. We were worried they have left without us. Due to this delay we were told to cut short our time in Ein Gedi which had half of the group almost rebel. Most of the people felt disappointed and even we really liked the sites, I’d say we should have just booked a car to explore on our own.

The experiences themselves were sensational but the organisation of the trip was diabolical. Were loaded onto a bus (late) from Tel Aviv without any explanation, 3 hours later after picking up others/ further delays we were on our way to Masada. Time spent at each location was ok for me but not as described in the itinerary as a result of the delays, so some disappointed travellers. I would do this trip again purely because as a lone traveller it’s easier, but if you have the option to drive yourself would throughly recommend it to avoid delays.

This tour is just ok. There is a lot left out and misleading information on this webpage: * If you leave from Tel Aviv, it will take 4 hours (instead of 2) to get to Masada because of stops in Jerusalem and a gas station. * The dead sea beach is not free. * The tour guide wants you to bring cash so he can pay entrance fees without waiting in line. * The tour limit is 50 people not 30! * no food or drinks on the bus (and no time for food stops on the tour) Bring lot sof snacks and meals. You stop at a gas station for a snack first thing in the morning, and there is no time to eat at the other stops if you want to do the activities. Only an hour at each stop. The tour guide wouldn't let us stop for food. The tour guide is ok, he threw in some interesting facts but was not especially enthusiastic, and kept lecturing everyone like we were school kids, because he was stressed about being able to do everything in one day. If it's too much for 1 day they should change the itinerary and consider a smaller group. Also the tour guide would tell us to meet a half hour before he showed up at the end of each stop. Basically, we saw everything we wanted to see but it was not an enjoyable day. This is our vacation, my kids first time in Israel, the tour guide and company should keep that in mind.

A once in a lifetime experience with the best tour guide in the business, I cannot recommend this trip enough.

What a wonderful day! Nice group of interesting people, phantastic locations, and a kind and very well informed guide! Sivan is the rare kind of guide who has academic/historical background and can explain in a way that is easy to understand.

It was really well organized but the big difference has made our guide , he was amazing!!! Worth it 100%!

Masada and the Dead Sea was awesome experiences. Ein Gedi average+, but efficient. What made this trip terrible was the tour operator and the group. Firstly we were very delayed. Both due to certain people that did not keep the schedule and because of the organizer. We were probably a too big group for the guide to handle. This ended up with loosing 5 group members and the guide being grumpy and complaining. The worst thing was the guide. Eli. I don't doubt he is a man with a lot of knowledge and he is clearly able to teach it to others. The problem is that he rather want to be a comedian. I understand that telling bad jokes is a part of being a guide, but you can not tell them over and over again and force us to laugh. In stead of telling us about Israel and the places we passed and we're going to see, he told us a lot of non-related stuff, jokes and made a lot of grumpy noises. I also felt that he was really rude towards other groups and guides at the sides we were. Many people reacted on his behavior. The price on this trip was very low, but I rather pay twice (like I did the days after) for better guides, smaller groups and better organization.

We did not get picked up at the meeting point and therefore could not join the tour. We did not get refund. Things like that can happen but you definitely give refund then!