Fodor's Israel (Full-color Travel Guide)

 (46 customer reviews)

I have been to Israel twice, each time on a guided tour which included hotels and many meals at venues selected by the tour operators. Each day's activities were usually long and exhausting, with little free time left to explore on my own. I was therefore interested to see what this Fodor's publication might offer to a traveler on a guided tour, as well as to those who might want to spend their entire or most of their trip exploring on their own. The bottom line is that this is an excellent comprehensive guide book that should be useful to all travelers.

Israel is steeped in history, so there is a chapter early in the book titled "Israel Through the Ages" which quickly covers Israel's history starting in the early biblical period from 2000 to 1000 BC and continues up to Israel today. Fodor explains the relevance of each period to the three major religions. Historical information is also provided later in the book in Fodor's description of individual points of...Read more

Foder's Israel is useful if you are planning a trip to Israel, wish you could go to Israel, for remembering your experience after your "Trip of a Lifetime", or as a reference book for all sorts of useful information about Israel.

IMPORTANT NOTE: My personal most favorite part of this book is the very helpful list of words and phrases. You won't be able to speak fluent Hebrew from that list, but you'll know enough to enjoy the language, and most people in Israel speak English. You'll also know quite a bit more than 99% of the tourists you'll meet. I studied Hebrew for a couple of years before deciding to travel to Israel. The words and phrases they included in this book were excellent choices, just the ones you'll need most. You will be glad you learned those particular words when you hear them crop up in conversations around you. It was great fun for me! Those who live there were surprised and pleased that I had made the effort to try to learn a little bit about their...Read more

I was very interested in this book because I wanted a closer view of Israel. I knew it was a complicated place, and this book explains a lot about why that is true.

The color pictures are great. One thing you see is that a lot of places in Israel are very dry at least part of the time. Water is scarce, and they handle it carefully. They handle it well.

There are a lot of political tensions in Israel, as well as religious requirements that apply to visitors. The book explains with a lot of detail just how to handle various situations and locations to stay safe and out of trouble.

Israel contains huge, huge amounts of history. And huge amounts of history are still being made there. Some of the times of year it can be very crowded, and weather is best at certain times of year. Different parts of the country are crowded at different times, and different parts are CLOSED at different times. So careful planning for your trip will be very well worth it...Read more