Tourist Israel Reviews 

Great service , a very good guide . The tour was great

Booked tour but country went to war. nO flights, NO hotels open, NO tours but NO refund. Do not book with this company as they already have thousands of pounds of others money for NO service.

Tourist Israel’s response to my review further highlights their dishonesty. The hotels informed me they were closed and Tourist Israel were not conducting any tours yet they claim I am ‘outside the cancellation period’ for a holiday they cannot fulfil.

There was no refund given, not even in part as they said they would. No refund has been put through their system as alleged. They have then disputed my claim made through my bank. Sadly it is simply lie after lie.

My wife and I had two packages booking TI08455966 with tourist israel for over 2700 usd scheduled for oct 28 2023 then the war with the Hamas broke out and they cancelled our tours. I received no refunds since Tourist Israel said it was outside its cancellation period. I have tried via phone, what’s up and I have emailed Yossi Orbach ,tourist Israel CEO ,and they have only responded with a vague reply we are busy we will get back to you which they haven’t.
To make the story short they are unprofessional, not transparent, and taking my money without providing us a service promised.
All they had to do is credit my credit card account like some other companies did it , even though ,they did not have any conflict in their countries such as tour radar, Egypt air ,Jett bus and Expedia. They all credited my trips as a good faith. Finally, they send me and email offering me if I want to volunteer packing food for Israel ,I consider this as a bad practice business any where in the world ,they are more interested in earning a quick dishonest buck than building a business. What a shame and we are very disappointed . This trip was for my wife and I a very important spiritually bond in order to save our marriage I had to use my five years savings for this trip. I hope tourist Israel take our feelings seriously. Hoping peace to the world soon.
Sincerely
Humberto Alvarez
P.S:
Thanks Anna for the advice on filing a complaint on GOV.ILwhich I already did . Also I went to my USA gov site an I have found this, Since tourist Israel is doing business in my country USA the following applies.
"Ticket agents and online travel agencies are required to make “proper” refunds when service cannot be performed as contracted on a flight to, within, or from the United States.". finally, tourist Israel has provided to me a voucher for Italy in one of its tours, I will use it on September, I will keep this post updated with the end result of the new tour in Italy instead of the original one for Israel.

While sympathizing with the business operators on the ongoing unrest in Israel, I will not hesitate in pointing out their poor practice in issuing refunds. They still owe us a portion of our refund.
My wife purchased a tour (booking number TI22710933) for our family of wife. We obviously cancelled it. We were expecting that in compliance with their published refund policy they would deduct 5% and return us the remaining amount.
In reality they still owe us $634 of the estimated refund.
They do not realize that this is not a negligible amount and that they must keep their end of the bargain. My wife has written them several emails but has not received any response other than the bot-generated response.
I am not here to malign them, but I think after having waited for over 3 months it's about time, they either tell us that they are giving us back our money or be bold and brazen enough to tell us that we should forget about it.
BUSINESS OWNERS, PLEASE ADDRESS SO THAT WE SO NOT PERMANENTLY SHY AWAY FROM DOING BUSINESS WITH YOU

I booked a 4-day tour with Tourist Israel for October 10. The tour price was $900. They cancelled it for obvious reasons and said they issued a 100% refund to my credit card minus 5% fees. That was early November. The money was never returned. In the beginning they claimed that there was a backlog in processing refunds. However, they stopped replying to emails, Whatsapp or phone calls when I asked them about the status. They are just keeping the money.
Plus there is no way to contact them apart from a general email that no one replies to. Whatsapp and phone numbers are shut off or unattended.

Stay away if there is any chance your trip gets cancelled. You will not see your money again.

Looking at the reply they gave the other complaining customer: probably not true that they returned the money for the first tour. They claimed the same in my case and the money was never paid back.

Answer to Tourist Israel's reply below:
The case would easily be solved if you accept the charge back. You're obviously unable or unwilling to do refunds. Otherwise, I would have had the money in my account 2 months ago when you claimed you issued the refund.
I would also appreciate if one of your colleagues replied to my emails with a proper solution and timeframe when I get my money back so that the communication doesn't have to be done through this channel.

We had two packages with tourist israel for over 4000 usd scheduled for oct 16 2023 then the conflict broke out and they cancelled our tours. We received no refunds since they said it was outside cancellation period. We have tried via phone, what’s up and email and they have only responded with a vague reply we are busy we will get back to you which they haven’t.

Bottom line they are unprofessional, not transparent, and taking our money without providing us a service

All they had to do is either with a click of a button credit our account or give us a voucher. Obviously this is a cutthroat operation more interested in earning a quick dishonest buck than building a business. What a poor business model.

Caveat emptor!

I had an amazing 8 days of touring Israel and Jordan. I felt the tour guides were top notch. The hotel I chose was extremely nice(light house by Brown) was a perfect location.

Unprofessional guide first day and a half. He was constantly on his phone or chatting with friends on the street while the tour group stood wondering what was happening. He would bring us to sites, talk for 5 min., then tell us to explore on our own for 90 min.
The second night he left us in the Jordanian desert, but told us another guide would take over in the AM. That never happened. Our driver, who spoke no English, got us to Petra where chaos ensued trying to find is a park guide. The group lost 2 hours in this process. A temp park guide did his best to salvage the day and fast track a tour for us.
Most of our group was returning to Israel at this point, but we were supposed to stay one more night. I tried calling Tourist Israel to see if we could return early with them, but couldn’t get through. I sent an email with what had transpired to this point and our plans to return. No response.
We made the bus ride to Israel and crossed the tense border only to find the bus to Jerusalem was full. The bus attendant got on the phone with a supervisor who immediately blamed us for making the journey without approval, despite the fact they were unresponsive.
I got on the phone with them and asked if we could work toward a solution. They continued to blame me AND TOLD ME TO GET BACK ON THE BUS AND GO BACK TO JORDAN. They promised customer service would reach out the next day but they never did.
We got a hotel in Eilat at our own expense and on the public bus to Jerusalem.
In conclusion, Tourist Israel is the way to go if customer service, enjoyable travel, accountability, and professionalism are not important to you.

This trip was worth every penny! I had the best time and learned so much. Here are some insights that I hope will help.

Wear comfortable clothes. Be modest as some places will require shoulders and legs to be covered. But dress cool. Wear comfortable walking shoes! You will walk a lot.

Take something to carry water. I suggest a camelbak plus bottle water, too. It can get so hot and arid. Wear sunscreen, hat, and sunglasses.

Make sure you have enough shekels to pay for food, souvenirs, and to TIP YOUR GUIDE. They are with you all day. Some places you will go will take a credit card or other forms of money. Some will not, so be prepared to pay in shekels.

Be respectful. You are a guest in their country.

Be prepared for the market. Never pay for the asking price. It is quite acceptable to bargain for the lowest price. They will get into your personal space and are very pushy. If you want to buy, they will try to get every cent out of you. Be respectful but hold your ground when you are done. They are great at getting you to buy. True pro's! If you are not interested, just say no thank you and keep moving.

Please do not assume that every one is Jewish. There are many religions there and they are very strong about their beliefs. You do not know who you may be talking to and what their religious/political affiliation is. There is still tension in Israel.

I never felt unsafe the whole time I was there. However, keep aware of your surroundings. You are in another country.

Be prepared for sensory overload as there is so much to see and learn. Thousands of years of history in the little country.

Here is how you meet your guide: I got an email the day before telling me what time and where to meet. It was usually the same time and place but pay attention as it can change. There are several tour company's meeting at the same place. Don't be afraid to ask a tour guide if they are your guide for the day. They have a list of who they have for that day. I didn't have the same tour guide or the same people everyday.

Do yourself a favor and try the different foods! I loved walking through the market and the smelling the different spices and herbs. Whatever is available to do, do it. I swam in the Dead Sea, baptized in the Jordan, stood on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and ate fish from there. I loved my time in Israel.

Take OTC medication with you. Something for your stomach if needed. Different countries, different foods can cause stomach upset. Something for headaches, sleep, or anything else you think you might need.

Bottom line: Stay hydrated, well rested, dress cool, have fun, be respectful, aware of your surroundings, and please tip your guide. I hope your trip is a load of fun and a memorable one!

My wife and I signed up for a 10-day Israel & Jordan trip. When we signed up, we were assured that the maximum group size would be 25 people (even that number is far too large for one guide to handle). When we arrived for our first day tour there were SIXTY people jammed into a bus meant for no more than 40. Everyone was extremely unhappy. Some people couldn't even fit in the tiny seats. Because of the sheer number of people, the tour was constantly delayed, meaning that we got back to our hotel extremely late after the first horrible day.
The next "day" we started at 1:30am, meaning no sleep that night. Again we sere stuffed into the bus with 60 people, and again because of the number, as well as general disorganization, no communication and very poor planning) there were constant delays.
At Wadi Rum they were out of space at the scheduled camp, so we were "upgraded" to a different camp another half hour away.
The next day we left camp on the stuffed bus at 8am for Petra where, because of various preventable delays, we only had three hours and could only walk part way into the ruins. Then it was back on the bus for another horrendous 9 hour ride to Jeruselem (arriving at 1:30am rather than the scheduled 7:15pm) where our hotel room hadn't been cleaned since the last guests.
Next morning my wife and I woke up with severe headaches and raging sore throats. Yes, we had both gotten Covid from the crowed bus. I can't imagine that everyone on the bus didn't also get Covid.
That was the end of our tour. I called and wrote Tourist Israel but received no response. Changing our fights home and other related expenses cost hundreds of dollars.
I am a travel journalist and have traveled to over 70 countries in the past 45 years. This was by far the worst planned, worst organized, worst run tour I have ever been on.
I can only believe that the reason for this is greed: rather than actually cut off the tour size at 25 (which is still far too big), Tourist Israel is trying to stuff 60 people into each tour. Shame on them!

Our Guide, Gidon, was excellent and very knowledgable. This was a very informative and enjoyable tour. THe only downside was that we were dumped with our suitcases outside the Jaffa gate and had to make our own way to our hotel. It took over an hour to get a taxi - we called 3 and they wouldn't show up. This was not pleasant as we were standing on the side of a busy street and had no idea how to get to our hotel!!!!

Having been to Jerusalem before, I knew quite a lot about the city and its history, but the tour I had with Ben was really outstanding! Ben was very friendly and easy to talk to, he had a thorough understanding of Jerusalem's history, and his personal geospatial knowledge of the Old City made for a truly unique experience. I would definitely book tours with Ben in the future.

We were pleased with both tours. Petra is breathtaking, beautiful and a great walking experience. Swimming in the Dead Sea and having mud spread all over was a singular experience.
Wadi rum was an original experience sleeping in a Bedouin camp. The food was definitely an experience not to miss and their hospitality was great. We loved it.

Firas was an excellent tour guide and knew his history. He made sure everyone was together on a day where the streets were packed and he was fun to talk to. Definitely recommend a tour with this company!

The guide went above and beyond! Very knowledgeable.

History, history, history! Beautiful sea location!

Truly, an excellent experience. Small, Boutique style hotel, recently renovated. Super high service levels made staying at the Drisco a very pleasing experience. The breakfast buffet is truly inspiring… I couldn’t eat enough! Very well appointed rooms and in an excellent location between downtown Tel Aviv and the old city of Jaffa. I would stay here again in a heartbeat! My only suggestion is that while I appreciate the fact they make bicycles available to guests, they need to maintain them better. Most of them had defective brakes and were in poor condition. If a hotel is going to give out bikes to guests, theybsure should be in as good a condition as your hotel is. Otherwise not one bad thing to say!!

Guide was very protective of the group among such a multitude today,he was sensitive to our physical needs,know the city very well and provide with visual material that make history more comprehensive.Great guide.