Questions people actually ask

Frequently asked questions

Are flights included in the price?

No. Flights are booked separately from the trip itself, so you keep control of your routing, your dates, and any points or miles you want to use. Everything on the ground in Israel — guiding, transport, accommodation, and activities — is arranged by us.

Is there an age limit on your trips?

No. We plan trips for every age, and often for several ages at once. A single itinerary regularly covers grandparents, parents, and young children, with the days built so people can split off and rejoin rather than everyone doing everything.

Do I need to have been to Israel before?

No, and it makes no difference to how we plan. First-time travellers and people coming back for their third visit want different trips, so the itinerary is built around which of those you are — but neither is a prerequisite.

Can I book and pay online?

Not yet. There is no online checkout on this site. Every trip is quoted individually, so planning starts with a conversation and payment arrangements are handled directly with us from there.

What does a trip to Israel with MY Travel cost?

There is no list price, because no two of our trips are the same. What a trip costs comes down to how many of you are travelling, how long you stay, the standard of hotel you want, how many of the days need a private guide and coach, and which sites you want to go inside rather than drive past. So rather than publish a range that turns out not to apply to you, we quote each trip properly: tell us the group, roughly when, and the sort of trip you have in mind, and we come back with a full costed proposal. Flights sit outside that number and you book them yourself, which keeps the largest and most variable cost of the whole trip under your control.

How large are your groups?

There is no minimum and no fixed maximum. We plan trips for a family of four as readily as for a community group of forty, and the size changes how a trip is built rather than whether we will run it: smaller groups can travel in vehicles that reach places a full coach simply cannot, and larger ones need the days shaped so people can split off and come back together. For what it is worth, most of the groups Madison has run over the past six years have been between fifteen and forty people, which is the range where one coach and one guide still works comfortably.

What is not included in the trip?

International flights are not included — you book those yourself. Travel insurance is not included either, and we would push you to arrange it before you fly. Personal spending stays yours: gifts, anything you buy, and anything you decide to add once you are here. Meals vary from trip to trip rather than following a fixed rule, so the itinerary we send you spells out exactly which ones are covered instead of leaving you to work it out at the table.

Is it safe to travel to Israel right now?

Israel's situation changes, so the honest answer is to check your own government's current travel advice before you book. We are not going to tell you it is safe on our own authority. What we can tell you is what we do about it: every hotel, site and restaurant we work with has a safe room, which is not something every operator checks for. And we are here. If something happens while you are in the country, you are not phoning an office in another time zone — we live here, and we will be with you.

Can you accommodate limited mobility or accessibility needs?

Tell us early and we build the trip around it. Israel is a mixed picture, honestly: some of the major sites are modern and step-free, and others are two thousand years old, built up a hillside, and paved in stone that was never meant for wheels. So rather than promise in advance that everything works, we check the specific sites and the vehicle with the suppliers and tell you exactly what is comfortable, what is possible with help, and what we would swap for something better. In our experience it changes the shape of an itinerary — the order of the days, how much walking sits in each one, where the rest goes — rather than ruling the trip out.

How far in advance should we start planning?

Whenever suits you. We have planned trips two years ahead and we have planned them a month out. One practical thing worth knowing: airline tickets usually only go on sale about ten months before the travel date, so if flights matter to your budget, that is the point at which you can actually book them.

Who runs the trips on the ground in Israel?

We do. MY Travel is based in Israel and contracts the hotels, the transport and the guides ourselves, rather than handing your trip to a local operator and stepping back. Every guide you travel with is licensed by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, which is a legal requirement here rather than a courtesy. And Madison meets groups at the airport and travels with them, so the person who planned your trip is the person you see when something needs changing.