Pre/Post Tours

 JORDAN TOUR  |   TEL AVIV   |   EILAT TOUR   |  LEBANON & SYRIA  |  CAIRO TOUR

In addition to our program in Israel, we are offering a post tour to our neighbor to the east:  The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan  

JORDAN TOUR

Friday October 16, 2009

• Buffet breakfast
• Meeting with our driver - transfer to the Sheik Hussein / Jordan River border crossing
• Israeli and Jordanian border formalities
• Ahalan WaSahlan - Welcome to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
• Meeting with your Jordanian guide
• Proceed to the Graeco-Roman city of Jerash
• Tour Hadrian’s Arch, the Hippodrome, Colonnaded Street, and theatres
• After touring Jerash, drive to Amman, the capital of Jordan
• Dinner and meeting locals at Books at Cafe.
• Overnight:  Amman

Saturday, October 17, 2009

• Buffet breakfast
• City tour of Amman including the Citadel and the new neighborhoods
• Mount Nebo – Traditional burial site of Moses, and site where Moses looked into the Promised Land.
• Madaba – the City of Mosaics.
• Drive to the Bedouin town of Wadi Moussa
• Dinner and overnight:  Petra

Sunday, October 18, 2009

• Buffet breakfast
• Comprehensive tour of the Capital of the Nabateans, the rose-red city of Petra.
• Recently declared one of the new wonders of the world, walk through the Siq until you reach Petra’s most famous monument, the Treasury or Al-Khazneh. Various walks and climbs reveal hundreds of rock carved tombs and temples.  After lunch we depart Petra. Drive south past the mountaintop shine commemorating the deth of Aaron, Moses’s brother.  Continue south passing by Wadi Rum, the desert headquarters of Lawrence of Arabia. 
• Arrival to the Arava / Yitzhak Rabin border crossing
• Jordanian and Israeli border formalities
• Meet with our driver for your transfer to the Eilat airport.
• Flight to Tel Aviv
• Transfer to either Tel Aviv for extension overnights or to Ben Gurion International airport for your flight home

Price:  usd395 per person
Single supplement:  $50.00

Included in this price are the following services:

• Transfer from Tel Aviv to the Israeli-Jordanian border
• Visa to Jordan 
• Touring with licensed professional English speaking guide as per program
• All entrance fees to sites on program
• Accommodations in 3 star hotels in Amman and Petra
• Buffet breakfasts daily
• Two dinners
• Domestic flight from Eilat to Tel Aviv

Not included in this price

• Meals not mentioned
• Gratuities to guide and drivers
• Beverages 
• Israeli and Jordanian departure taxes (payable directly at the borders) 
• Hotel accommodations in Israel or Jordan following this tour

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Tel Aviv

Come hang out with us in Tel Aviv.   Enjoy the beach, restaurants, bars, clubs, dancing.  Participate in activities in the GLBT community center. Meet the locals.  Learn Israeli folkdancing with “the guyz.” Learn Israeli folkdancing with “the gals.”   Many of our clients who already know about the great vacation they can have in Tel Aviv  book an apartment for a week or two, use Tel Aviv as their base, and do some touring from Tel Aviv.  As an IGLTA member, Ben Yehuda Apartments, a complex of 2 apartment buildings in the heart of Tel Aviv (2 blocks from the gay beach) is offering special rates for participants of the symposium.  Ben Yehuda Apartments offer all size accommodations – from studio’s to duplex penthouses – all at reasonable rates.  Again…IGLTA symposium participants receive discounted rates. 

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EILAT

The Isrotel hotel chain extends the following special offer to participants of the IGLTA symposium.  These special rates are valid just before and after the symposium. These rates are per room per night and include full buffet breakfast daily. 

Agamim Hotel

• One double occupancy room:  usd165 per night
• One single occupancy room:  usd140 per night
• Supplement for a “Deck/pool view” room:  usd55 per room per night

Upon request we can obtain for IGLTA members special airfares between Tel Aviv and Eilat (50 minute flight).

From Eilat, we can offer you:

• Jeep tours to the King Solomon’s mines / Timna park
• One day tour to Petra, Jordan
• One day tour to Santa Catarina Monastery, Sinai Egypt

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lebanon & syria TOUR

IGLTA PAINTS THE MIDDLE EAST PINK!

Join us for our very special pre-symposium tour to Lebanon and Syria

Monday, October 5. 2009   
Meeting at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport our airport representative
After the airport formalities, transfer to your hotel in Beirut
Welcome dinner a local Beirut restaurant
Overnight:  Beirut, Lebanon

Tuesday, October 6, 2009   
Breakfast
Today we enjoy a tour of Lebanon’s capital city – Beirut.  With it’s million plus inhabitants, it won’t take long until you feel the sense of life and energy in the city.  Known as both the “Paris of the East” and “the city that would not die” – the Lebanese capital is an exciting Middle Eastern metropolis.
Today we’ll visit the downtown area, seaside Cornish, Group of five columns, Roman Exedra and baths, Pigeon’s grotto and the American University of Beirut.  Enjoy lunch in the newly restored Place de l’etoile / Solidere area.
Overnight:  Beirut Lebanon

Wednesday, October 7, 2009    
Breakfast
This morning we drive north to the seaside town of Byblos.  According to Phoenician tradition it was founded by the god El, making it one of the top contenders for the “oldest continuously inhabited city” award.  It was in Byblos where the first linear alphabet, ancestor of all modern alphabets was invented.  The sarcophagus of Byblos’ king Ahiram, now in the national museum, bears the oldest knows Phoenician inscription.  Byblos was also the center of the Adonis cult, the god of vegetation who dies in the winter and is renewed each spring.  From here we drive to the beautiful town of Jounieh, with its seaside beaches and red roofs. On to Harissa, located 600 meters from the coast and 26 km away from Beirut, with a wonderful panoramic view covering the Bay of Jounieh. The Statue of the Virgin Mary was erected in 1908. Inside its base, a chapel with outside spiral staircase which leads to the top, as well as cable car service is provided from the bay of Jounieh to the mountain of Harissa. From here we visit one of the world's most beautiful underground caverns of Jeita.  Descend by elevator to the underground river and board your boat for a ride on the 623 meter long subterranean lake. From here we head back to Beirut. 
This evening, we’ll again enjoy Beirut night life.
Overnight:  Beirut, Lebanon

Thursday, October 8, 2009 
Breakfast
This morning we check out of our Beirut hotel (keep your passports handy) and proceed to the amazing Roman ruins of Baalbeck.  Located in the Bekaa valley, Baalbeck makes up one of the largest and best preserved corpus of Roman architecture ever found.  In the Jupiter Temple, six of the 54 giant columns that originally surrounded the sanctuary still survive.  A short drive brings us to the Ksara caves.  Built during the Roman period and covered by sand for centuries, Ksara caves were found by Jesuits by mistake in 1898 (they were hunting down a wolf that was eating their chickens).  Ksara is now home of a world famous winery. 
We now arrive to the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing.  Following the border formalities we switch to our Syrian bus to continue to Damascus.
Check into our hotel
Dinner at a local restaurant
Overnight:  Damascus, Syria

Friday, October 9, 2009  
Breakfast
Visit one of the world's oldest cities where many civilizations, such as the Armenians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Arabs, have left their marks over the centuries. Some of the most popular sites to visit are: The Omayyad Mosque, Al-Azem Palace, the Chapel of St. Ananias, St. Paul's Window, the National Museum, Hamidiye Bazaar, Saladin Mausoleum and the legendary Straight Street of Damascus. This evening we’ll enjoy “the Hamam experience.”
Overnight:  Damascus, Syria

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Breakfast
Today is a day of traveling and passports
7.30pm - This morning we bid farewell to Damascus for the short drive south to the Jordanian border.  After the Syrian and Jordanian border formalities, a short drive brings us to the Sheik Hussein / Jordan River border crossing.  After Jordanian and Israeli border formalities, meet your Israeli driver for the ride to Tel Aviv.  Meet with the other members participating in the IGLTA symposium.  WOW…will you have interesting stories to tell them over dinner tonight.

Price:  $1260 per person in sharing double room    (based on minimum of 3 participants)
Price:  $1000 per person in sharing double room   (based on minimum of 10 participants)
Single Supplement:  $150.00

Included in this price are the following services:

• Transfer from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport to your hotel in Beirut
• Touring with licensed professional English speaking guide as per program
• All entrance fees to sites on program
• Accommodations as following 4 stars hotel in Lebanon and a 3stars hotel in Syria
• Breakfasts daily
• Meals as indicated on program
• Transfer from Damascus to your IGLTA symposium hotel.

Not included in this price

• Meals not mentioned in program
• Gratuities to guide and drivers
• Beverages 
• Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian  departure taxes (payable directly at the borders) 
• Visa to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan    (see below)

RE: VISA TO LEBANON
All tourists need a visa to Lebanon.  The visa is obtainable free of charge upon arrival to Beirut’s Rafic Harari International airport. If there is any indication in your passport that you have visited Israel, you will not be permitted to enter Lebanon. 

RE: VISA TO SYRIA
All tourists need a visa to Syria.  UK and USA citizens must obtain this visa from the Syrian embassy in London/Washington D.C.  The visa must be stamped inside your passport prior to your arrival to Beirut.  When applying for this visa, only mention that you are visiting Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.  European citizens can purchase a Syrian visa at the Lebanese-Syrian border.  The price is as per your nationality.  If there is any indication in your passport that you have visited Israel, you will not be permitted to enter Syria.

RE: VISA TO JORDAN
All tourists need a visa to Jordan.  Most nationalities can purchase the visa at the border for JD10.00 (equivalent to usd15.00).  If you are not sure about your status, just let me know and I’ll gladly check for you.  Whether or not you have an Israeli stamp in your passport is of no interest to the Jordanians.  

RE: VISA TO ISRAEL
For most nationalities, free of charge upon arrival to the border.  If you are not sure about your status, just let me know and I’ll gladly check for you.    

IMPORTANT:  If there is any indication that you plan to visit Israel, or have visited Israel in the past you will not be permitted to enter Lebanon or Syria.  Your passport must be free of any Israeli stamps.   For Jordan and Egypt this is irrelevant. 

LEBANON – THE SECRET PEARL OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Lebanon! The secret pearl of the middle east.  Synonymous with war, conflict, strife.  Just the name of this amazing country stirs up ones imagination.  Well…time to move into the new millennium and to refresh your thoughts and idea.  Prior to the civil war (1975-1990), Lebanon was knows as the Switzerland of the mid east, and it’s capital, Beirut, was known as the Paris of the Middle East.  The new century has seen a renewal of Lebanon – and she deserves her title back.  Lebanon 2003 is the place to visit.  And…it’s so easy.
Large bustling cities, scenic villages, archaeological sites, religious sites (Christian, Moslem, Jewish), history, culinary delights, wild nightlife, national park reserves – all this in the country of Lebanon – small in size but huge in sites to see. From the noise of Beirut to the cedars of the Chouf  Mountains to the ruins of Baalbeck to the tombs of our Biblical forefathers.

Syria!  Along with Iraq, considered to be the cradle of civilization.  A small country packed with monuments, ancient antiquities, archaeological sites, mosques, churches, synagogues, and the famous dead cities in the north that call out the glorious history of ancient nations.  Syria has been a meeting point between eastern and western civilizations.  Seacoasts, forests, mountains, valleys – all easily reachable.  To the good luck of the tourist, Syria is still one of those well kept secrets with an abundance of beautiful and fascinating sites. Foreign visitors are treated with warm hospitality and friendliness.  

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cairo TOUR

(with a minimum of 3 participants, we can offer this tour before or after THE TRIP to Israel)

Day one

• Buffet breakfast
• Proceed (on your own) to Ben Gurion Airport
• Flight from Tel Aviv to Cairo
• Ahalan WaSahlan - Welcome to Egypt
• Meeting with our Cairo representative, who will assist you through
  the airport formalities
• Transfer to your Cairo hotel for an afternoon at leisure (options will be offered)
• Welcome dinner at a local Cairo restaurant
• Overnight:  Cairo  (4 star hotel)

day two

• Buffet breakfast
• Meeting with your guide to begin touring Cairo.
• Excursion to the Pyramids, Sphinx, Memphis and Sakkara
• Dinner on your own (numerous options will be available)
• Overnight:  Cairo

day three

• Buffet breakfast
• Touring to the Egyptian Museum, The Citadel of Salah El Din, Mohammed Ali Mosque, Coptic Churches of Old Cairo and the Ben Ezra Synagogue.
• Dinner on your own (numerous options will be available)
• Overnight:  Cairo

DAY FOUR  

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