My husband and I just returned from an amazing tour of the Holy Land with some of our friends. This had been a dream trip for me for over 20 years! When our friends invited us to join them, we enthusiastically agreed. There were definitely some “what I wish I would have known” moments! I’m sharing our advice and recommendations so that you can have an amazing trip too! I am not affiliated with any of the links that I will include in this post. They are linked for your convenience. Here are 5 Quick Tips for traveling through the Holy Land!

We joined a tour led by Bountiful Travel with Hank Smith as our tour guide. Hank was able to find a good balance between Gospel teaching, application in our lives, and fun!

Helpful Tips for Traveling through the Holy Land:

Exchanging Money –

I was confused about where to exchange money. Most online resources advised to use an ATM in the country you are traveling to for the best conversion rate. Our credit card company warned us against using foreign ATMs. We decided to just ask our local bank to exchange dollars to shekels for us.

I was told by the tellers at Chase Bank that there weren’t any fees for using this service. That was not true though. The bank did take quite a bit in commissions and fees. The daily conversion rate was 3.65 shekels per dollar. Chase bank gave me 2.99 shekels per dollar. When I returned home, they gave me 3.98 shekels for a dollar.

Ultimately, we didn’t really even need shekels. Everyone took American dollars, even street vendors. I did not come across anyone who did not gladly take American dollar bills. Most shops, even small ones, took VISA as well.

How much cash to bring?

How much to bring depends on what kind of a shopper you are. Whatever you do bring, I suggest bringing it in small bills. For larger purchases, use your credit card. For smaller purchases, it’s nice to have cash in small denominations. I took $75 in ones, $100 in fives, and the rest in tens and twenties. You will use ones to purchase water and small items, give tips, and use the bathroom at some locations. I left most of it in the hotel safe and only carried what I needed for the day. We didn’t end up using all of those small bills ourselves. We helped several of our friends by trading our smaller bills for their larger bills when they ran out.

Bartering

Having smaller bills also gives you bargaining power. Vendors will tell you that they don’t have change for larger bills. They will try to sell you more to spend the whole dollar amount. You have the upper hand if you have smaller bills.

Bartering is an expected part of the culture. It is much easier if you have smaller bills. For example, our tour guide warned us that if someone is charging $10 for something, offer them $3 or $4 and continue to tell them no and walk out until they are willing to sell it to you for $5 or $6 for the item. I had many store clerks walk down the road for blocks decreasing the cost until they accepted my offer. I am sure they still made plenty of money off the items I purchased. Otherwise they wouldn’t have done it.

Bring Tissues

Many of the bathroom stops do not have toilet paper available. Having a stash of tissues with you will make the stop much more pleasant for you. You may consider sharing your supplies with others who are less prepared. I recommend coming with several small travel sized packages of tissues. If you run out, grab a few tissues from your hotel room before you head out for the day. Also be aware that there may be a local person (male or female in either restroom) sitting close to the door to the restrooms. They are the workers who clean the restroom and are hoping or expecting a tip for using the restroom facilities.

Bring a International Converter

My last of my tips for traveling through the Holy Land is to bring a multiple country converter. This is actually true for anywhere you want to travel internationally. Many of my friends only purchased a converter for Israel (two prong.) We went on to enjoy a few days in Jordan after our Israel trip. Many of my friends realized that their converters didn’t fit the outlets in Jordan (3 prong.) They weren’t able to charge their electronics or use their hair tools.

Dave and I didn’t have a problem though because we purchased a converter that works anywhere in the world. We purchased this International Converter by Ceptics. It worked great and I loved that it has 2 USB-C ports and 3 USB-A ports. Other models have different numbers of USB-C and 4 USB-A ports. Look for one that works best for your charging needs. We were able to both charge our power banks, phones, and watches all at the same time with this converter.

We loved our time in Israel and Jordan! Read my posts to learn more about what we did while we were there so you are better prepared for your own journey!