What we list here today
We do not yet carry bookable year-round rooms in the north. What we do carry is 14 Pesach programs in northern Israel — real listings, each with its supervision and a price band — and a free quote service for everything else.
If your trip is year-round, read on for what to expect and what to ask, then tell us your dates. It costs nothing and there are no booking fees.
Why the north
Northern Israel is where Israelis take their own holidays, and that tells you most of what you need to know. It is green in a way the rest of the country is not, it is cooler in summer, the distances are short, and it costs less than the coast for a comparable property.
For an observant family it has a further advantage that is easy to take for granted: the kashrut infrastructure is simply there. Hotel catering, bakeries, restaurants and shops operate to a standard that would require research anywhere else in the world, and mehadrin is widely available rather than exceptional.
The four areas
The Kinneret and Tiberias. The centre of gravity for hotels. The lake, the beaches, the hot springs, and the largest concentration of rooms in the region — including the kibbutz hotels on the western shore. The most practical base for a family.
The Upper Galilee — Rosh Pinna, Tzfat, the Hula Valley. Higher, cooler and quieter. Boutique properties and farm estates rather than large hotels, and the best of the countryside. Tzfat is a half-day in itself.
The Golan. Open, high and dramatic. Jeep trips, springs, waterfalls, nature reserves and wineries. Fewer hotels; most visitors stay in the Galilee and come for the day.
The Carmel, Haifa and the Western Galilee. The coastal north — Haifa's hotels on the Carmel ridge, the Bahai gardens, Akko's old city, and the forest and sea country up toward Nahariya. Convenient, and often overlooked.
What to check before booking anywhere in the north
- The specific hashgacha. Being in Israel is not the same as mehadrin, and kibbutz hotels and boutique properties vary more than the chains do.
- Shabbat arrangements — lift, keys, meals, and whether there is a minyan on site or a shul within walking distance. In the countryside "within walking distance" can mean something different than it does in Jerusalem.
- Half board or breakfast only. Many northern hotels include a large breakfast and nothing else, which changes the real cost of a week considerably when the nearest restaurant is a drive away.
- A car. The north is not a place to be without one. Nearly everything worth seeing is fifteen to forty minutes from everything else, and public transport is not built for it.
Pesach in the north
If the trip is over yom tov, the north is one of the most attractive parts of the Israeli Pesach market — the same countryside, and programs at properties like Nof Ginosar on the Kinneret and Mizpe Hayamim above Rosh Pinna.
See all 14 northern Israel Pesach programs, or the full Israeli market.
Ask us
Tell us what you need — dates, area, standard of hashgacha, how many of you — and matching properties come back to you directly. Completely free, no booking fees, and we are never paid by the family.