So things are slowly coming along for your trip to Israel and one of the things you need to do is rent a car? Excellent then, because this is the page just for you. You probably got tired Googling for “car rental in Israel” or “car hire Israel” only to come up empty-handed and frustrated by the filler sites. We’re here to do a better job than that bunch. Here we go.

3. A cheap Israel car rental company recommended by a lot of people is Eldan Rent A Car. They also seem to be the largest car rental company in Israel. If you also book online they usually offer a good discount; at the time of writing this the discount is 20% off Israel car hire services. Quite a lot! You can find the terms of rental on their site and on top of regular car rental you can also rent a GPS and buy full or third party insurance (the latter one is mandatory) plus various other extra options.

2. As you might have read in the above paragraph, there are two main types of car insurance in Israel: comprehensive, which is optional, and third party insurance, which is mandatory. To stay on the safe side of things you should look for an Israel car rental deal with comprehensive car insurance.

1. If you’d like to travel to Palestine territories by car, then you should know that there are few car rental companies that allow you to. Most of them are located in East Jerusalem and that’s the place to go to if you’re interested in such a thing. One such company is Dallah Rent A Car. It operates from the American Colony Hotel In East Jerusalem. Awful site at the time of writing but just get through it and give them a call or e-mail once you find the contact info. They’re more expensive than an usual Israel car rental company but that’s what you have to pay if you’d like to travel to Palestinian territories as well.

3. It is important to choose the car rental company carefully because there are times when some of these companies run out of cars and can’t even fulfill the reservations they booked since the previous folks who rented didn’t return the cars on time.

4. Most major car rental companies operate in Israel as well such as Hertz, Avis or Budget. To get a cheap rate on your car rental you might also want to try going through and searching for deals on the websites of all these companies and then compare.

5. When should one rent a car in Israel? Well, if you plan on visiting the attractions located in northern Israel then renting a car is the way to go. Renting a car is also suitable if you’re located in a major Israeli city and would like to take 1-2 day trips in adjacent areas.

6. When should one not rent a car in Israel? When you’re visiting a major city such as Jerusalem and staying there for an extended period of time. Traffic is horrendous, parking spaces are few and one can most of the time get to a place faster by walking than by car. Plus, street names change every few blocks. Better walk and take a taxi or bus for longer distances. Taxis and buses also go faster because they have a dedicated lane.

7. Can I come to Israel with a rental car and drop it here or vice-versa? Due to mostly security reasons, the answer to this question is NO.

8. You may want to know that most Israel car rental companies close midday on Friday and are closed all day Saturday. The only agencies that are open non-stop are at the Ben Gurion Airport. Remember this when renting a car and always ask as to when you can pick it up so you’ll be sure it won’t interfere with your trip schedule.

This concludes our small guide about cheap Israel car rental and tips related to car hire in Israel. If you have more useful information to share on this topic, then don’t hesitate to do that in the comments below.

So you’ve managed to finally reach Israel but have doubts as to the best ways to get around the country? Well, you may want to read this article then.

1. Getting Around Israel By Car

Getting around Israel by car is a good option if you’d like to do a trip to several scattered Israel attractions. It is especially good if you’re planning to go up north. You can check out our cheap Israel car rental page for more on how one can rent a cheap car in this awesome country.

Do not rent a car just to drive around an Israeli city! Some of them are infamous for their traffic congestion issues. Jerusalem is one such example. In Jerusalem, you’d be better off walking around or using taxis and public transportation that have dedicated lanes.

As for the traffic signs, they are all in English as well so no need to worry about that. The state of highways in the country are from good to very good to say the least. Driving might seem a bit erratic and aggressive especially if you come from a country with calm drivers.

2. Getting Around Israel By Train

Getting around by train in Israel is also an excellent option. Israel Railways (site below) is the main operator of passenger lines. They have an excellent site in which you can find out pretty much everything there is to know about using trains in Israel.

You may want to know that the Tel Aviv – Jerusalem train line is a bit slow compared to the rest of lines. Taking this in consideration you’ll be worse off in time-wise than taking the bus. However, the scenery along the line is amazing so if you are in no hurry it is well worth using it.

You can’t take the train to the Dead Sea though as there’s no such line. See the bus section below if you’d like to reach Eilat or adjacent places.

Site: rail.co.il/en

3. Getting Around Israel By Bus

Bus service is Israel is pretty good as well. If you’ve not noticed yet given the many times I repeat myself, transportation infrastructure does a decent job. Now, when it comes to buses, you can either take a public bus or a private bus. Public buses run every 15 minutes between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and every 30 minutes between Jerusalem and Haifa and Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Buses are considerably faster than trains on the Jerusalem – Tel Aviv route as well as the Jerusalem – Haifa route. The latter trains will have to go through Tel-Aviv and that’s why it takes longer.

The public bus company in Israel is Egged (site below). They offer cheap and efficient service and they have a comprehensive site in which you can find pretty much everything you’d like about traveling by bus in Israel.

If you’re afraid of a terrorist attack while taking the bus: don’t be. Such attacks have been few and far between and central bus stations in Israel cities have airport-like security checks. On top of that, Egged uses armored buses on some routes that go through the West Bank.

Site: egged.co.il/Eng/

4. Getting Around Israel By Sherut

Sherut or a share taxi is another way you can get around Israel. They can be found near bus stations as well as near airports all the time. They leave as soon as they reach full capacity. For example, there are sherut lines from the Ben Gurion airport to Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv at convenient prices. The opposite route is also available as well as various routes connecting different places from all over the country.

This concludes our article on getting around Israel. If you’ve got more information on this topic that could help our readers in any way then don’t hesitate to post it as a comment.