# Shemesh Tours

> Private, licensed tour guiding in Israel. Yona Shemesh is licensed by the Israel Ministry of Tourism and guides in English and Hebrew. Every itinerary is private and built for one group at a time: Jerusalem, the Galilee, the Judean Desert, the Negev and the coast. Regular day tours start at $600 per group; food tours start at $100 per person; trips of three days or more are discounted by up to 15%.

Contact: shemeshtours@gmail.com | +972 54-302-6374 | https://www.instagram.com/shemeshtours/

## Start here

- [Home — what a private day with a licensed guide looks like](https://shemeshtours.com/)
- [About Yona Shemesh — licence, background and how he works](https://shemeshtours.com/about/)
- [Plan your journey — the planning form](https://shemeshtours.com/plan-your-journey/)
- [Contact](https://shemeshtours.com/contact/)

## Tours

- [City of David & Old City](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/city-of-david-and-old-city/): Jerusalem, starting where Jerusalem started. We begin in the City of David and the Jerusalem of three thousand years ago, then continue into the Old City and its underground walkways — following a city that has been conquered, destroyed, rebuilt and dreamed about for longer than almost anywhere on Earth. (Full day — approx. 7–9 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Tel Aviv & Jaffa — Ancient Port, Modern City](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/tel-aviv-jaffa/): Explore the contrast that defines Tel Aviv–Jaffa: thousands of years of history beside one of Israel's youngest and most restless cities. Begin in ancient Jaffa and follow the story into the neighborhoods, architecture, food and people who built modern Tel Aviv. (Half or full day — approx. 6–8 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Dead Sea & Judean Desert](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/dead-sea-judean-desert/): One of Israel's most dramatic landscapes, where biblical history, ancient fortresses, desert scenery and the lowest place on Earth come together. The day pairs the story of the Judean Desert with time in the strange, weightless salt water of the Dead Sea. (Full day — approx. 8–10 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Jerusalem: The Abrahamic Religions](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/jerusalem-abrahamic-religions/): The Old City through the eyes of Judaism, Christianity and Islam — asking not only what happened here, but why this particular square kilometer became sacred to billions of people, and why it remains as contested as it is. (Full day — approx. 6–7 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Caesarea, Acre & Rosh Hanikra](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/caesarea-acre-rosh-hanikra/): Where ancient empires left their mark on Israel’s northern coast — Roman Caesarea, the Crusader halls of Acre, and the sea grottoes of Rosh Hanikra. (Full day — approx. 9–10 hours; from $600 per group)
- [The Galilee](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/galilee-and-the-sea/): Green hills, ancient towns and the shores of the Sea of Galilee — where biblical history, Jewish tradition and the story of early Christianity overlap. (Full day — approx. 8–9 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Beyond the Walls — Jerusalem’s First Modern Neighborhoods](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/beyond-the-walls-first-modern-neighborhoods/): Montefiore’s windmill, the cobbled lanes of Yemin Moshe and the birth of modern Jerusalem outside the walls — with or without the food. (Half day — approx. 4 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Jezreel Valley — The Crossroads of History](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/jezreel-valley/): One of the most consequential valleys in the Land of Israel. For thousands of years the Jezreel has been a crossroads for armies, civilizations, biblical figures, pioneers — and, twice a year, most of the birds in Europe. (Full day — approx. 7–9 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Samaria — Bible & Vineyards](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/samaria-bible-and-vineyards/): The Bible's most familiar stories happened here, in a region where ancient history now sits alongside a fast-growing wine culture. From Abraham's first journey through the land, to where Jacob dreamed, to the mountains above biblical Shechem — Samaria lets you read the Bible off the landscape itself. (Full day — approx. 7–9 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Herodion & Beit Guvrin National Parks](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/herodion-and-beit-guvrin/): Herod’s palace-fortress on an artificial mountain, the biblical Elah Valley, and the bell caves of Beit Guvrin — a UNESCO World Heritage site. (Full day — approx. 7–9 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Golan Heights — Volcanoes, Waterfalls & Border Stories](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/golan-heights/): Israel’s wild north, where ancient basalt landscapes meet modern geopolitics — Gamla, Mount Bental, and Druze hospitality. (Full day — approx. 8–9 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Mitzpe Ramon & Life in the Desert](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/mitzpe-ramon-life-in-the-desert/): Into the heart of the Negev — Ben-Gurion’s grave above the Zin Valley, the world’s largest erosion crater, and how life thrives in one of Israel’s most dramatic landscapes. (Full day — approx. 8–10 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Gush Etzion & Hebron — City of the Patriarchs](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/gush-etzion-and-hebron/): Rachel’s Tomb, the hills of Gush Etzion, and Hebron — continuously inhabited for over 4,500 years, and home to the Cave of the Patriarchs. (Full day — approx. 7–9 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Gush Etzion Family Day](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/gush-etzion-family-day/): Caves, an underground aqueduct you walk through, a farm with snakes and donkeys, and the story of Gush Etzion from 1947 to today — a full day built for a family. (Full day — approx. 7–9 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Gaza Border Visit](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/gaza-border-visit/): A meaningful day devoted to those who were taken from us — the Nova Festival memorial, the Route 232 shelters and Sderot, alongside the life that continues. (Full day — approx. 8–9 hours; from $600 per group)
- [Chanukah: In the Footsteps of the Maccabees](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/chanukah-footsteps-of-the-maccabees/): Modi’in and Jerusalem — beyond the candles and doughnuts, the dramatic story behind Chanukah in the places where it actually happened. (Full day — approx. 8 hours; from $600 per group)
- [7 Days in Israel](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/seven-days-in-israel/): Israel’s highlights in a single week — Tel Aviv, the north, two days in Jerusalem, Masada and the Dead Sea, the Ramon Crater and a reflective final day. (7 days)
- [Luxury Israel — Tailor-Made Journeys](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/luxury-israel/): Not thread counts and chandeliers — a journey crafted entirely around you, where the real luxury is the access. (Multiple days — built around you)

## Food experiences

- [Levinsky Market — Street Art & Culinary](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/levinsky-market-street-art-and-culinary/): The raw, creative heart of Tel Aviv: Persian, Turkish and Greek flavors in the Levinsky spice market, then Florentine’s ever-changing street art. (3 hours; from $100 per person)
- [Baka Food Tour](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/baka-food-tour/): Discover the hidden corners of Derech Beit Lechem in Baka — through food, stories, and the people who bring the street to life. Five curated tasting stops, each bite telling the story of a neighborhood still in the middle of becoming itself. (3 hours; from $100 per person)
- [Old City — Walls and Flavors](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/old-city-walls-and-flavors/): A journey along and within the ramparts built by Suleiman the Magnificent, where the walls themselves guide you through 3,000 years of history, faith and flavor. (3 hours; from $100 per person)
- [Carmel Market Food Tour — Taste Tel Aviv](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/carmel-market-food-tour/): More than a market: Israel’s most popular marketplace, a meeting point of Ashkenazi, Yemenite, Persian, Iraqi, North African and modern Israeli culture — and the story of the city itself. (3–4 hours; from $100 per person)
- [Ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem: Food & Community](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/ultra-orthodox-jerusalem-food-tour/): Across the street from Machane Yehuda is a Jerusalem most visitors pass without entering. This tour goes in — to meet the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community on its own terms, and to eat the Ashkenazi cooking that came with it from Europe. (3 hours; from $100 per person)
- [German Colony — Jerusalem’s Modern Makeover](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/german-colony-jerusalem-modern-makeover/): Templer stone houses, hidden courtyards and old railway stories along Emek Refaim — and the cafés that made this one of Jerusalem’s most loved streets. (3 hours; from $100 per person)
- [Nevi’im Street — Jerusalem Beyond the Shuk](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/neviim-street-jerusalem-beyond-the-shuk/): The street where modern Hebrew was revived, on the edge of Mea Shearim — Russian gardens, an Ethiopian church, and generations-old food traditions. (3 hours; from $100 per person)
- [Sarona Market — A Templar Village & Culinary Hot Spot](https://shemeshtours.com/tours/sarona-market-templar-village/): Restored 19th-century Templar buildings housing Tel Aviv’s most sophisticated food destination — European charm meeting Israeli innovation. (3 hours; from $100 per person)

## Where these tours go

- [Western Wall Tunnels](https://shemeshtours.com/places/western-wall-tunnels/): The Western Wall most visitors see is about seventy meters long. The wall itself runs for four hundred and eighty-eight, and most of it is underground.
- [Church of the Holy Sepulchre](https://shemeshtours.com/places/church-of-the-holy-sepulchre/): Six denominations share one building, a ladder has not moved since the eighteenth century, and the traditional sites of the crucifixion and the tomb are thirty meters apart.
- [Sea of Galilee](https://shemeshtours.com/places/sea-of-galilee/): Not a sea and not especially large — 21km by 13km — but almost everything in the Gospels happens on or near its northern shore.
- [Capernaum](https://shemeshtours.com/places/capernaum/): A fishing village of maybe 1,500 people that the Gospels call “his own city” — and where you can stand in a first-century house and a fourth-century synagogue in the same visit.
- [Mount of Olives](https://shemeshtours.com/places/mount-of-olives/): The best view of the Temple Mount, the oldest continuously used cemetery in the world, and a walk downhill through most of the Passion narrative.
- [Temple Mount](https://shemeshtours.com/places/temple-mount/): The Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif, is a 37-acre platform in Jerusalem sacred to Judaism and Islam. Visiting hours, access rules, and why many observant Jews do not go up.
- [Garden of Gethsemane](https://shemeshtours.com/places/garden-of-gethsemane/): The Garden of Gethsemane sits at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Its olive trees date to the twelfth century and share one parent plant — continuity, not identity.
- [Via Dolorosa](https://shemeshtours.com/places/via-dolorosa/): The Via Dolorosa runs 600 meters through the Old City, marking fourteen Stations of the Cross. A devotional route, not an archaeological one — and better for knowing the difference.

## Planning guides

- [Holy Land Tours](https://shemeshtours.com/holy-land-tours/): Private Holy Land tours across Jerusalem, the Galilee, the Judean Desert and the coast — built around your group rather than a fixed coach route.
- [Christian Pilgrimage Tours](https://shemeshtours.com/christian-pilgrimage-tours/): Private Christian pilgrimages following the Gospel geography — Nazareth and the Galilee, the Jordan, then Jerusalem — with time to pray and sit still at each site.
- [Old City Jerusalem Tour](https://shemeshtours.com/old-city-jerusalem-tour/): All four quarters of Jerusalem's Old City in one day — the Western Wall, the Holy Sepulchre, the Via Dolorosa and the Temple Mount, with a licensed private guide.
- [Masada & Dead Sea Tour](https://shemeshtours.com/masada-dead-sea-tour/): A full day from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv covering Masada, the Dead Sea, and Qumran or Ein Gedi — the most dramatic single day in Israel.
- [Bar & Bat Mitzvah Tours in Israel](https://shemeshtours.com/bar-mitzvah-tours-israel/): Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies at the Western Wall, the Southern Wall excavations or on Masada, with the family trip around it fully arranged.
- [Private Tour Guide in Israel](https://shemeshtours.com/private-tour-guide-israel/): A licensed private tour guide in Israel — Ministry of Tourism licensed, English and Hebrew, one group at a time, with the itinerary built around you.
- [Best Time to Visit Israel](https://shemeshtours.com/guides/best-time-to-visit-israel/): Spring and autumn are the best time to visit Israel, but Shabbat and the festival calendar matter more than the weather. A month-by-month guide from a licensed Israeli guide.
- [Is Israel Safe to Visit?](https://shemeshtours.com/guides/is-israel-safe-to-visit/): Safety in Israel is regional and it changes. An honest answer from a licensed guide, with the official sources to check and how private trips adapt.
- [Travel Guides](https://shemeshtours.com/guides/): Practical planning guides for a trip to Israel, written by a licensed guide who works these sites every week.

## Good to know

- Every tour is private. There are no fixed departures and no shared coaches.
- Transportation may be included, depending on the package and the tour.
- Food tours say what tastings may include; vendors and seasons change.
- Tours run in English and Hebrew, for families, couples, small groups and communities.
- Reviews on the site are real Google reviews: 5.0 from 60 reviews.