Travel from Haifa port to Tel Aviv city center (Holy Land Cruise)

[Crey91]

Hi all! My husband and I will be sailing on the Aug 30th Odyssey of the Seas Holy Land Cruise. The first stop is a half-day in Haifa (followed by a full day in Haifa, which we have already booked an excursion for). For that first half-day, we'd like to venture into Tel Aviv and I was wondering if anyone has recommendations on which mode of transport to use, since Tel Aviv is a little more than an hour away from Haifa.  I was looking into taking the train, but wanted to see if anyone has make the trek to the city and what they'd recommend. Thanks in advance! 

[RafaellaCG]

The train is great, but note it does not run on Friday or Saturday.

[Thorntor]

We did a similar cruise in 2011 and had a great experience.  As a result we went back to Israel in 2012 on a ten day group bus tour and six days in Jerusalem with guides.  Since you are heading to Tel Aviv for a day, is it safe to assume that you have been to Israel before?  

 

 

[Crey91]

Thanks so much, everyone! Very helpful info.  It looks like we'll be getting in on a Friday, so the train may not be operating, based on what some of you have said. In the alternative, do you typically sea buses or taxis at the port (offering relatively inexpensive fares)? 

@Thorntor- That's great to hear! This will actually be our first time visiting, but while we're there, we'd like to see Tel Aviv, as we've heard wonderful things. I'm sure we'll end up going back to Israel after this cruise for a longer visit. 

[SuzanneM]

The train operates on Friday all day but after the mid-afternoon there are many fewer options. It will be complicated but doable. It won't be half a day. You'll be 2-3 hours each way, so 4-6 hours round-trip just for the commuting time. You would need to be very careful about your return trip on a Friday, planning it carefully. 

Is the ship also going to Ashdod, by chance, or just Haifa? Ashdod is a much easier distance to Tel Aviv.

If you do want to go from Haifa, probably easiest is to take a cab ride for the 2.4km to the nearest train station (I just checked Google Maps). The nearest is the Bat Galim station.  Here's a link to the station map:

https://www.rail.co.il/en/pages/stationsnlines.aspx

Usually you can't get a cab until you walk out of the port and onto the bridge. There are often cabs waiting near the bridge or on it. 

There is no cab in all of Israel that is inexpensive (except in places like Karmiel where there are mandated city-wide prices). Also, you're not supposed to tip them. If they try to get you to tip them, they've marked you as a sucker tourist. No one tips cab drivers here. 

Round-trip, probably the train would be about 50 shekels. Round-trip, probably a cab ride would be about a 800 shekels minimum. That's just a guess; it could be much more. If you'd like to get a free quote from a decent cab company for long-distance trips (I've used it a few times), you can request a quote here:

https://booktaxi.co.il/

But they, too, are expensive. I only use them when desperate (like, I had a ride lined up but there was an unexpected issue and they can't pick me up and I have to get to another city by a certain time). One positive thing though is that you could pay by card, ahead of time. You can only pay by cash (shekels) in a taxi cab hailed off the street.

In my opinion, Haifa is a more interesting city than Tel Aviv (which is like almost any large city). Nearly everything you'd want to do in Tel Aviv, you can do in Haifa. I guess it's a matter of what you're wanting to do exactly.

Edit: Oh hey. I just saw that your cruise was for 30 August and that means you're talking about the Friday that was two days ago.  Well...I hope whatever happened, you had fun! 

[RafaellaCG]

8 hours ago, SuzanneM said:

The train operates on Friday all day but after the mid-afternoon there are many fewer options. It will be complicated but doable. It won't be half a day. You'll be 2-3 hours each way, so 4-6 hours round-trip just for the commuting time. You would need to be very careful about your return trip on a Friday, planning it carefully. 

Is the ship also going to Ashdod, by chance, or just Haifa? Ashdod is a much easier distance to Tel Aviv.

If you do want to go from Haifa, probably easiest is to take a cab ride for the 2.4km to the nearest train station (I just checked Google Maps). The nearest is the Bat Galim station.  Here's a link to the station map:

https://www.rail.co.il/en/pages/stationsnlines.aspx

Usually you can't get a cab until you walk out of the port and onto the bridge. There are often cabs waiting near the bridge or on it. 

There is no cab in all of Israel that is inexpensive (except in places like Karmiel where there are mandated city-wide prices). Also, you're not supposed to tip them. If they try to get you to tip them, they've marked you as a sucker tourist. No one tips cab drivers here. 

Round-trip, probably the train would be about 50 shekels. Round-trip, probably a cab ride would be about a 800 shekels minimum. That's just a guess; it could be much more. If you'd like to get a free quote from a decent cab company for long-distance trips (I've used it a few times), you can request a quote here:

https://booktaxi.co.il/

But they, too, are expensive. I only use them when desperate (like, I had a ride lined up but there was an unexpected issue and they can't pick me up and I have to get to another city by a certain time). One positive thing though is that you could pay by card, ahead of time. You can only pay by cash (shekels) in a taxi cab hailed off the street.

In my opinion, Haifa is a more interesting city than Tel Aviv (which is like almost any large city). Nearly everything you'd want to do in Tel Aviv, you can do in Haifa. I guess it's a matter of what you're wanting to do exactly.

Edit: Oh hey. I just saw that your cruise was for 30 August and that means you're talking about the Friday that was two days ago.  Well...I hope whatever happened, you had fun! 

They're doing electrical work on the train on Fridays. The Haifa-TLV line does not operate on weekends.

[SuzanneM]

1 hour ago, RafaellaCG said:

They're doing electrical work on the train on Fridays. The Haifa-TLV line does not operate on weekends.

Interesting; didn't know. Some buses do still run, though. 

[Thorntor]

You can also go to Trip Advisor, Israel, and search.  One person on that site suggested to go to http://Egged.co.il/Eng and use the trip planner to get options.