The Israel Museum in Jerusalem is Israel’s national museum. The sprawling campus includes sections devoted to fine arts from Europe, Israel, Africa and Asia displayed in 7,200 square feet of gallery space. The Israel Museum’s massive, multidisciplinary collection includes artwork from 2000 BCE up to contemporary times. The museum holds a carved female figurine that is considered to be the oldest piece of art in the world.

Given that Tel Aviv is Israel’s national center for arts and culture, it’s no surprise that the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is arguably the nation’s top museum for modern and contemporary art from Israel and around the world. A permanent collection of 35,000 individual works of art, 20 special exhibits throughout the year and a full calendar of guided tours, lectures, films and more entices 500,000 people to visit the museum each year.

Featuring 7,500 works of art by both Israeli and international artists, the Haifa Museum of Art focuses on two main collections – the painting and sculpture collection and the contemporary graphics colection. The museum features a New Media Center that contains rich archives of the history of Israeli video. Another intriguing series of exhibitions invites prominent intellectuals and well-known individuals in the art world to select their personal favorites from the museum’s collections and to reflect on their choices in a written essay.

Finally, The Holon Design Museum is worth singling out. Located within the Mediatheque, a multifaceted cultural center that includes the largest public library in Israel, the Holon Design Museum aims to give visitors avenues through which to interact with the ideas, principles, processes and objects of design. The city of Holon aspires to be an international center for design, and the museum’s distinctive exhibitions and educational activities support this ambition.

Under construction now for several years in Jerusalem’s central, upscale and fashionable Mamilla neighborhood, the much-anticipated Waldorf Astoria is a major architectural project, being built inside the outer walls of the historic Palace Hotel. In a neighborhood which currently includes the top-tier Jerusalem accommodations of the King David Hotel, the Mamilla Hotel and the David’s Citadel Hotel, the Waldorf Astoria represents a fourth option for elite luxury hospitality with easy access to some of Jerusalem’s most visited sites. When completed, the hotel will have 223 plush rooms and suites furnished at the highest level of elegant luxury with which the Waldorf Astoria name is associated. Extensive guest services will include a spa, two restaurants, a lobby bar, swimming pool, gym, babysitting and a fully-equipped business center with secretarial services.

On Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim in the Judean hills, just seven miles outside of Jerusalem, the Isrotel chain is building the Cramim Resort & Spa. Plans include 156 guest rooms and suites, 24 private spa treatment rooms, a restaurant, gym, sauna, Jacuzzi, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a glass-enclosed solarium. The hotel will offer facilities for conferences and business meetings for up to 300 participants. Each standard room will have a queen-size bed, an extravagantly decorated bathroom, LCD television (hidden inside a mirror), Wi-Fi Internet access and a minibar.

Opening June 2013, Isrotel’s Royal Beach Hotel Tel Aviv is a 23-floor tower designed so that each room overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and its spectacular sunsets. The location is ideal for taking in Tel Aviv’s plethora of culture, food and entertainment options. The hotel has 230 guest rooms and suites at four levels of luxury for discriminating travelers. The fourth floor’s swimming pool was designed to make guests feel like they are on a cruise ship. The Royal Beach features a conference hall, WiFi, meeting rooms, a gym and an on-site restaurant, along with many more upscale guest services.

The newly opened Hotel Indigo Tel Aviv – Diamond Exchange is located in the midst of the architecturally eclectic Diamond Exchange District of Tel Aviv. A boutique hotel with spa-inspired bathrooms, the diamond theme is built into the hotel’s design. Blackstone, the hotel’s in-house French-Mediterranean bistro, is an ideal place to meet friends, family or business associates. Clarity Spa also operates on the premises. Guests can also enjoy Tel Aviv’s skyline from the rooftop pool.

According to tradition, this is also the location where the prophet Elijah passed on the prophetic tradition to his student Elisha and then ascended to heaven in a fiery chariot, as described in the book Kings II, Chapter 11. According to mystical Jewish tradition, the prophet Elijah never died, reappearing in various guises throughout history to assist people in need.

Qasr al Yahud is also the place where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus of Nazareth was baptized, it is therefore an extremely popular baptism site for Christian pilgrims from all over the world. Qasr al Yahud is widely considered to be the third most important Christian site in Israel – ranking only behind the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity. There are many contemporary and ancient Christian monasteries and churches surrounding the site, including ruins of Byzantine and Crusader-era churches. Their presence testifies to the long-standing significance of the location.

After having been closed to the public for 44 years, the site was refurbished by Israeli authorities and reopened in 2010. Under the care of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and open daily, Qasr al Yahud now includes a stone-lined pavilion, a wooden deck, marble steps that provide easy access to the Jordan River, railings leading into the water, bleachers for seating and changing rooms where pilgrims can shower following baptisms. The site can accommodate private cars and is wheelchair accessible. Water quality in the Jordan River is regularly monitored for safety.

Two precautions are important to mention. Visitors are urged to drink plenty of water at the site. There are shady spots built into the newly renovated location, but given its proximity to the Dead Sea, Qasr al Yahud is one of the lowest points on earth, and the heat can be intense. Visitors are also cautioned to take extra care when walking on the wooden deck, as it can become slippery when wet.

Located on the northern side of the Dead Sea, Mineral Beach is a private resort where locals and visitors from all over the world can spend a full day floating in the Dead Sea, relaxing and taking photos of themselves covered in natural mud. An evening concert at Mineral Beach’s 750-seat amphitheatre amidst the Judean Mountains is quite an experience.

The facilities at Mineral Beach offer several different areas to explore. Closest to the entrance are changing rooms, showers and lockers.

Nearby is a small cafeteria that serves simple, light meals such as sandwiches, salads, drinks and ice cream. If you forgot to bring water shoes, this is a good place to buy plastic sandals. Sunscreen, sunglasses and other essentials are available as well.

A few steps away is the covered pavilion with the sulfur water pool for which Mineral Beach is especially well-known. The sulfur pool is not intended for actual swimming, but rather for passive soaking and relaxing. Its distinctive smell takes a little getting used to, but the 102°F water that arrives directly from natural sulfur springs less than 600 yards south of Mineral Beach makes the experience a totally soothing one, also said to stimulate blood circulation. A freshwater pool nearby is suitable for small children.

After exiting the sulfur pool pavilion, a short walk brings you to the shore. The natural mud is found in bins near the shoreline. Cover yourself with the velvety black mud and enjoy its dermatological benefits. Dead Sea mud is said to improve and strengthen hair roots and renew skin cells.

Along the beach, plenty of plastic chairs, natural beach umbrellas and pull chain-operated freshwater showers are available for the comfort of visitors. A spa center on the premises offers an array of treatments and massages by prior arrangement.

The Children’s Museum in Holon features three especially popular experiential exhibits. The most well known is called Dialogue in the Dark, where visitors are guided through experiences of what it’s like to content with everyday tasks while completely blind. Invitation to Silence helps visitors to understand what it’s like to be deaf and to communicate entirely non-verbally. The newest exhibit in the series, Dialogue with Time, allows museum visitors experience growing older by undergoing simulated challenges that are common to individuals as they age.

The Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv offers no displays or documents. Instead, the museum employs immersive storytelling to convey the story of the Palmach, an elite striking force of the Hagana, an underground military organization that operated prior to the establishment of the State of Israel. Visitors tour the museum in groups and, primarily through films and three-dimensional displays, encounter stories of young men who fought for the establishment of the country.

The Begin Center museum in Jerusalem uses multimedia to tell the story of important chapters in the history of Israel through the life of Menachem Begin. Featuring reenactments, rare film footage, interactive touch-screen exhibits and presentations with surround-sound narration, the museum’s goal is to lend visitors the experience of pivotal events in the life of the controversial and significant Zionist figure, starting with his early years in Poland and concluding with his years as Prime Minister of the State of Israel.

The Bloomfield Science Museum, located on the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, specializes in interactive science and technology exhibits. As an educational institution, Bloomfield also develops a range of learning-oriented activities related to its hands-on exhibits. The museum’s goals include making science accessible to the curiosities of youth and the general public alike. One wing of the museum includes a space specially designed for preschool-aged visitors.

The Herzl Museum in Jerusalem shares the innovative, experiential approach of the Palmach and the Begin museums to tell the story of Theodor Herzl, the visionary who called for the establishment of a contemporary political Jewish state. Relying primarily on audio-visual material, the 60-minute guided tour of the Herzl Museum makes Herzl’s aspirations for the Jewish people, as well as his personal and professional disappointments, come alive.

Many of the young residents have suffered mental, physical and/or sexual abuse as children of mentally ill or drug and/or alcohol addicted parents. A significant percentage of the residents at Neve Michael are children from Ethiopia, who lost one or both parents while crossing the desert on their journey to Israel.

Visitors are encouraged to tour the Children’s Village and see the way young, broken lives are pieced together, one hug at a time. A special Bar and Bat Mitzvah twinning program encourages families from outside of Israel to make a meaningful connection with a child living at Neve Michael.

The Children’s Village at Neve Michael is a project of Emunah of America. The staff works hard to create a family-like atmosphere. Ten to 12 children live together in small, family-style units called Mishpachtonim (from the Hebrew word for family), with young, married couples whose mission is to model a healthy, functional family dynamic. Whenever possible, relationships between the children at Neve Michael and their natural parents and siblings are also encouraged.

Neve Michael offers an impressive array of services for the children who live there, including crisis and therapy centers, full day care services, an elementary school on the premises and more. The government of Israel gives Neve Michael about 60% of the funds necessary to provide these children with the care they need, including food, clothing, tuition and special psychological treatment. The balance comes from private donations.

In everything they do, the core mission of Neve Michael is to help their young residents break the cycle of violence, addiction and distress from which they come and to develop into normal healthy young adults. A tour and visit with the children of Neve Michael is a cheerful and uplifting demonstration of how children’s lives are being turned around with love, every single day.

According to a guide written by Yisrael Gliss, a Chabad Rabbi stationed in the Negev town of Dimona, there are no fewer than 267 gravesites of rabbinical sages that can be visited in Israel. Some of the most famous are in Tiberias, which, along with Jerusalem, Safed and Hebron, is considered one of the four holiest cities in Israel. While Tiberias was once the center of rabbinic study, it is hardly the only locale in Israel where the graves of sages are commonly visited, as influential and landmark rabbis from many eras of Jewish history have been buried all around the country. The tombs of Yonatan Ben-Uziel, Shimon Bar Yochai and the Sanhedrin make for especially compelling visits.

Among the most famous gravesites outside of Tiberias is that of Yonatan Ben-Uziel, who lived in the 1st century, around 2000 years ago. A leading student of the iconic sage Hillel, he is famous for having translated the Bible into Aramaic, the common language of his era. His burial place is housed inside a stone structure at the end of a path in the midst of a forest near the settlement of Amuka in the Galilee. It’s customary for single people to visit his gravesite to pray that they soon meet their life partners and also for the childless to come and pray for children. As is the case at many frequented graves of Jewish sages, men and women have separate prayer areas here. Expect to tap into a remarkably metaphysical atmosphere here, among sacred books and burning candles inside the stone building.

Another especially famous sage gravesite is that of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, 2nd century author of the mystical commentary on the Torah known as the Zohar. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is among the most well known of the kabbalists. His tomb is located on Mt. Meron near Safed. On Lag b’Omer in the spring, considered to be the anniversary of Bar Yochai’s passing, hundreds of thousands of visitors ascend to this site, but it can be visited year round.

If you’re looking for a holy gravesite that’s bit more off-the-beaten-path, in the Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Sanhedria lies a small park hidden behind a high stone wall. Within the park is a modest cemetery that contains the Tombs of the Sanhedrin. The graceful arched structure that was once there is gone, but the large burial cave contains approximately 120 graves. This corresponds to the 120 members of the ancient Sanhedrin, the highest judicial court during Temple times. The Tombs of the Sanhedrin is still a place where the faithful come to leave prayer notes.

On a rainy evening in 2008, there was a deadly car accident at the entrance to Mitzpe Jericho. Four young boys were killed in the accident, including two brothers, Shlomo and Yishai Kroizer, sons of the community’s rabbi. In memory of the four boys, an observation deck, scheduled to open in 2013, is being built at the top of what locals call “the givah,” the hill. Private cars will be able to drive up the snake-like path to the observation deck. When completed, it will feature a covered building surrounded by a lush garden. From there, it will be possible to take in stunning panoramic views of the Dead Sea, the ancient city of Jericho, the Jordan River and the surrounding Judean Desert for which the community of Mitzpe Jericho is well-known.

Nearby is the Nachal Prat nature reserve, also known as Wadi Kelt. Visitors to Nachal Prat can enjoy taking a dip in one of the naturally formed rock pools – or just soak in the plant and animal life in the nature reserve. The trails marked with red, blue and green provide varying levels of hiking experiences, including a trail suitable for all visitors in wheelchairs and strollers.

Although the actual volcano that is believed to have created the Golan Heights is long dormant, the Avital Volcanic Park allows visitors to visualize lava spewing forth from the rock here via a simulated volcanic eruption. Visitors can also follow a short hiking trail among the black basalt rocks created by the original volcano. To amuse the kids, and to nourish the child-like wonder in adults, bring a compass and watch it go wild as a result of the electromagnetic forces on the site. On Thursday evenings, visitors are welcome to take a free night walk to witness an unusual audio-visual illumination program that likewise mimics volcanic eruptions. It’s a stunning sound and light show that brightens up the night sky. Open seven days a week, the park is best experienced with a pre-arranged guide.

Once you’re in the area, stop in at the charming local coffee shop called Coffee Annan for a drink and a snack. Annan is the Hebrew word for “cloud,” and, true to its name, Coffee Annan is the coffee shop situated at the highest elevation in all of Israel. It’s also a play on words with the name Kofi Annan, the diplomat from Ghana who served as the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 until 2006.
The views in the Golan Heights are both stunning and eye-opening. In the same way that a picture is worth a thousand words, from this vantage point, you’ll be able to see into Lebanon and Syria, quickly coming to a deeper understanding of how close Israel’s neighbors really are. The view from the Golan Heights offers visitors an unambiguous perspective on the strategic importance of the site for Israel.