The Galilee · Getting there

Getting to the Galilee

The railway reaches Karmiel, which is 38 minutes by bus from Safed's central station, and that gap is most of the argument about whether to hire a car in the Galilee.

Tim Borodin / Unsplash

Ben Gurion to Akko

1 hr 54

Nahariya train from beneath Terminal 3, no change, about every half hour through the day

Tel Aviv to Tiberias

2 hr 07

Egged 836 from level 7 of the central bus station, 37 departures northbound on a weekday

Karmiel station to Safed

38 min

Nateev Express 364 from the platforms outside the railway station, roughly every 20 minutes

Route 6, full length plus section 18

41.95 shekels

Car up to 4 tonnes at the casual rate, as published by Derech Eretz for journeys from 1 April 2026

Nobody flies into the Galilee. Scheduled arrivals land at Ben Gurion, an hour and a half south of the region by rail, and the railway that runs north from there stops short of almost everything a visitor comes for. Trains reach Akko and Nahariya on the coast, Karmiel in the hills behind them, and Afula and Beit She'an in the valley on the eastern line. Nazareth, Safed, Tiberias, Rosh Pina, the Hula and the Golan are all bus or car country.

That produces two quite different trips. The coastal end works without a car: a train from the airport puts you in Akko in under two hours, and the old city is a walk or one stop on a city bus from the platform. The hill country works badly without one. Buses to Safed, Kiryat Shmona and the lake are frequent enough on a weekday and then fall off a cliff on Friday afternoon, and the parks, wineries and trailheads that make the region worth the journey mostly sit at road junctions rather than in towns.

The routes below were built from the Ministry of Transport's published schedule data for the second week of August 2026, and the fares, cards and tour prices from the operators' own pages. Line numbers in Israel move: the Safed and Hatzor network was rewritten on 19 June 2026, and Egged's own reserved-seat page still lists a Tel Aviv to Kiryat Shmona line the ministry's current schedule does not carry. Check the number in the week you travel.

7 ways in

Every realistic way to reach The Galilee

Door to door, in the order you actually do it, with the catch stated rather than buried.

From	How	Time	Cost
Ben Gurion Airport	Train and bus	About 2 hours 30 door to door from the arrivals hall to the gate of Akko's old city, of which 1 hour 54 is on the train	n/a
Tel Aviv, for Safed and the Upper Galilee	Train and bus	About 3 hours to Safed's central bus station, plus 10 to 15 minutes down into the old quarter	n/a
Tel Aviv, for Tiberias and the lake	Intercity bus	2 hours 7 minutes scheduled, so about 2 hours 30 from a central Tel Aviv hotel to the Tiberias promenade	n/a
Jerusalem	Intercity bus	2 hours 4 minutes scheduled to Tiberias; about 3 hours 15 to Safed	n/a
Haifa	Intercity bus	45 minutes to Nazareth, 1 hour 35 to Safed, 1 hour 47 to Kiryat Shmona	n/a
Tel Aviv or Jerusalem	Organised tour	About 11 hours from Tel Aviv, about 13 from Jerusalem	From 360 shekels a person out of Tel Aviv, from 390 out of Jerusalem
Tel Aviv, by hire car	Car	About 2 hours 15 to Tiberias and 2 hours 45 to Safed in free traffic, and appreciably more if you leave the city between 07:00 and 09:00	41.95 shekels of toll for a car up to 4 tonnes at the casual rate, using five sections or more of Route 6 plus section 18

Ben Gurion Airport to The Galilee
Train and busAbout 2 hours 30 door to door from the arrivals hall to the gate of Akko's old city, of which 1 hour 54 is on the train
1. 1Clear arrivals in Terminal 3 and follow the signs down to the railway station beneath the terminal. If you land at Terminal 1, the free inter-terminal shuttle runs every 15 minutes, around the clock.
2. 2Buy a Rav-Kav or set up a payment app before you reach the platform. Egged's credit card validation pilot, which started on 11 January 2026, covers Eilat, Jerusalem and the Haifa area only.
3. 3Take a Nahariya train. The Modi'in Center to Nahariya service calls at the airport about every half hour through the middle of the day and needs no change at Haifa.
4. 4Stay on past Haifa Center, Merkazit HaMifratz and Kiryat Motzkin, and get off at Akko, 1 hour 54 after the airport on the Ministry of Transport's August 2026 schedule. Nahariya is ten minutes further.
5. 5From Akko station, walk the 1.5 km to the old city or take Nateev Express city line 4, which the timetable shows calling at the railway station and reaching the Old City stop six minutes later.
6. 6For the hills instead of the coast, change at Merkazit HaMifratz onto a Karmiel train or onto the intercity buses that leave from the terminal beside it.
The catch. No trains from Friday afternoon until Saturday evening. A Friday afternoon landing means a hire car, a taxi or a night near the airport, and the same is true of any flight that gets in after dark on Saturday if you were counting on a connecting bus.
Timetable and fares at iaa.gov.il →
Tel Aviv, for Safed and the Upper Galilee to The Galilee
Train and busAbout 3 hours to Safed's central bus station, plus 10 to 15 minutes down into the old quarter
1. 1Board at Tel Aviv Savidor Center, or at HaHagana ten minutes earlier, on a Karmiel train: the Beersheba to Karmiel service runs the full length of the coast.
2. 2Stay on through Hof HaCarmel, Haifa Center, Merkazit HaMifratz and Kiryat Motzkin. Ahihud is the last stop before the end of the line. Savidor to Karmiel is 1 hour 48 on the August 2026 schedule.
3. 3Walk out of Karmiel station to the bus platforms in front of it. The station opened in September 2017 next to the central bus station, and the two are about 150 metres apart.
4. 4Take Nateev Express 364 to Safed central bus station: 38 minutes, and roughly every 20 minutes on a weekday.
5. 5From the station it is a few hundred metres to the citadel park, and the old synagogue quarter is below that down stepped lanes.
The catch. Line 364 is a weekday service in effect. The ministry's schedule carried 102 departures on Thursday 6 August 2026, 9 on the Friday and 3 on the Saturday, and Safed itself shuts hard for Shabbat, so a Friday arrival needs to be an early one.
Timetable and fares at nateevexpress.com →
Tel Aviv, for Tiberias and the lake to The Galilee
Intercity bus2 hours 7 minutes scheduled, so about 2 hours 30 from a central Tel Aviv hotel to the Tiberias promenade
1. 1Get to the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station and go up to level 7. The intercity platforms are on that floor, and finding them in that building takes longer than it should.
2. 2Take Egged 836 to Tiberias. The ministry's schedule for 11 August 2026 shows 37 northbound departures through the day.
3. 3The bus runs the coast road to the Elyakim interchange, crosses to Route 70 past Yokneam, then Route 77 through the Ishai and HaMovil interchanges.
4. 4It climbs over Golani junction and drops past Poriya junction into Tiberias, ending at the central bus station above the lake.
5. 5For Safed instead, the 846 runs the same road as far as Karmiel and then Route 85 and Route 89 through Meron, but only once or twice a day.
The catch. The 836 is a coach on a two-lane road for its second half, and afternoon traffic on Route 77 adds to it. Departures across both directions dropped from 73 on Thursday 6 August 2026 to 37 on the Friday and 25 on the Saturday.
Timetable and fares at bus.gov.il →
Jerusalem to The Galilee
Intercity bus2 hours 4 minutes scheduled to Tiberias; about 3 hours 15 to Safed
1. 1For Tiberias, use the Jerusalem Central Bus Station and go up to the level 3 platforms. Egged runs two lines from there: the 962, scheduled at 2 hours 4 minutes and running 20 times on 11 August 2026, and the 961, which takes the Beit She'an and Jordan valley road instead and takes longer.
2. 2Both are on Egged's own list of wheelchair-accessible intercity lines, which means a space has to be reserved in advance for a wheelchair.
3. 3For Safed, the departure point is different: Nateev Express 982 leaves from the Ha'Arazim transport centre, not the central bus station, and runs to Safed in about 3 hours 15.
4. 4From Tiberias, onward buses to the lake's northern shore, Rosh Pina and Kiryat Shmona leave from the same central bus station you arrive at.
The catch. The 982 to Safed ran six times in the day on 11 August 2026. Miss the last one and the fallback is Tiberias plus a change, which turns a long afternoon into an evening. Check which Jerusalem terminal your line uses before you set out.
Timetable and fares at egged.co.il →
Haifa to The Galilee
Intercity bus45 minutes to Nazareth, 1 hour 35 to Safed, 1 hour 47 to Kiryat Shmona
1. 1Get to Merkazit HaMifratz at the north end of Haifa bay, where the coastal railway station and the intercity bus terminal sit together.
2. 2For Nazareth, take GB Tours 339 to Paulus VI Street: 45 minutes, and 24 departures on a weekday. The 331 covers the same city from central Haifa instead, near the Lin Medical Centre.
3. 3For Safed, take Nateev Express 361: 1 hour 35 to the central bus station.
4. 4For the Hula and the far north, take Egged 500, which runs through Karmiel and Rosh Pina to Kiryat Shmona in 1 hour 47 and is on Egged's accessible intercity list.
5. 5For Karmiel alone, the train from the same interchange is quicker than the bus.
The catch. Nazareth keeps running at the weekend and the rest does not. Line 331 carried 42 departures on Saturday 8 August 2026, while the Safed and Kiryat Shmona lines were down to a handful.
Timetable and fares at nateevexpress.com →
Tel Aviv or Jerusalem to The Galilee
Organised tourAbout 11 hours from Tel Aviv, about 13 from Jerusalem
1. 1Book ahead: Abraham Tours runs its Galilee day tour every Monday and Thursday, from both cities.
2. 2The Tel Aviv departure leaves at 07:15 and is back about 18:00. The Jerusalem one leaves at 06:00 and returns about 19:00.
3. 3The route is the Christian circuit: Nazareth's Church of the Annunciation and Church of St Joseph, Cana, the Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Tabgha, Tiberias, the Yardenit baptismal site, with Megiddo and Mount Tabor on the way.
4. 4Transport, a guide and entrance fees are included; food and drink are not.
The catch. Two days a week, and one shape of day. This is the Lower Galilee and the lake, not Safed, the Hula or the Golan, and there is no stopping to walk. If the hill country is what you came for, this is not the way to see it.
Timetable and fares at abrahamtours.com →
Tel Aviv, by hire car to The Galilee
CarAbout 2 hours 15 to Tiberias and 2 hours 45 to Safed in free traffic, and appreciably more if you leave the city between 07:00 and 09:00
1. 1Leave Tel Aviv on Route 2 up the coast or on Route 6, the toll road, which is faster and empties the Gush Dan traffic sooner.
2. 2Route 6 is billed by number plate rather than at a booth. Non-subscribers pay 24.20 shekels for up to three sections and 34.21 for five or more, with section 18 between the Iron interchange and Ein Tut charged separately at 16.93.
3. 3Come off at the Elyakim interchange onto Route 70, run north past Yokneam, then take Route 77 east from the Ishai interchange.
4. 4For Tiberias and the lake, stay on Route 77 over Golani junction and down past Poriya junction.
5. 5For Safed and the Upper Galilee, leave Route 77 for Route 85 through Karmiel, then Route 89 at Hananya junction and up through Meron.
6. 6Park before the old quarters rather than in them. Both Safed's old city and Akko's are stepped or walled, and neither rewards a driver looking for a space at eleven in the morning.
The catch. The toll is billed to the vehicle's registered owner, so a hire car means the rental company charges it on later, usually with a fee of its own. North of the motorway the roads are single carriageway through villages, and journey times stretch accordingly.
Timetable and fares at kvish6.co.il →

The car question

What a hire car buys here, and what it costs

A car is worth it in the Galilee for a reason that has nothing to do with comfort: the region's interest is spread thin. Mount Meron, the Hula, the Golan vineyards, the Jesus Trail's middle sections and half the Israel Nature and Parks Authority sites sit on junctions along two-lane roads, served by buses that pass a few times a day and stop at the junction rather than the gate. With a car, a day covers three of them. Without one, a day covers one, and the other five hours are spent waiting.

The exceptions are real, though, and they are the places most visitors go first. Akko is a railway station with a walled city 1.5 km from it. Nazareth is 45 minutes from the Haifa bay interchange on a bus that runs about two dozen times a day, and its other Haifa line keeps running on Saturday. Tiberias has a direct Egged coach from Tel Aviv scheduled at 2 hours 7 minutes. A trip built around those three needs no car at all.

Driving north from Tel Aviv means a choice between the coast road and the toll road. Derech Eretz publishes the Route 6 tariff in full: for a car up to 4 tonnes, a non-subscriber pays 24.20 shekels for up to three sections, 34.21 for five sections or more, and 41.95 for five or more plus section 18, the separately billed stretch between the Iron interchange and Ein Tut. Subscribers pay less, and there is no toll booth to stop at: the road photographs the plate and bills the registered owner, which on a hire car means the rental company bills you afterwards.

North of the motorway the roads narrow. The published bus route to Safed gives the driving line as well as any map: Route 70 past Yokneam, Route 77 east from the Ishai interchange, then Route 85 through Karmiel to Hananya junction and Route 89 through Meron. For Tiberias it is Route 77 the whole way over Golani junction. These are single-carriageway roads through villages, and the time they take is set by the tractor in front rather than by the distance. One genuine consolation: Saturday is the easiest driving day of the week in the Jewish half of the region, because everything else has stopped.

Paying

The Rav-Kav, the app, and why no operator will quote you a fare

Israeli public transport runs on the Rav-Kav, a smartcard you load with money or with a travel contract and validate on board. Egged describes it as reloadable, personal and non-transferable, carrying the holder's name and photograph; Nateev Express, which runs most of the western and upper Galilee, says the card stays valid for eight years from issue. Anonymous and semi-anonymous versions exist for people who do not want a card with their face on it, and a visitor with no Israeli identity document will end up with one of those.

Getting hold of one in the north means office hours. Nateev Express publishes its counter times: Safed, on Independence Street at the central bus station, Sunday to Thursday 08:00 to 18:00 and Friday 08:00 to 12:00; Karmiel, at 100 Nesi'ei Yisrael Boulevard, Sunday to Thursday 08:00 to 16:00 and Friday 08:00 to 14:00; Akko, at the central station on HaArba'a Street, Sunday to Thursday 07:00 to 17:00 and Friday 07:00 to 14:00. All of them close for a lunch break. Buying the card at the airport or in Tel Aviv before heading north avoids the whole problem.

Paying with a phone is possible, and paying with a bank card is now possible in some places but not here. Egged began a credit card validation pilot on 11 January 2026 in Eilat and on 18 January 2026 in Jerusalem and the Haifa metropolitan area, taking physical cards and Apple or Google Pay at the validator. The Galilee is not in that list. North of Haifa, assume a Rav-Kav or a payment app.

No operator publishes a fare table for its own lines. Egged's passenger FAQ answers the question "how can I find out the fare for my journey" by pointing at the Ministry of Transport, which sets fares nationally, and the ministry's own journey planner at bus.gov.il, with the information line on *8787, is where a fare for a specific journey comes from. That is why the routes below carry times and line numbers but, mostly, no price.

The weekend

The Friday cliff, and the towns that ignore it

Intercity public transport in Israel thins out through Friday and mostly stops until Saturday evening, and in the Galilee the effect is severe rather than inconvenient. Take the busiest link in the region, Nateev Express line 364 between Karmiel railway station and Safed: the ministry's schedule carried 102 departures across both directions on Thursday 6 August 2026, 9 on the Friday and 3 on the Saturday. Egged's 836 between Tel Aviv and Tiberias went from 73 to 37 to 25 over the same three days. The trains stop too, and the national schedule for that Saturday shows nothing running until the evening.

The Galilee's saving grace is that it does not keep one weekend. Nazareth's buses barely notice Shabbat: line 331 between Haifa and Nazareth, run by GB Tours, carried 63 departures on the Thursday, 52 on the Friday and 42 on the Saturday. The Arab towns of the western Galilee work on the same rhythm. What closes on Saturday is Safed, Tiberias, Karmiel and the road out of them; what closes on Sunday, in a different set of towns, is the church.

The practical consequences are worth spelling out. An arrival at Ben Gurion on a Friday afternoon is not a travel day: the train has stopped, and the answer is a hire car, a taxi or a night near the airport. A Friday morning arrival works if you move immediately. A Saturday spent in Safed without a car is a Saturday spent in Safed. Book the long legs for Sunday to Thursday and keep the weekend for whichever town has decided to stay open.

Once you arrive

Where the trains, the coaches and the local buses actually meet

Three interchanges do most of the work. Merkazit HaMifratz, at the north end of Haifa bay, puts a coastal railway station and the intercity bus terminal side by side: the Nazareth buses, the Safed 361, and Egged's 500 to Kiryat Shmona by way of Karmiel and Rosh Pina all leave from there. Karmiel is the second: the railway station opened on 20 September 2017 beside the central bus station, and the two are about 150 metres apart, which is what makes the train-and-bus run to Safed work. Tiberias central bus station is the third, standing above the lake with the promenade downhill from it.

Local buses cover shorter gaps than most visitors expect. In Akko, Nateev Express city line 4 calls at the railway station and reaches the Old City stop six minutes later, roughly 50 times a day, which is the alternative to the 1.5 km walk with luggage. In Safed the central bus station sits a few hundred metres above the citadel park, and the old quarter falls away below that in stepped lanes: short in metres, slow on wheels or with a suitcase.

Line numbers here are not stable, and this is the thing that ruins a plan made three months out. The Ministry of Transport and Nateev Express rewrote the Safed and Hatzor HaGlilit network on Friday 19 June 2026: lines 511 and 522 were rerouted through the Ziv Hospital stop, lines 22 and 23 changed course, a new line 21 appeared between Nof Kinneret and Rosh Pina, and lines 55 and 73 were withdrawn altogether. Egged's own reserved-seat page still advertises line 800 from Tel Aviv to Kiryat Shmona; the ministry's August 2026 schedule runs that corridor as 845 northbound and 840 southbound. Both statements are published by their operators. Only one of them will get you on a bus.

For the last few kilometres to a park gate or a trailhead there is often nothing. Reserve a taxi through the hotel, or accept that some of the Galilee is a driving destination and plan the walking days around the towns that buses reach.

A road climbing between cypress trees in the Galilee hills

Practical

What to know before you go

Buy the Rav-Kav at the airport or in Tel Aviv. The Nateev Express counters in Safed, Karmiel and Akko keep office hours, break for lunch and close by early afternoon on Friday.
Check the line number in the week you travel. The Safed and Hatzor network changed on 19 June 2026, and the corridor Egged still lists as line 800 runs in the ministry's schedule as 845 and 840.
Land on a Thursday or a Sunday if you can. A Friday afternoon arrival at Ben Gurion is a day lost to a hire car or a hotel near the airport.
Allow twenty minutes to find your platform at the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station. The northern coaches go from level 7 and the building does not explain itself.
At Akko station, decide before you walk out: the old city is 1.5 km away, or six minutes on city line 4 from the stop outside.
If you are driving, use Saturday for the long legs. Roads are empty, and the Jewish towns you would have wanted to walk around are closed anyway.
Do not plan a Galilee itinerary around a single base without a car. Public transport radiates from Haifa, Karmiel and Tiberias, and crossing between spokes usually means going back to the hub.

Tim Borodin / Unsplash

The figures

Numbers behind this page

Each figure carries the year it belongs to and links the source it came from.

Measure	Figure	As of	Source
Line 364 departures, Karmiel station to Safed and back	102 on Thursday, 9 on Friday, 3 on Saturday	6-8 August 2026	open-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Line 331 departures, Haifa to Nazareth and back, on a Saturday	42	8 August 2026	open-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Ben Gurion Airport to Akko by train	1 hour 54 minutes	11 August 2026	open-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Route 6 toll, car up to 4 tonnes, casual rate	24.20 to 41.95 shekels	journeys from 1 April 2026	kvish6.co.il
Galilee day tour from Tel Aviv	From 360 shekels a person	August 2026	abrahamtours.com
Galilee day tour from Jerusalem	From 390 shekels a person	August 2026	abrahamtours.com
Rav-Kav validity	8 years from issue	2026	nateevexpress.com
Karmiel railway station opened	20 September 2017	2017	en.wikipedia.org

The rest of the The Galilee guide

Things to do in The Galilee →Where to eat in The Galilee →Where to stay in The Galilee →The best time to visit The Galilee →

Sources and further reading

Every link below was opened and checked when this page was written. Official statements are marked as such: they are the subject's own account, not an independent one.

OfficialIsrael Airports Authorityiaa.gov.il
Ben Gurion Airport: getting here by train, bus, shuttle and taxi
Airport rail and bus arrangements, the free inter-terminal shuttle and the ministry's public transport information line
OfficialEggedegged.co.il
Rav-Kav and payment apps
What the Rav-Kav is, the personal and anonymous versions, and the credit card validation pilot dates for Eilat, Jerusalem and Haifa
OfficialEggedegged.co.il
Passenger FAQ, including the list of wheelchair-accessible intercity lines
Source for lines 430, 500, 961 and 962 and for the statement that fares come from the Ministry of Transport
OfficialEggedegged.co.il
Information about reserved seats, with the list of bookable lines
The page that still lists line 800 from Tel Aviv to Kiryat Shmona
OfficialNateev Express and the National Public Transport Authoritynateevexpress.com
Upgrade to public transport in the Safed and Hatzor HaGlilit area, from 19 June 2026
New line 21, rerouted 511, 522, 22 and 23, and the withdrawal of lines 55 and 73
OfficialNateev Expressnateevexpress.com
Rav-Kav service points and opening hours
Counter addresses and hours in Safed, Karmiel, Akko and elsewhere, and the eight-year card validity
OfficialNateev Expressnateevexpress.com
Timetable search by line
Operator timetables for lines 361, 364 and 982
OfficialMinistry of Transport, National Public Transport Authoritybus.gov.il
National public transport journey planner
The planner that returns fares and departures for a specific journey across all operators
OfficialDerech Eretz Highwayskvish6.co.il
Route 6 travel tariffs, valid for journeys from 1 April 2026
Toll rates by vehicle type, section count and customer type, and how section 18 is billed
OfficialAbraham Toursabrahamtours.com
Galilee tour: Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee, from Tel Aviv
Price, departure time, days of the week and itinerary
OfficialAbraham Toursabrahamtours.com
Galilee tour: Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee, from Jerusalem
Price, 06:00 departure and the hour by hour itinerary
DataThe Public Knowledge Workshopopen-bus-stride-api.hasadna.org.il
Open Bus Stride API: Ministry of Transport GTFS routes, rides and stops
The published schedule data behind every line number, journey time and departure count on this page
ReferenceWikipediaen.wikipedia.org
Karmiel railway station
Opening date of 20 September 2017 and the station's position beside the central bus station off Highway 85

Getting to the Galilee: common questions

Do I need a car in the Galilee?+

For the coast and the three big towns, no; for everything else, effectively yes. Akko, Nazareth and Tiberias are all reachable by train or by a single intercity bus, and Safed is reachable with one change at Karmiel. The parks, wineries, viewpoints and trailheads that fill the space between them sit on junctions served a few times a day, which is what turns a driving day into a waiting day.

Can I get from Ben Gurion Airport to the Galilee without a car?+

Yes, by train, as far as the coast. The Modi'in Center to Nahariya service calls at the station beneath Terminal 3 about every half hour through the day and reaches Akko in 1 hour 54 without a change. For the hills, change at Merkazit HaMifratz in Haifa bay onto a Karmiel train or onto the intercity buses that leave from the terminal beside it.

Is there a train to Tiberias, Safed or Nazareth?+

No. The nearest stations are Karmiel for Safed, which is 38 minutes away on Nateev Express 364, and Merkazit HaMifratz for Nazareth, which is 45 minutes away on GB Tours 339. Tiberias has no station at all and is served by Egged coaches from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa.

What happens on Shabbat?+

Intercity trains and most buses stop from Friday afternoon until Saturday evening. On the Karmiel to Safed line the ministry's schedule fell from 102 departures on Thursday 6 August 2026 to 9 on the Friday and 3 on the Saturday, and the national rail schedule for that Saturday showed nothing before the evening. Nazareth is the exception: its buses run all weekend.

How do I pay for buses and trains?+

With a Rav-Kav smartcard or a payment app, not with cash or a bank card. Egged began accepting credit cards and phone wallets at the validator in January 2026, but only in Eilat, Jerusalem and the Haifa metropolitan area. Buy the card before you go north, because the counters in Safed, Karmiel and Akko keep office hours and close early on Friday.

How much is the bus or the train?+

No operator publishes a fare table, because fares are set nationally by the Ministry of Transport rather than by the bus companies. Egged's own FAQ answers the question by pointing at the ministry. Use the ministry's journey planner at bus.gov.il, or the information line on *8787, to get the fare for a specific journey.

Can I do the Galilee as a day trip from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem?+

Yes, but you will see the Lower Galilee and the lake rather than the region. Abraham Tours runs a Nazareth and Sea of Galilee day tour every Monday and Thursday, from 360 shekels a person out of Tel Aviv and from 390 out of Jerusalem, leaving at 07:15 and 06:00 respectively. Doing it yourself on the 836 to Tiberias and back is also a long but ordinary day.

How far is Akko's old city from the railway station?+

About 1.5 km, or six minutes on the bus. Nateev Express city line 4 calls at the railway station and reaches the Old City stop six minutes later, roughly 50 times a day. The walk is flat but unshaded and unpleasant with luggage in summer.

Are the bus numbers on this page reliable?+

They were correct in the Ministry of Transport's published schedule for the second week of August 2026, and each route says where its number came from. They are not permanent. The Safed and Hatzor HaGlilit network was rewritten on 19 June 2026, when lines 55 and 73 were withdrawn and a new line 21 appeared, and Egged's own reserved-seat page still lists a line number the ministry's schedule does not run.

Is it worth hiring the car at the airport or in the north?+

At the airport, if you are heading straight for the hills, because the alternative is a train and then a hire desk in a town where the office keeps short Friday hours. Picking one up later makes sense if you plan to spend the first days in Akko, Nazareth or Tiberias, where a car is a parking problem rather than an asset. Either way, budget for the Route 6 toll, which the rental company will bill on after the trip.