Most helpful in finding best sights, best walking tours and best restaurants and the cost of meals

Frommer's Israel was useful to have in hand. Background history and
archeological sites were well-explained, and there are lots of human
interest boxes that added to our understanding of ancient sites as
wells as major cities. In practical terms, we liked a handy 2 page
spread filled with excellent street food and cheap meal suggestions
for Jerusalem's busy downtown district, where wall to wall eateries
can be a confusing maze ( In some cases choices were no-name holes in
the wall). The book also clued us in to terrific "business lunch"
deals (til 5 or 6pm) at wonderful restaurants. The Frommer's people
clearly love the place and packed the book with a wide range of
suggestions for all kinds of travelers and their interests, including
young kids.

Another Amazon reviewer thought Israel's great Aroma coffee
shops weren't mentioned. But actually, we found Aroma among the tons
of cafes and eateries in the center of Jerusalem because Frommer's
praised it in a special box on Best Coffee Places (two downtown
branches for Aroma in Jerusalem, as well as a number of other great
local coffee cafes are on page 139). Initially, we wondered why
Frommer's listed no Starbucks -- it's almost un-American to omit
them, but apparently, they don't exist in Israel. One minus: Map
bullets showing some restaurant locations were not clear for the tiny
maze of downtown Jerusalem streets, but in the end, we found what we
were looking for.

My wife and I spent three nights at the Notre Dame Guest House in Jerusalem last fall. Notre Dame was especially recommended by the author of Frommer's Israel, who was very generous with his time and suggestions when we contacted him for advice. Contrary to the reviewer from Washington State we enjoyed our stay. The personnel was courteous and helpful, the food was good (including the espresso coffee), the surroundings and our room were nice, the price was reasonable, and we saw or heard nothing to make us feel unsafe at any time.
As to another reviewer's complaint that "no mention is given for coffee lovers of the great Israeli chain CAFÉ AROMA", this café is nicely described in page 139 of the book.
Not having read most of the book (away from Jerusalem we stayed with and were shown around by Israeli relatives) I hesitate to give it a five star rating. But what I read was helpful,

I recently returned from Israel and Petra and used this book extensively (in addition to an old Lonley Planet for Jerusalem and Eye Witness for historical perspectives). By in large, it was a mediocre guide book especially if you were to compare it to the Rick Steves series for Europe. The background information for sites were thorough enough. However, with a copyright of 2007, please be cautioned that some information may not be current (ie. incorrect websites for hotels). The maps were clumsy with enlargements oriented differently from the orginal map to fit the layout of the page. Also, the items on the map did not always match the highlighted site. For example, in the section for hotels in the Old City, hotels that were discussed in the text did not always correspond to what was illustrated on the map. I love ruins and used the Lost Ancient Cities section to pick the 2 ruins I would visit. Ziporri and Caesarea were the top two with similar commentary. Ziporri turned out to be a waste of time. We drove for over 2 hours from Tel Aviv to find ruins where we were nearly the only visitors and the highlight was a floor mosaic of the "Mona Lisa of the Galilee." Caesarea on the other hand, was amazing and reminded me of a smaller version of Pompei situated along the beach. It would have been immensely helpful if the guide book had made that distinction. The Petra section was mildly helpful. I would like to have known that there were only private guides at the Visitor Center and the types of tours provide, length of time, and cost. Whereas, it was interesting, but not helpful, to know how much locals were charged to enter the park versus visitors which is what was mentioned in the book. All in all, I would recommend this book simply because it is the "most updated" one on the shelves. However, I would caution readers to also consult other sources during your course of planning and travel.

I really enjoyed using this Frommer's guide. It is broken down very well and does have a good "insider" view on what things to look for and do in Israel. The information is very useful and most importantly you can trust it. Enjoy Israel!

I work in a Jewish bookstore and also have traveled to Israel at least once a year since 2002 and less often before that. So last year I was happy to see that Fodor and Frommer had published new books on Israel. I bought the Frommer's book this summer as it seemed to have more details, but when I started to read it on the plane, I saw that much of the information was out-of-date. I totally agree with the other Washington State reviewer, Autumn Sheridan. For example, no mention is given for coffee lovers of the great Israeli chain CAFE AROMA, but Starbucks in mentioned although it closed down years ago. The information on car rentals is also out-of-date, especially the prices. The book says to be sure to rent a car with airconditioning, but it has been many many years since one could rent a car without it. This book may be OK for one who has never been to Israel and/or is coming on a group tour, but the authors really should have been more professional about the updating of the information.

I thought that the Frommer's Guide to Israel is terrific. It gave wonderful details of sights to see, hotels to stay in, and restaurants to eat in. I highly recommend it for both the first time tourist and for those who have visited Israel for a number of times. Personally, I have visited Israel for four times, and I found the book extremely up-to-date, accurate, and honest. My wife and I visited Israel during December 2006.
Richard Klein

I could not disagree more with the two previous reviews. I travelled to Israel in October-November 2006 for my eighth visit, just before this book came out (unfortunately). The Fodor's guide was woefully inadequate when it comes to restaurant and hotel recommendations. I want more than "two per city" -- I want a range of choices, and Frommer's gives me that. "Let's Go" isn't bad, but it is decidedly aimed at the backpacking and very-low-budget set. That is an important group, and I'm glad there is a good guide for them, but a range of guides exists to serve different groups with different budgets, needs, and interests.

Things change rapidly in Israel, and it may be that some of the information is not current. But I know the country well, and I find most of Robert Ullian's information dead-on and accurate. In my view, the Frommer's guide is hands-down the best and most comprehensive one available today.

This is probably the worst tour book I have ever had the misfortune of traveling with. It was published in 2006, but has obviously not been updated in years, many of the places they recomend are no longer there. On page 268 they recomend Hamashbir Lazarchan on Allenby Street, went out of our way to go there to get a better pillow for my sister, and it wasn't there and when we asked our concierge he told us it hadn't been on Allenby for ten years it was in Dizengoff Square (which was a couple blocks from our Hotel the Cinema Hotel-a great place). The Book recomends a shop off of Dizengoff called Dervish (p 268)supposedly they carried museum quality items, but now it is overrun with cats and poor quality imports. It was a huge waste of time to read and take Frommer's recomendations. They also recomend the Notre Dame Guest house in Jerusalem, they have obviously not been there to feel safe sleeping we had to pull the dresser in front of the door. I have stayed at safer feeling $20 a night hotels. I wouldn't waste my money on this book, we got a locally published guide once we got to Israel, do some internet research and buy a locally written guide when you get there, it's better than being stuck in a foreign country without current information or maps to get around.

This is probably the worst tour book I have ever had the misfortune of traveling with. It was published in 2006, but has obviously not been updated in years, many of the places they recomend are no longer there. On page 268 they recomend Hamashbir Lazarchan on Allenby Street, went out of our way to go there to get a better pillow for my sister, and it wasn't there and when we asked our concierge he told us it hadn't been on Allenby for ten years it was in Dizengoff Square (which was a couple blocks from our Hotel the Cinema Hotel-a great place). The Book recomends a shop off of Dizengoff called Dervish (p 268)supposedly they carried museum quality items, but now it is overrun with cats and poor quality imports. It was a huge waste of time to read and take Frommer's recomendations. They also recomend the Notre Dame Guest house in Jerusalem, they have obviously not been there to feel safe sleeping we had to pull the dresser in front of the door. I have stayed at safer feeling $20 a night hotels. I wouldn't waste my money on this book, we got a locally published guide once we got to Israel, do some internet research and buy a locally written guide when you get there, it's better than being stuck in a foreign country without current information or maps to get around.