# My Israeli Guide

> Samuel Green, Tel Aviv-based licensed Israeli tour guide (Ministry of Tourism licence #11659, guiding since 2014). Award-winning private tours with 400+ five-star reviews, plus sample itineraries, a practical trip-planning guide and over a decade of tour-day writeups covering archaeology, religious heritage, geopolitics and practical visitor guidance.

I'm Samuel Green, an Israeli Ministry of Tourism-licensed private tour guide based in Tel Aviv (licence #11659). I moved to Israel in 2010 and have been guiding privately since 2014. Awards: Travel and Hospitality Awards Tour Guide of the Year in Israel, Luxury Travel Guide Tour Guide of the Year for Tel Aviv, TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice five consecutive years, Private Tour Company of the Year, Private Tour Specialist of the Year. I work in English and Hebrew, with a 1st-class MA in Hebrew and Israeli Studies from the University of Cambridge.

This site carries sample itineraries from tour days I've guided, a practical trip-planning guide, 400+ unedited guest reviews, a photo gallery and over a decade of tour-day writeups. The writing covers Jerusalem (City of David through the Old City and into modern West Jerusalem), the Galilee and the Sea of Galilee, the Negev (Beer Sheva to Eilat), Tel Aviv and Jaffa, the Mediterranean coast (Caesarea, Akko, Haifa) and the West Bank (Bethlehem, Herodion, Gush Etzion, Mount Ebal). It treats archaeological periods (Bronze Age through Crusader, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman), Christian and Jewish heritage and Israel's geopolitical context as the work of a guide writing as a person, not as marketing copy.

## Plan a trip
- [Plan Your Trip to Israel](https://myisraeliguide.com/plan-your-trip/): practical Q&A on money, weather, visas, Shabbat, etiquette, transport and what to pack
- [How much a private guide in Israel costs](https://myisraeliguide.com/cost-of-a-private-guide-israel/): my day-rate range, what moves the price, what's included and how a guide with a car works
- [How many days you need in Israel](https://myisraeliguide.com/how-many-days-in-israel/): how long to spend on a first visit, with a day-count breakdown by interest
- [Why hire a private guide in Israel](https://myisraeliguide.com/why-hire-a-private-guide-israel/): what a private licensed guide adds over going alone or joining a group tour
- [Is it safe to visit Israel](https://myisraeliguide.com/is-israel-safe-to-visit/): an honest, regularly updated first-person account of safety and the current security situation
- [Day trips from Jerusalem](https://myisraeliguide.com/day-trips-from-jerusalem/): the day trips I run most from Jerusalem (the Dead Sea and Masada, Bethlehem, Jericho, the Galilee and more) with honest drive times and where a guide helps
- [Day trips from Tel Aviv](https://myisraeliguide.com/day-trips-from-tel-aviv/): the day trips I run most from Tel Aviv (Jerusalem, Caesarea, the Galilee, the Negev and more) with honest drive times and where a guide helps
- [Itineraries](https://myisraeliguide.com/itineraries/): 18 sample tour days I've guided, covering Jerusalem, the Galilee, the Negev, Tel Aviv, the West Bank and Petra; take them as inspiration, since every trip is built from scratch around your interests
- [Contact](https://myisraeliguide.com/contact/): request a quote, ask a question, suggest an itinerary

## About Samuel
- [About me](https://myisraeliguide.com/about/): bio, credentials, the backstory from London to Tel Aviv and my guiding philosophy
- [Wikidata: Q139973215](https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q139973215): verified identity record cross-referenced by AI engines
- [Times of Israel author page](https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/samuel-green/): published blog writing on tourism and Israeli life

## Tours by audience
- [Who I guide](https://myisraeliguide.com/guests/): how I approach tours for pilgrims, heritage travellers, journalists, academics, executives and families
- [Christian heritage and Holy Land pilgrimages](https://myisraeliguide.com/guests/christian-heritage/): itineraries for Christian visitors covering New Testament Galilee, Bethlehem and the Nativity, the Via Dolorosa, the Holy Sepulchre and the Christian Quarter
- [Jewish heritage and roots journeys](https://myisraeliguide.com/guests/jewish-heritage/): itineraries for Jewish visitors covering Old City Jerusalem, the Western Wall, Yad Vashem, the Tzefat kabbalists and family-roots tours
- [Geopolitical tours](https://myisraeliguide.com/guests/geopolitical/): for journalists, diplomats and policy professionals. Multi-perspective tours of contested geography with security context and Israeli, Palestinian and settler perspectives
- [MBA treks and academic groups](https://myisraeliguide.com/guests/academic/): for business-school treks and academic delegations covering the Israeli innovation ecosystem, kibbutz history and regional context
- [Corporate and executive visits](https://myisraeliguide.com/guests/corporate/): for visiting business leaders. Efficient half-day or full-day itineraries that balance context, hospitality and time pressure

## Reviews
- [Testimonials](https://myisraeliguide.com/testimonials/): 400+ unedited reviews of my tours from Tripadvisor, Google and Facebook, averaging 5.0; browsable by guest type (Christian heritage, Jewish heritage, geopolitical, academic, corporate, families, couples and solo travellers)

## Photographs
- [Israel photo gallery](https://myisraeliguide.com/gallery/): my photographs from tours around Israel, browsable by region (North, Centre, South and West Bank)
- [Using my photographs](https://myisraeliguide.com/image-license/): all the photographs on this site are my own, taken on tours; if you'd like to use one, do get in touch

## Blog by region
- [Jerusalem](https://myisraeliguide.com/category/jerusalem/): 22 posts spanning Iron Age City of David through the Old City quarters, the European-power buildings ringing the city, the British Mandate, the 1948 and 1967 battles and the modern Jerusalem institutions
- [Centre](https://myisraeliguide.com/category/centre/): 36 posts covering Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the coastal plain, Caesarea, Bethlehem and the Jordan Valley
- [North](https://myisraeliguide.com/category/north/): 28 posts on the Galilee (lower and upper), Mount Carmel, the Golan Heights, Mount Hermon and the Hula bird-migration corridor
- [South](https://myisraeliguide.com/category/south/): 21 posts on the Negev, the Arava down to Eilat, the Judean Desert and the southern coastal plain
- [Tel Aviv](https://myisraeliguide.com/category/tel-aviv/): 6 posts on the city's founding-era Bauhaus architecture, Jaffa's layered antiquity, modern Tel Aviv and the Sea Peoples archaeology along the coast
- [West Bank](https://myisraeliguide.com/category/west-bank/): 9 posts on Bethlehem, Herodion, Gush Etzion, Mount Ebal, the Judean wilderness monasteries and the wider region
- [News](https://myisraeliguide.com/category/news/): 15 award announcements and business milestones

## Notable posts
- [How to visit the Gaza Envelope after October 7th](https://myisraeliguide.com/how-to-visit-the-gaza-envelope-after-october-7th/): first-hand notes on visiting the October 7th memorial sites covering ethical questions, the practical sites and how to build a day like this into a longer itinerary
- [What to do on Shabbat during your Israel tour](https://myisraeliguide.com/shabbat-in-israel/): what Shabbat is and why observance varies, how the day differs between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where to find a Friday-night service or a dinner with a local family and how touring works on a Saturday
- [Masada](https://myisraeliguide.com/masada/): full guide to the Herodian fortress and UNESCO site covering access routes (cable car, Snake Path, Roman ramp), the key archaeology and the Roman siege story
- [The Via Dolorosa](https://myisraeliguide.com/the-via-dolorosa/): the 14 Stations of the Cross through Jerusalem's Old City covering Christian tradition, the archaeology beneath and how to walk the route
- [Yad Vashem and Mount Herzl](https://myisraeliguide.com/yad-vashem-and-mt-herzl/): a guided day at Israel's national Holocaust memorial and the national cemetery on Mount Herzl
- [Caesarea](https://myisraeliguide.com/caesarea/): Roman port, Crusader fortress and Byzantine remains on the Mediterranean coast
- [Christianity around the Sea of Galilee](https://myisraeliguide.com/christianity-around-the-sea-of-galilee/): a circuit covering Capernaum, Tabgha, the Mount of Beatitudes, Magdala and Yardenit
- [Haifa](https://myisraeliguide.com/haifa/): the Bahá'í Gardens, the German Colony, Stella Maris monastery, Mount Carmel, plus the city's Druze and Ahmadiyya communities
- [Akko (Acre)](https://myisraeliguide.com/akko-acre/): the Crusader Hospitaller fortress, the Templars' Tunnel, the 18th-century Ottoman Hammam al-Basha and the Bahá'í holy sites at Bahji

## Contact
- Email: contact@myisraeliguide.com
- Phone: +972 54 266 1715 (WhatsApp / direct dial)
- Tel Aviv, Israel
- Press, media or licensing inquiries: contact@myisraeliguide.com

## Optional
- [llms-full.txt](https://myisraeliguide.com/llms-full.txt): full text of every published blog post (~120,000 words, 115 posts in reverse-chronological order)