Planning Your Time

It's possible to get a feeling for this region in a few days, but you can expand your trip to include some highlights of the Upper Galilee and the Golan including Tzfat (Safed). Tiberias, with its many accommodations, and the Sea of Galilee region are good bases for exploring archaeological sites—Beit She'an is impressive—as well as sites associated with the ministry of Jesus. Nazareth is worth a trip, either from Tiberias or en route to other areas. The Galilee is a low-key area with some lovely national parks and natural sites, including Mount Tabor, if you choose to linger.

Ein Gev, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, has an Israeli-music festival in the spring. Beit She'an revives its ancient Roman theater for a short series of events in October. In May and December, Jacob's Ladder, the twice-annual folk festival held in Nof Ginosar on the Sea of Galilee, presents traditional folk and country music of the British Isles and North America.