is an extremely diverse country and while the major cities are wonderful in their own right, if you really want to experience the country, you need to rent a car. In Israel, you will find that the best places to visit are off of the beaten and path simply require a car.
That's pretty much the case wherever you may want to go in the Golan heights. The area is a lush, sparsely populated space with beautiful nature reserves and parks. It sports a diverse choice of things to do, from Druse villages where you will be welcomed with open arms to Mount Hermon, where you can go skiing, to Banias, a place of beauty and also of religious significance for Christians.
Fortunately, if you want to rent a car in Israel, one of the best car rental agencies is available in Tiberias, right near the cross over into the Golan Heights. Car Rental Israel (www.carrentalisrael.com) is the local Avis representative in Tiberias and Israel. They offer the newest fleet in the country, the cheapest car rental rates and you can return your car elsewhere in the country (i.e. if you rent at Avis Tiberias, you can then return the car at Avis Jerusalem). Car Rental Israel also has no cancellation fees and no credit car requirements.
However, if you rented your car in Jerusalem and would like to head north to the Golan or Tiberias, you should be aware that while there may be shortcut routes to the Golan from Jerusalem, you may not be able to take your rental car there since these routes run through the Palestinian Authority, where most rental agencies will not let you take a car. Therefore, you're likely to need to take a longer route using either the coastal highway or route 6, the Trans Israel Highway (note that route 6 is a toll road and your rental agency will assess the fees to you when you return your rental car upon completion of your Israeli vacation.).
Start your visit to the Golan by paying a visit to the ski resort on Mount Hermon. It is open for most of the winter and provides fantastic vistas and wonderful mountains for skiing. The mountain is 2,814 meters high (around 9145.5 feet) and also offers the option of snowboarding or just enjoying the snow. During the summer, when the snow melts, the mountain is home to an incredible array of flowers not seen anywhere else in the country.
Another site not to be missed (and another place in Israel you need a rental car to get to) is the Banias nature reserve and ancient Caesarea Philippi. Besides having some of the most breathtaking water falls in Israel, the area is also religiously significant for Christians visiting the Holy Land since this is said to be the place where Jesus demanded, “Who do men say that I am?” (Mark 8:28).
The Druse are another not to be missed experience in Israel. Car rentals are the only way to get to their villages, as bus service tends to be irregular or non existent. The Druse are a tiny religious sect who live in harmony with the rest of the country and are famous for their extreme hospitality. If you ask politely, you will likely be invited into a Druse home for a feast of sweet coffee, pastries and possibly even a complete meal. In fact, some Druse villages have taken it upon themselves to make a complete tourist experience in their villages by offering a guest house and hospitality tent where you can enjoy Druse food and delicacies whenever you like. A couple of such villages are Usfiya and Daliat El-Carmel.
Steven Jones is a travel agent and tour guide in Israel. He has been conducting tours of the Holy Land for years and is a big fan of Car Rental Israel, where he tells all his clients to go.
