By plane
Israel's main entry point for the international traveller, the newly built Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion International Airport TLV (http://www.iaa.gov.il/Ras...), named after Israel's first Prime Minister, is situated near Lod and next to the highway linking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem highway no. 1.The airport, referred to by locals as Natbag - its initials in Hebrew - comprises all the usual amenities expected from a first class airport and contains one of the world's largest duty-free shopping malls for an airport of its size. Ben Gurion Airport acts as the base for El Al (http://www.elal.co.il/), Israel's national airline, and is also served by over 50 international air carriers. Travel from the airport to the centre of Jerusalem takes 40-50 minutes and depending on traffic conditions often more. It is advisable to budget at least an additional 2 hours on top of your pre-flight check-in time to ensure timely arrival and completion of security procedures.
Security is extremely stringent at Ben-Gurion Airport, and is especially suspicious of travelers with Muslim names or visas from Islamic countries in their passports. Expect to be stopped and questioned for several hours if this is the case, both on the way in and on the way out. It would be wise to have some phone numbers of local contacts for security officials to call to verify your reasons for visiting. The airport prides itself in being one of the most secure in the world. It achieves this through a number of means. The most evident for travelers will be the pre-check-in security check. optional, should you go through it, you will be escorted to skip regular security check. On joining the queue for this security check, a security official will ask you several questions. Based on these and what appears to be racial profiling and a brief inspection of your passport, you will be assigned a number from 1 to 6. 1 signifies the lowest security concern and 6 the highest. Foreigners will typically get between a 3 and a 6. Age, appearance, stamps from Arab countries, evidence of visits to the Palestinian territory and other vague factors will be taken into account. Depending on the number you get stuck on your passport and luggage, the security check is more or less thorough. Travelers who have visited the Palestinian territory will almost certainly receive a 5 or 6 but there is no need for this; you can get 5 if you have never been to Israel before, and are of European descent. With a 5 or a 6, you can expect every single item of luggage to be taken from you bag and inspected in detail. Security officials have been known to check individual bank-notes. With a 6 but sometimes even 5 if they have time, you can also expect to be taken to a cubicle and asked to remove your belt, shoes and have a personal inspection. If your clothes contain any metal that would set off a detector such as studs in your jeans or a zip even if plainly visible on the outside, you will be asked to remove the item of clothing. Travelers are regularly prevented from taking mobile phones, laptops and even shoes in their hand-luggage, although there is no consistency with reports of one policy one week and another the next week. Arguing about such invasive checks is almost always fruitless and security reasons are the only ones that are ever cited. Though encouraging tourism, Israeli authorities would answer to criticism by angry travelers that Israel is not a usual destination, and that people who are looking for sun with no security checks should rather head to Canary Islands. This summary is based on personal experiences.
Getting to and from Jerusalem. The 'Nesher' shared taxi service 02 623 1231 - Hebrew and English is a 14-seater minibus that runs approximately hourly services to the airport - âª61.80 one way per person. You must reserve your seat in advance by phone and you will be picked up from your hotel or a chosen location they have been known to refuse to pick up from some East Jerusalem neighborhoods, so check with your hotel or take a taxi to the Jerusalem hotel where they normally pick up without a problem. Be on time - they don't wait. You will be dropped at Terminal 3 in the airport. For the journey to Jerusalem, you will find them waiting outside the arrivals hall they are signed from inside. Tell the driver where you want to be dropped. Again they should drop you at your hotel, but have been known to avoid parts of East Jerusalem. The rate is fixed, but it is worth double-checking as it has recently increased.
A private taxi to/from Jerusalem will cost around âª150-200 tourist map in Jerusalem quotes official flat price âª197, however this is hard to reach, we was asked for about âª300 to get the airport, and finally paid âª250. Expect to go through Israeli check-point on the way (via Ramallah.
Always check what terminal your flight goes from! It looks like T1 is domestic and T3 is international - this is not as it looks like! EasyJet has checkin at T1 for flight to Europe however then you will be taken to T3 anyway - February 2011. So - check it before you take the cab cab driver will be no help in this. There is free shutle going between T1 and T3 several times an hour.
Expect your taxi to be stopped on the way to the airport - have your passports, tickets, and answers for some questions how long have you been to Israel, where are you going... ready.
The Egged bus service does not go directly from Jerusalem to the Terminal. You should take bus #947 to Airport City Kiryat Sde Hateufa and take a suttle bus to the terminal free in conjunction with a bus ticket.
The train does not run from Jerusalem to the airport.
By train
Jerusalem is connected to Israel Railway network, but the service, which follows the route of the 1892 Jaffa-Jerusalem line, is noted for its scenery rather than speed.
From Tel Aviv, you should take the train to Jerusalem, with stops en-route at Lod where you can make connections to Beer Sheva, Ashkelon and Rishon LeZion, Ramla currently the Ramla station is under construction, and the trains don't stop there, Bet Shemesh, and arrive at Jerusalem's Malkha train station, which is inconveniently located at the south of the city. The old train station in the city center is currently out of service. A few trains also stop at the Biblical Zoo station, but it is within walking distance from Malkha station.
Journey time from Tel Aviv Merkaz/Savidor station to Malkha station is about 1.30 hour. There's one train per hour from 5.54 to 19.54 on weekdays, 5.25 to 14.25 15.25 in summer on Friday, 20.10 22.10 in summer on Saturday. Trains from Malkha depart on weekdays from 5.44 to 21.41 the last one only as far as Lod, on Friday from 6.00 to 13.56 14.56 in summer, on Saturday at 19.47 21.47 in summer.
From the train station there are several buses to destinations in and around Jerusalem. To downtown take bus #4 or #18, and ask for "MerKaz Ha-ir" or for "Kikar Tzion" Zion Square. To the central bus station, #5 is the fastest, though the #6 and #32 are alternatives. Taxis are also available.
A high-speed rail link connecting Jerusalem to Tel Aviv in half an hour and Ben Gurion Airport in 20 minutes is under construction and is scheduled to open in 2017. Its terminus will be an underground station 80m below surface near the central bus station and Binyaney Ha'uma convention center. Until then, use the train if you have plenty of time and want to see nice mountain scenery, but not if you are in a hurry.
By Shared Taxi
Public buses do not run during Shabbat between sunset on Friday and sunset on Saturday, roughly speaking, during which your only option is a sherut shared taxi. These depart from Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station and Ben Gurion Airport, and charge a small surcharge on top of the normal bus fare. As of mid-2012 a sherut costs âª23 âª28 at night, âª33 at Shabbat and drops you off downtown, not far from Zion Square. A sherut from the airport to anywhere in the city costs about âª50. The company offering the sherut service is called "Nesher".
Shared taxis are also the best option if travelling from Jerusalem to Palestinian cities, especially Ramallah and Bethlehem. The main bus station On Sultan Suleiman street, next to the Rockfeler Museum serves the surrounding Palestinian towns and villages, including Abu-Dis Line 36, and Bethlehem Line 124, those buses are colored mostly in blue strips . Another bus terminal, on Nablus road Straight on from the Damascus gate serves Ramallah, other main Palestinian cities. There is a shared taxi direct to/from the Allenby bridge The border crossing with Jordan, for âª38 plus âª4 Dec 2011 per luggage picking up from Al-Souq Al-Tijaree "The commercial souq" not far away from the main bus station.
All Palestinian shared taxis are very cheap, âª5 for the surrounding villages, âª5.50 for Abu-Dis and âª6.50 for Ramallah.
There are no Israeli sherut lines within Jerusalem unlike most Israeli cities. But there are sherut lines to Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh as well as the airport.
The bus operator in the eastern Jerusalem is called Al-Safariat Al-Mowahadda "The united traveling service". Note that the taxi is called "Moneet" in Hebrew, and called taxi in the Palestinian side. Both differ from the shared taxi, which runs fixed routes for many people like a bus. Moneet or Taxi is a private taxi.