Shalom Israel ToursReviews of shalomisraeltours.com

I cannot say enough about Shalom Stark and Daniel Gutman, our tour guide, for a fantastic trip to Israel. We were a party of 6 (4 first timers to Israel). We originally compared several group tour companies but then heard about Shalom Israel Tours. Shalom was very easy to work with, very accomodating, very friendly and patient and ended up putting together a very comprehensive "Private" Tour itinerary for us. (No big crowds and very personalized service). I strongly believe it is the best way to tour Israel. Shalom assigned Daniel Gutman to be our tour guide. Shalom told us that Daniel is one of his top tour guides. That was an understatement. Daniel is originally from Texas and he was the Best!!! Daniel was one of the most knowledgeable, personable and friendly guides I have ever experienced. He also had a great sense of humor. He gave us both a biblical and historical perspective about all the sites we saw and answered all our silly questions as well.......lol. The best part about Daniel was he went above and beyond what we expected and suggested different sites to see and didn't mind staying with us as long as we wanted him to. As he always said, "I'm all yours as long as you want me". We became very close to Daniel and he felt like family to us. All the women were very sad to see Daniel leave at the end. I would highly recommend Shalom and Daniel if you are traveling to Israel.

AT first we looked online at many different Tour Groups and Decided after reading the Reviews here to go with Shalom Israel Tours and we were so glad we did. We had an amazing experience touring the entire country and staying at the Panorama hotels in Jerusalem & Tel Aviv. I would stay at another hotel if you are going to Eilat the Panorama Hotel is not on the beach and has not been renovated in awhile The only thing that is good there is the Breakfast which has like over 50 courses. If you are going to stay at the Kibbutz Lavi see if they have an upgraded room a piece of advice from me. Our Tour Guide Uri was so knowledgeable and had so much patience for everybody in our tour group which was 32 most of the time. He was very helpful in letting us know where to shop and eat in the evenings and even book us the Tower of David Light Show. He really went out of his way for us and for everybody. I would definitely travel with Uri & Shalom Israel Tours in the future. Esther & Joshua

I recently returned from a two-week trip to Israel with my wife and 2 children (ages 11 and 9). As this was our first trip to the country, I was somewhat apprehensive, but had no security or other concerns whatsoever during the entirety of the trip. Shalom Stark was patient and responsive with all inquiries both prior to departure and subsequent to arrival. The tour was exceptionally well-organized, and took into account our family's collective desire for a cultural/heritage experience, while balancing the kids' needs for relatively unstructured fun. Our tour guide Shimon is a very kind, passionate, and knowledgeable individual, and we will remember our interactions with him forever. I am certain we'll return to Israel at various points during the future, and I will definitely again utilize the services of Shalom Israel Tours.

I will be shouting it from the rooftops how wonderful Shalom Israel Tours is, because I wouldn't want anyone to be deprived of the wonderful experience my family had. From the very beginning to the end of the trip, the entire process of planning the trip, to being on the trip, to going home was seamless. Yoel and Shalom are excellent to work with. They provided such a personalized and unique trip experience and they also always responded to my emails right away. My family of 4 went to Israel for 10 days (My parents, brother and myself) and we did SO much in that time, but at our own pace. Shalom Israel Tours was trustworthy with their planning, recommendations and anticipated each and every need we had. The itinerary met the needs of my family, who didn't want to do hiking and jeeping type things but more of a comprehensive tour of Israel and seeing Jewish Heritage Sites. Shalom Israel Tours tailored our itinerary accordingly and it was AMAZING for everyone. Our guide, Mordechai Weiss was unbelievable. Not only is he a very knowledgable man but he is so kind and warm and patient. He made everyone feel so comfortable and went the extra mile to provide us with a very special experience. He always made sure that we had enough to drink and had as many bathroom breaks as we needed and pointed us to good lunch spots through our trip. At the end of the trip when I wasn't feeling well, he got me what I needed and made sure that I was ok. He knew everyone wherever we went and helped us to navigate a place that was foreign to my family. Besides being the most knowledgeable guide, Mordechai is the most pleasant person to spend time with and we genuinely miss him. By the end of the trip, we truly felt that Mordechai was part of our family. I would not look elsewhere when planning a trip to Israel. Shalom Israel Tours is a company that will make your family, friends or whomever you are planning a trip with feel special and like a VIP. They are genuinely nice people and go out of their way to make sure that you have everything you need through the entire trip. Highly recommend! I would give it 10 stars if I could:)

We went on a family trip (elder mom, two sons and their wives) that ended up beginning during the recent Gaza conflicts. Shalom, as others have noted, was responsive and helpful from the very first contact through every exchange, and generous in his offer to reschedule if we went that route. But we went ahead as planned and were so glad we did! The 13 day Jewish Heritage Tour (with optional Petra day trip built in) was wonderful beyond expectations. It's one thing to read an itinerary and another to be guided so skillfully by a person as knowledgeable and filled with love for Israel as our guide Doron Hoffman. Even for those of us who had been to Israel before, this trip showed sights and taught history/politics/geography like nothing they'd experienced on other visits. And for a first timer like me, it was a wonderful way to really soak in as much of the country and stories as possible. Now I know where I want to spend more time on a future visit. I cannot recommend Shalom and his company enough! Truly a fabulous experience.

We had only 8 days in Israel. While my husband had been there a few times before, it was my first time, and I wanted to see as much as possible in the short time we had. After looking at reviews on various sites, I contacted Shalom. He suggested an itinerary and was beyond patient with us as our friends and family also gave input. He took everything into account and came up with the PERFECT itinerary, with room to add or change once we were there. We visited the Golan Heights, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Shalom arranged the hotel for us (except for one which we did on our own since we were using points) and suggested restaurants and activities to do when we were on our own. We were treated as VIPs from the second we stepped off the airplane (yes, we were greeted right off the airplane, not even after going through customs) through the end of the trip. Our tour guide Yehuda got to know us well, and often suggested "just one more stop because you'll love it." - and it was ALWAYS worth it when he did! (I must mention he was also so patient with my endless shopping that I kept insisting on.) Shalom kept both our interests and budget in mind and created a vacation that will forever be so special to my husband and me. We could not have asked for a better tour company to organize and better tour guide to show us around. We have already suggested Shalom and Yehuda to everyone who even mentions thinking of going to Israel, whether it's their first time or hundredth!

Upon the recommendation by very good friends we contacted and chose Shalom Israel Tours to plan a private tour with guide for our first trip to Israel. We were two couples with some ideas of where we would like to visit and what we would like to experience . It was a pleasure to work with Shalom Stark. He was easy to communicate with and offered many suggestions and it all came together perfectly. Our guide , Yehuda was excellent; a Sabra with the most unbelievable knowledge of 4,000 years of history, and many stories to tell. Our trip was planned for June, 2014 and our itinerary covered Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and Tel Aviv with many stops along the way. After spending this time together we miss Yehuda ! We would not hesitate to recommend Shalom Israel Tours. We had a wonderful experience !

Shalom himself was waiting for us at our hotel when we arrived! He introduced us to our simply amazing, warm, funny and brilliant guide Mortechai, and off we went on our adventure of a lifetime. Israel is more than I could have imagined. It touches your soul. Masada, Jerusalem, Jaffa, the beauty of the north - so special. We even stopped at some unscheduled sites like this really amazing monastery built into the side of a cliff, a beautiful light show projected over The Sea of Galilee, and this amazing little Ethiopian restaurant in Safed that was featured on the Travel Channel. Shalom came to Tel Aviv to say goodbye, and brought a box of pastries that we had raved about for us to take back home! Truly the trip of a lifetime!