From Jerusalem: Masada Sunrise, Ein Gedi & Dead Sea Day Trip

This trip surpassed all our expectations. Some of the reviews left us concerned that it might have been a bit average. For us, those reviews could not have been more wrong. The bus was excellent, and the time spent in each location, while short (walk up Masada commenced at 5am and we were in the cable care going down by 8.30 / an hour at Ein Gedi (enough time to walk to the large waterfall and back, but no time to swim) and an hour and a half at Dead Sea (enough time to get covered in mud, and then float around for about 30 mins), was enough for us to enjoy each place but focus on Masada. Our guide (Yuval) was excellent. He was very knowledgeable on the history of all the places we went to. Some reviews suggested the guides were not that great. Ours was excellent. Things to note, not included in the details: you cable car down Masada (it's extra to the admission fee). There are places to buy food at each stop (so no need to pack lunch). Highly recommend this trip!

The entire trip was totally disorganized due to the fact that 2 out of 3 locations were closed when we arrived. First we arrived to to the Masada and we wanted to go up on the hill to see the sunrise the guards told us that the path for car was closed since 3 days ago. The driver tried to get out with this and said that we didn't pay for the Masada we pay only to see the sunrise from where we are now. After some negotiations we settled to came here later when it is open in the same day but we have tot cut from the time of other activities. The second thing was the Dead Sea. Here the private beach was really nice. We had like an hour to get undressed, do a bath in the sea and then go to the next activity. The last one was Ein Gedi. Here another surprise. The location was closed. At this point people started to ask about refunds. We negotiate again and we go back to the Dead Sea for another hour. On the good side of the events I can say that the driver was open to negotiate.

Firstly, other tours we went on in Israel, we were given a bottle of water which was a nice gesture to start the tour and Especially with a long walk ahead. We really enjoyed the tour and the combination of places. I felt like an hour extra at each location would of made it feel like better value as it was quite costly paying entrance fees into Masada, engedi & the black sea on top of the tour price. If we had an extra hour at each place, we could of relaxed, seen more and in turn would of felt justified with the extra expense and still would of returned in the afternoon. I feel perhaps as we were 3, with a rental car it would of been cheaper and allowed us to relax & to see more. Overall the sites we saw were spectacular and a great combo together.