Experience Israel - With Famed Archaeologist Eli Shukron

38 | DAY TOUR

The third option, and the most suitable for independent travelers, is the hostels listed under ILH (Israel Hostels – Independent Travelers Accommodation). They are not a chain but an organization of independent hostel owners. They are very different from each other but all have cooking facilities, free wifi and, most importantly, no schoolchildren running through the hallways. I wrote about some of them here: Best hostels in Jerusalem and Best hostels in Tel Aviv.

Zimmerim Zimmerim are vacation cabins located in villages, for the most part in the north and south of Israel (not in the cities). The term itself – Zimmer – means “room” in German and the ending “–im” is the masculine plural in Hebrew. The cabins probably took on the name because Israelis who had travelled in Germany, Austria and Switzerland had seen signs for “Zimmer frei” (rooms available). Zimmerim came into being in the nineties, when a dramatic rise in the price of water made agriculture less profitable and farmers were obliged to look for other sources of income. It suited more and more Israelis, who were wanting to vacation in rural areas and looking for an alternative to big hotels. Some translate zimmerim as “B&B” but there are some differences. In most zimmerim breakfast is not included, and in B&Bs sometimes you are hosted inside the host family’s house. The zimmerim are always private cabins or rooms with a separate entrance. There is a very wide range of zimmerim. From a small room in the