Israel, having a lot of historic and religious sites together with a vibrant nightlife scene and a diversity of natural areas in a small piece of land, is a growing tourist destination. The number of tourists is growing each year, having passed 4 million in 2018. Question is, is Israel tourist friendly?
Israel is mostly a tourist friendly country: most Israelis can speak English, signs are mostly written in multiple languages including English, and many attractions have English speaking guides. Expect difficulty especially in some restaurant and supermarkets, where English is somewhat less common.
The ministry of tourism together with different private groups are working to make the experience of traveling in Israel easy and fun.
There are a lot of programs for groups traveling in Israel, in which everything is organised for the participants, but will you find it easy traveling in Israel independently?
In this article we will touch some basic areas in the country that indicates how friendly it is for tourists traveling independently. There are some specific things you can do to make you travel much easier, and I’ll share these tips with you here.
Is English spoken in Israel?
One of the key elements that make countries tourists friendly is the ability of its citizens to communicate with tourists. Tourists, most of the time, are English speakers (be it their mother tongue or not).
Most Israelis can definitely communicate in English! Basic English skills are a requirement for graduating from high school. Most Israelis go to universities or other academic institutions that typically require having good English skills. Almost any young Israeli can hold a conversation in English.
You’ll definitely be able to communicate in English with most Israelis and enjoy the funny Israeli accent.
But naturally, there are people in Israel that don’t speak English well, though most of them will probably still be able to understand and help you. Especially with small things, like directions, you’ll be able to communicate most of the time. At worst, you’ll have to decipher strange, broken English mumbling and weird hand signs…
If you try to talk to someone and they don’t understand English at all, I highly encourage you to try and approach more people. One of them will definitely be able to have a decent conversation.
Moreover, there are a lot of immigrants in Israel, so in addition to English, you’ll often hear other languages like Arabic, Russian, French, Amharic, Spanish and more.
Are road signs in Israel in English?
Another aspect of a tourist friendly country are the road signs. Information on the road is very important for navigation and safety and if you don’t understand it, you’ll have a big problem driving and getting to places.
Fortunately, all the road signs in Israel are written in 3 languages: Hebrew, Arabic and English, so there’s no problem in this part.
In the big cities and in some of the rural areas, the bus station signs are written in Hebrew and English. There’s even an English announcement in most buses, in addition to the Hebrew and Arabic one, that tells what’s the next station is.
Train stations also have translations of the city names in their signs, and English announcements in the stations and in the trains themselves.
Aside from that, if you’re still unsure in which station you should get out of the bus/train, and for some reason you don’t have Google Maps or any other navigation app, you can always ask locals. There will probably be someone who speaks good English and will be able to help you.
Do attractions in Israel have English translations?
All big, and the majority of the smaller museums, galleries, exhibitions, and festivals in Israel have options for English speakers. For example: you’ll have an English translation to stories, pictures or any other exhibitions displayed in a museum.
Most of the major festivals have English information, whether on their websites or on the booklets at the festival’s site.
In Israel, given all its history, there are a lot of places where something, big or small, has happened. These can be ancient events that happened in the Bible, Roman empire buildings, Greek empire statues, middle ages locations or modern era events. Most of the places have a description of what happened there, and a lot of them have an English translation as well.
Moreover, there are English explanations at the national parks and at Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority’s site (which is organization that’s responsible for the national parks). You can check for information about the different parks, as well as updates about the security and health situations. This is especially important while traveling the desert during winter time, as there are a lot of floods there!
The only thing that may be a bit problematic are places like amusement parks or water parks, which are often less English friendly. But then again, feel free to ask the staff there for help, there’ll probably be English speaking people that will love to help you!
Do Israeli restaurants have English menus?
While there are a lot of restaurants in Israel that have English menus and international prices, there are a lot of places that don’t. But even these places will probably have staff that will be able to translate it for you.
Most waiters and services workers in Israel are actually young students, soldiers in their off time and high school students. These are people that almost always have some basic knowledge of English.
Especially in fancy and touristy places, I’d encourage you to make an effort and compare prices in the English and Hebrew menus. While these days the habit isn’t common, some places still have different prices in the English and Hebrew menus, so avoid being scammed.
This is true for fancy restaurants as well as falafel and smoothie stands. In any case, don’t miss out on restaurants and street food in Israel just because of a language barrier! It’s amazing!
Are supermarkets in Israel English friendly?
If there’s one major thing Israel can improve when it comes to being a tourist friendly country, it’s the supermarkets.
Most of the products, discounts, and explanations about products are only written in Hebrew. This includes ingredients, nutritional values, names of products, explanations about prices, etc.
Additionally, the prices of products like milk and eggs are under government supervision and usually come with a small note on the side of their section that explains the prices and different categories (like standard eggs and free range eggs). It’s important for making an informed purchase.
It’s very hard and even impossible for non Hebrew-speakers to know exactly what they’re buying and its price.
Entering an Israeli supermarket may be a bit intimidating, because everything is in Hebrew and you can’t understand what the different products are and what their price is.
It interested me how non Hebrew speakers manage their way in a supermarket, so I went and talked with a few. They admit that it’s a bit tricky, but Israelis love to help and they always help them understand what they’re buying, its cost and if there are any discounts that can be used.
Conclusions
So, to wrap things up: Israel is a tourist friendly country! Be it the road signs, attractions or the majority of the population that can speak English, you can definitely manage to travel here if you have basic English skills. As mentioned before, other languages like Arabic, Russian, French and Amharic are more common than you’d expect.
On top of that, basic services like ATMs, tickets machines and transportation services have English translations as well, in the vast majority of places.
The only things that might be a bit hard for tourists are supermarkets and private businesses, like street food and shops, that don’t always have English translations to their services. Sometimes they do have English options, but they lack information. It can be challenging.
But with everything in mind, you are more than welcome to ask people around you for help! Israelis are friendly and would love to help you and have a chat with a tourist ????
I aspire to live an adventurous life and have always been attracted and curious about the unusual and the different. After discovering a sort of talent for writing I decided to start playing with words and from then on, I’m feeling the need to express myself to the world, through the written word.
