Intercity Travel In Israel
Getting Around Israel Without a Car: Trains, Buses, Sherut and the Shabbat Workaround
Two facts shape almost everything about intercity travel in Israel. The first is that the country is small and densely connected — most journeys between major cities take an hour or two, and you rarely need a car to see any of it. The second is Shabbat: from Friday evening to Saturday evening, most public transport simply stops. Learn to work with both, and you can criss-cross the country cheaply and easily. Plan against the grain of either, and you'll find yourself stranded in a quiet train station on a Saturday afternoon wondering where everyone went.
Here's the full toolkit — every way to travel between cities, what each costs, and how to keep moving when the trains aren't.
The lay of the land
Your options sort into a few categories: trains, fastest on the main routes; intercity buses, with the widest network; sherut shared taxis, flexible and — crucially — running on Shabbat; rental cars, the most freedom but the priciest; and car-sharing and ride-hailing apps to fill the gaps. From Tel Aviv, Jerusalem is roughly an hour away, Haifa and Be'er Sheva one to one and a half hours, and Eilat a long four to five hours south.
The Shabbat rule overrides all of it. Most public transport halts from Friday evening to Saturday evening, the big exceptions being Haifa's buses and the sherut services. Build your week around that and very little else will trip you up.
Trains: fast, comfortable, limited
Israel Railways is the nicest way to travel the main corridors — fast, air-conditioned, reliable, and free of traffic, so you can work or doze en route. The catch is coverage: the network runs mainly along the coast with a few inland branches, and there's still no service to Eilat.
The coastal line strings together Nahariya, Akko, Haifa, Netanya, Herzliya, Tel Aviv, Ashdod, and Ashkelon, running every ten to thirty minutes at peak. The fast Tel Aviv–Jerusalem line, opened in 2018, cuts through the mountains in about thirty-two minutes, every twenty to thirty minutes. Most coastal stations have a direct connection to Ben Gurion Airport (Terminal 3) every ten to twenty minutes, and inland lines reach Be'er Sheva (hourly, the gateway to the Negev), Modi'in, and Bet Shemesh.
On fares, reckon roughly ₪23–27 Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, ₪32–39 to Haifa, ₪28–35 to Be'er Sheva, and a flat ₪13.50 out to the airport. Pay with a Rav Kav, tapping in and out at the gates — there's no cash and no buying onboard, and if you forget to tap out you're charged the maximum fare. Students get around 30% off, seniors 50%, and soldiers in uniform and under-fives travel free. There are no seat reservations; seating is first-come. And there are no trains on Shabbat — the last leave about two hours before Friday sunset and resume roughly an hour after Saturday sunset.
Buses: the widest net
Buses reach almost everywhere, including the many places no train does. Egged is the nationwide giant (hotline *2800), with Dan, Kavim, Metropoline, and Superbus filling out the rest. Pay by Rav Kav (tap on boarding), the HopOn app, or sometimes cash, and a monthly pass (Chofshi Chodshi) covers regular travel. Transfers are free within ninety minutes on the same company — but not between companies, nor between bus and train.
The workhorse routes from Tel Aviv: the 405 and 480 to Jerusalem (50–75 minutes, ₪16–21), the 910 and 947 to Haifa (1.5–2 hours, ₪22–28), the 370 and 446 to Be'er Sheva (1.5–2 hours, ₪23–30), and the 394 down to Eilat (4.5–5.5 hours, ₪75–95 — book ahead). Haifa to Jerusalem runs on the 940 (2–2.5 hours, ₪30–37). The major hubs are Tel Aviv Central — vast, so allow time to find your platform — along with Jerusalem Central, Haifa Hof HaCarmel, Be'er Sheva, and Eilat. Use Moovit for live arrivals and turn up ten to fifteen minutes early. Most buses don't run on Shabbat, with some Tel Aviv–Jerusalem routes and Haifa's buses the exceptions.
The sherut: the local's secret weapon
The sherut is a uniquely Israeli option and the one newcomers take longest to discover: ten-seat minivans running fixed routes and leaving when full. They're faster than buses because they make fewer stops, a little dearer, and gloriously flexible — you can ask to be dropped anywhere along the route by calling out "po" (here). And many of them run on Shabbat.
That last point is what makes the sherut indispensable. On Shabbat, the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem sherut is essentially the main intercity option still going — a touch pricier than usual at ₪12–15 and busier, but a fraction of the cost of a taxi. In normal times that route runs ₪10–12 and takes 45–60 minutes, operating 24/7 including Shabbat. Other routes include Tel Aviv–Haifa (₪15–20), Tel Aviv–Netanya, and Tel Aviv–Petach Tikva. It's cash only, paid directly to the driver, and you'll find the vans at stands near the central bus stations.
Rental cars: for the places transport forgets
A car earns its keep where public transport thins out — the Golan, the Galilee, the desert — and for families or weekend trips. It's overkill for the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem–Haifa triangle, where transport is excellent and city parking is a genuine ordeal. The major firms are Hertz, Avis, Sixt, Eldan, and Shlomo Sixt.
Budget-wise, an economy car runs ₪150–250 a day on weekdays, ₪200–300 at weekends, plus ₪50–150 a day for full insurance (Super CDW), with fuel at ₪6.50–7.50 a litre and city parking ₪10–40 an hour. All in — rental, insurance, fuel, parking — reckon ₪500–700 a day, which is why a car really pays off only with three or more people, multiple stops, or remote destinations. Book early, take the full insurance, and photograph the car at pickup.
A few things to know behind the wheel. Waze is essential — Israeli drivers live by it, and it beats Google Maps here for traffic, hazards, and speed-camera alerts. Tolls are automatic: Road 6 and Haifa's Carmel Tunnels charge by number plate, with the bill reaching your rental company — no booths. Street parking is paid through the Pango app, so download and link a card before you set off. Speed limits run 50 in towns, 80–90 on open roads, and 100–110 on highways, and driving is assertive and horn-happy — don't take it personally, and keep the left lane for passing only.
Car-sharing and ride-hailing
For shorter hops there are app-based options. Fleet-based car-sharing (AutoTel and the like) scatters small cars around the city to book by the minute or hour and park anywhere in the service area, mainly in Tel Aviv — roughly ₪1–1.50 a minute or ₪35–50 an hour, insurance included, though operators have been unstable, so check what's actually running. Peer-to-peer services like GetAround and HeyGo rent private owners' cars Airbnb-style, often cheaper than a rental firm at ₪100–300 a day, with the trade-off that condition and pickup vary.
For ride-hailing, Gett is the market leader — licensed taxis, fixed prices shown upfront, an English interface, available in all major cities; city rides run ₪30–80 and Tel Aviv–Jerusalem ₪250–350. Yango is a cheaper rival, often 10–20% less with a similar interface but fewer drivers, and Uber is limited here, in only some cities and well behind Gett. Ride-hailing is worth it for airport runs with luggage, late nights, groups of three or four splitting the fare, or Shabbat — but it's expensive for solo intercity trips, where the train, bus, or sherut win easily.
One card for everything
The Rav Kav is the key to the whole system — all trains, intercity and city buses nationwide, and Jerusalem's light rail. Load pay-as-you-go credit (Calcala) or a monthly pass, tap on boarding, and transfers happen automatically within ninety minutes, priced by distance. The national pass (Chofshi Chodshi Artzi) costs roughly ₪750–900 a month for unlimited travel — worth it for frequent intercity travellers — while regional passes are cheaper, around ₪270–300 for Gush Dan and ₪230–270 for Jerusalem or Haifa. Students get about 30% off and seniors 50%. New olim should get a personalised Rav Kav as one of their first errands.
Surviving Shabbat and the holidays
Plan your Shabbat travel deliberately, because most of the system is asleep. All trains stop, almost all buses stop, and many sherut services are reduced. What keeps running: the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem sherut (the lifeline), Haifa's city buses, and the ride-hailing apps, at a price. The practical strategies are to lean on the sherut, to stay local and treat it as a day of rest, or to pre-position somewhere on Friday and travel back Saturday night once trains and buses resume.
Yom Kippur is the one day everything stops — even the sherut. The whole country halts, the roads empty, and people famously cycle down the highways. Plan to stay exactly where you are.
Travelling cheaply
A few habits keep costs down. The sherut is often the cheapest option outright — Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is ₪10, against ₪18 by bus and ₪25 by train. The bus generally undercuts the train by ₪5–10 on the same route if you're not in a hurry. A national or regional pass pays for itself at four or more intercity trips a month. Travelling off-peak — avoiding 7–9am and 4–7pm — costs the same but is far more comfortable. And for three or four people, a rental car split between you can beat the train.
Safety, language, and access
Israel is very safe for travellers, including alone and at night in cities — just keep an eye on belongings and phones in crowds. A handful of phrases smooth the way: slicha (excuse me), efo ha'tachana? (where's the station?), kama ze ole? (how much?), po, bevakasha (here, please — to request a stop), and toda (thanks); most apps and machines also offer English. Boarding can be pushy and queues loose — that's culture, not rudeness, and Israelis are quick to help if you ask. On accessibility, trains and stations are wheelchair-accessible with designated spaces and most intercity buses have ramps; contact the operator ahead to arrange assistance.
Best by route, at a glance
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem: fastest by train (32 minutes), cheapest by sherut (₪10), and the sherut again on Shabbat. Tel Aviv to Haifa: train for speed, bus for cost, sherut on Shabbat. Tel Aviv to Be'er Sheva: train fastest, bus cheapest. Tel Aviv to Eilat: fly for speed, bus for cost (around ₪90). And for the north — the Galilee and Golan — a rental car is really the only sensible option, as buses are sparse.
For a worked example, take a Tel Aviv–Jerusalem day trip: the train is fastest at about thirty-two minutes for ₪25 each way, the 405 bus is the cheapest regular option at ₪18, and on Shabbat the sherut is your way in and out at ₪10–12.
For new olim
Get a personalised Rav Kav straight away, download Moovit, lean on the trains where they run and the sherut for Shabbat, and resist the urge to rent a car — try public transport first and you may find you never need one. Budget roughly ₪200–500 a month for intercity travel, and the country opens up.
B'hatzlacha.
This is general information for olim, current as of 2025. Schedules, fares, routes, and services change — always verify current details via the official apps and websites (Moovit, Israel Railways, and the bus operators) before you travel. For more free guides across every stage of your aliyah, visit olimadvice.com.