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Getting to Israel: By plane
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Israel's main international airport is Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International Airport www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/Airports/BenGurion (code IATA:TLV, ICAO: LLBG) which is located approximately 40km from Jerusalem and 12 km from central Tel Aviv, and serves both cities. Ben Gurion acts as a hub for Israel's three main international airlines, El Al www.elal.com Israel's largest airline and flag carrier offering flights across the globe, Arkia Israel Airlines www.arkia.co.il, Israel's largest domestic airline who also serve a number of European destinations, and Israir www.israir.co.il who also serve many European destinations as well as New York City. Around 50 international airlines fly to Ben Gurion airport from around the world, including Delta, Continental, US Airways, Malev Hungarian Airlines, British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, Alitalia, Iberia, LOT, Olympic Airways, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Transaero, Royal Jordanian, Egypt Air (vai Air Sinai), Ethiopean Airlines, Korean Air, Cyprus Airways, Air Canada, AeroSvit, Tandem Aero, Swiss, CSA, JAT and more.
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Israel's second international airport (used mostly by charter carriers) is located at Ovda www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/Airports/Ovda, and serves the south of Israel, predominantly, Eilat (code: VDA)
From the airport to Jerusalem, take bus line 947 (7:00-21:00, every 20 minutes, 20 NIS). To Tel-Aviv and the rest of the country, take the direct Tel-Aviv train www.israrail.org.il/english/travel/natbag.html (3:53-23:23, every half an hour during day, every hour during night, 12 NIS). From Tel-Aviv to other destinations, continue by train or bus. Note that neither train nor bus service is available on Shabbat (Friday afternoon to Saturday sunset). Taxi service is also available, though not particularly cheap. A better option is a shared taxi, or sherut - these are available outside the airport terminal.
Please note that the boxed advice about not allowing Israeli customs officials to stamp your passport can be a problem, too. In November 2008 three travelers, following the Wiki advice, asked their Israeli customs officer to stamp a separate sheet of paper, which she did. Shortly thereafter, another airport official collected the loose sheets without realizing what they were and tore them up as part of a routine passage through the airport. The travelers ended up with no verification that they had entered Israel legally. This caused problems throughout the rest of their visit to Israel. When they checked with a U.S. Consular employee, he advised them that, unless they intended to travel to Syria or Iran, there was no reason at all to ask for the Israeli custom stamp to be placed on a separate sheet of paper from their passport. Travel to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and a few North African countries will not be possible with an Israeli stamp -- you will be refused at their border.
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