You are right- I always like to plan a bit and leave the rest up to chance. But this is not the best thing to do when you have only one week to travel. And when you go to places like Safed, Haifa and Akko you will find that locally there is not nuch arranged for tourists. So you will mostly have to figure it out by yourself. This is exactly what I like so much, because it goes to show the place is not totally swamped by tourists yet. Though we did find Jerusalem 'infested' with American tourists in october. (sorry to US peeps here, but if you've seen the Americans there, you would understand what I'm saying- for years they were afraid to come and now they act like with them the saviour has arrived a they know it all)
It would be wise to draw up a travel schedule in advance- not to waste any time trying to figure it out when you are there. Because even though Israel is a higly modern country- it is still the Middle East! So not everything is as 'organised' as us Europeans are used to. You could for instance check the busses
www.egged.co.il and try to find the best route. I would say: Tel Aviv-bus- Tel Aviv Yafo-bus- Jerusalem-bus- Dead Sea-bus-Safed-bus-or try to connect to train-Haifa-train-Akko-train-Tel Aviv.
> there is no train yet between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
> traveling by bus is cheap and very comfortable (tourbusses with airco on long routes)
> make sure you are on time to purchase your ticket ( can most of the time also be bought with driver, but they don't always speak English)
>check out where to stay in advance and book in advance, I have a good tip for you for Jerusalem.
Invest in a good travel guide- buy lonely planet or something like that. It is more expensive, but way better than the cheaper ones. Plus makes a good read on long bus hours! Those guides give much more info on the country itself besides just the 'highlights'
OK- hope to have helped a little more
