Rafi was an amazing guide. Of course he did all the typical guide things perfectly, but he went even further. He reached out to us in advance, got to know us, and offered to truly customize our experience to who we are as a family. As a result, we saw things we would not have known to ask about, and it truly elevated our trip. Here is our advice: 1. Book Rafi. 2. Trust him to customize your guided tour.

I booked Rafael through TourHQ and it was really am excellent choice. We are a family of 5 and we were treated very profissionally and with a lot of care and sympathy. Rafael and his son (that is also a guide) gave us an exquisite guiding tour in a city absolutely magical and beautiful where history and passion is present at every corner. In a place like Jerusalem, specially when you have little time (we had one full day), it is mandatory to have a good guide, if not you loose a lot. 

At the end he was very useful to us as he arrange us a private tour to Bethelem, which was also a very special trip inside Cisjordanie. 

I strongly recommend Rafael and his son when touring Jerusalem.

I arranged a full day tour of Jerusalem old city and Bethlehem for a group of four with Rafael.  Rafael was very responsive and planned our tour prior to us arriving in Israel. Rafael also provided ongoing communications before and after our tour.  Rafael met us at our hotel and we walked through the Armenian and Jewish quarters, visited the Western Wall, walked down the Via Dolorosa and visited the Holy Sepulchre, getting to see all the stations of the cross. After lunch we spent the remainder of the day in Bethlehem.  We met a driver and separate tour guide for this part of the trip.  This tour guide was also friendly, knowledgable with a great sense of humor.  The tour was really good until the end when Rafael took us to a gift shop. There is a very well known  Blessings Gift Shop and Olive Wood Factory next door to the Church of the Nativity that I wanted to go to, and I should have spoken up, but thought we would be going here when Rafael shared we would end our tour at a really nice gift shop.  This gift shop is the kind with subpar souvenirs with big price tags, many salespersons who hawk you once you show a little bit of interest,  and a large parking lot built to hold many tour buses. One of the perks of a private tour (and tipping well) is not going to these types of tourist traps where the guide most likely gets a kick back.  Other than that, the tour of Jerusalem was very educational and exceeded my expectations.

My family just spent an hour with Rafi in the wonderful city of Jerusalem - from our couch in Australia. Everyone loved learning about the amazing history of this complex city that has survived such terrible conflict, and today brings together to many cultures. Rafi was very engaging and happy to answer our questions, and we were sad when our hour finished. I highly recommend spending some time with Rafael and learning about whaqt makes this place so special.

Rafi was an excellent guide for our large group.  He was professional and very intelligent.  He was fluent in the historical, religious, and political meanings of the sites we visited.  He was always ready to adapt to our needs and respond to he group as a whole as well as the individuals in the group.  We will make sure to get Rafi on our next trip!!