Sights

The Haifa Municipal Tourist Office, 106 HaNassi Blvd. (tel. 37 40 10), offers an j excellent free walking tour of Haifa’s major attractions every Saturday from 10am to 12:30pm. The touf leaves from the comer of Yefeh Nof (Panorama) St. and Sha’ar hal^vanon; dress modestly for the stops at Baha’i holy places. A few city buses start running about 9:30am, so you can probably catch one to the starting point if you are not staying in the Carmel.

The most active and scenic area in Haifa is the Carmel Center (Merkaz haCar-mel), a shopping and entertainment hub just off the city’s most spectacular mountain-top observations points. Buses #21, 22, 23, 27, and 37 run to Gan ha’Em, the public park, right by the Carmelit terminus. Behind the bustle of the hotels and Panorama shopping mall on HaNassi Blvd., the new Louis promenade, on Yefeh Nof’ St., offers a breezy respite with stunning views of both Haifa below and, on clear days, Upper Galilee and as far as snowy Mt. Hermon and Lebanon in the distance.