Holidays at this hotel are not cheap this summer, but very affordable

In 1957, 6 guest rooms were built in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, which later became a pastoral hotel.

Today, the Galilee kibbutz offers huge lawns and commendable landscaping, but also 193 spacious rooms that are perfect for families and wonderful meals.

The price is not cheap, but where is it cheap in the country today?

Walla!

Tourism

30/06/2022

Thursday, 30 June 2022, 08:09 Updated: 08:52

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share on Email

• Share on general

• Comments

  Comments

Pastoral Hotel (Photo: Ziv Reinstein, Editing: Aviad Cornelius)

It has been 65 years since Sue Richer, the American friend of the members of Kibbutz Kfar Blum in the Hula Valley, donated many dollars for their construction of six guest rooms for visitors to the kibbutz, ours so far in tents and tundra.

Since then, the Kfar Blum Guesthouse has become a pastoral hotel, competing for the hearts of the Israeli public, and the competition in the valley is not easy.

Over the years, many family hotels have sprung up in the area, such as Galilion, the HaGoshrim Hotel, Nofei Gonen and others, since the Hula Valley is Israel's "Valley of the Streams".

The Dan, the Banias, the Hasbani and of course the Jordan they form, along with Nahal Iyun, springs and other streams, have made the area one of the favorites of Israelis in the hot summer.

Bloom Village is a great hotel location.

First, the kibbutz, established in 1943 and named after French Prime Minister Leon Blum, is located right on the Jordan, and a paved path leads from it straight to the gate leading to the magnificent "Ami Promenade" on its eastern bank.

Second, the kibbutz is a short drive from all the attractions in the Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights, and third, the ride in Wise when there is no traffic is two hours to the center.

Really not terrible.

Good to know (promoted)

The smart test that detects an increased risk of having a stroke

Served on behalf of Shahal

This is called "immersing in green".

Pastoral Hotel (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

There used to be 6 tents and tundas here, today 193 rooms (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein system)

5 minutes walk from the hotel.

"Ami Promenade" on the banks of the Jordan River (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Each room has a name (of a celeb)

Pastoral was recently renewed with a new CEO born in Kfar Blum, Danit Bitan, who started her career at the hotel 22 years ago as operations and human resources manager, after almost 30 years run by Dubi Benari. , And especially quality, "she says." The higher the level of supply, the more people it will attract and the higher the standard of hotels.

In 2017, we built one of the most beautiful opera centers in the country, where various conferences are held.

We place an emphasis on high-level service and pay attention to the small details. "

193 rooms and suites in pastoral, almost every room has the name of one or another celeb from the field of music, literature, entertainment or intellectuals of various kinds, for example the American singer Janice Joplin.

The great advantage of pastoral over other hotels in the area, perhaps in the country, comes thanks to one reason: the huge area it dominates.

Since the hotel is owned by the kibbutz, it has been allocated huge areas from the kibbutz, so there is no need to skimp on the size of the rooms.

They are spacious and large (35-30 sqm, and I have stayed in a variety of room types over the years) and have a kind of privacy even when there is another room above you. Each room has cable TV, an espresso machine, a spacious double bed loaded with pillows and a sofa bed for the children Like an 18th-century mansion, all white, and some rooms have a shower next to a bath, and a small balcony takes the guest straight to a small seating area and the hotel's green lawns.

The lawns lead me to the second thing that Pastoral excels at - gardening.

Again, it also stems from the hotel's huge surfaces, which allow to "play" with trees, shrubs and flowers and of course grass.

Lots of grass that creates a great look of spaces and nature.

Also the choice of trees (as for Indian geraniums) that give great shade and colors in summer, is very wise.

Between the plants, there are walking paths that lead to the various rooms, which are in two-story buildings, no more, and here you have a hotel that is really immersed in green.

The large area of ​​the hotel provides guests with spacious rooms.

Hotel room (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

A wise and beautiful choice of trees in the hotel.

For Indian geraniums in pink and white (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

There is a pool, but what else?

What do you do in Pastoral?

Of course, all the surrounding regional attractions, but families who come to the Galilee Hotel this summer will surely spend quite a bit of time there, because what does the Israeli want beyond the pool for children ?!

So the hotel pool is the kibbutz pool.

This is a large Olympic-sized pool, sufficiently shaded, and the hotel guests are already pouring into it late in the morning.

It also has a shaded tiny pool, and a huge lawn with umbrellas and deck chairs scattered over it.

Towels will be provided at the entrance to the pool.

For half-board guests who need a snack at lunch, the local kiosk offers a selection of junk food in the form of schnitzels and chips (NIS 50 for a dish that is too small), a small personal pizza (NIS 35), cola for NIS 10 and a can of beer for 20 .

Popsicles will cost NIS 5 (you can also earn NIS 4) and popsicles for NIS 15.

Well, it does not have to be more expensive than a convenience store at a gas station, just because it's an exclusive pool kiosk.

For years, Pastoral has been offering hotel guests in the winter great packages of culture and accommodation, including performances, lectures and special combinations that are not usually seen on a daily basis.

Precisely in the summer the quality of the content was missed.

There are a few days of content packages in August called "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Operation Grandma," but what about June-July?

Many families are already on vacation and the hotels are fully booked, as you could see, probably on the weekends. At 18:00) to be baptized. And what on Saturday? Nothing. In favor of experiential content.

Olympic, but so are buffet prices.

Hotel pool (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

"First of all, eat with your eyes"

Culinarily, Pastoral made a move about four years ago that appointed Ohad Ivgi, a native of nearby Kiryat Shmona, as the hotel's chef.

After working in the kitchens of the Club Hotel in Eilat and in the West Ashdod of the Tamar chain, he returned home, north, and brought his abundance to the village of Blum.

"First of all, eat with your eyes," he says, "so I make sure there is a lot of everything, a lot of color and a great selection of foods."

In abundance he refers to dozens of colorful salads he presents on the cold strip in the dining room, including beet salads, endive, antipasti, health salads and others, and of course hot stripe dishes that include a variety of meats, like Moroccan tansy, couscous, beef patties, beetroot, goose market and more.

Even in the vegan section Ivy is not discriminating, and the seitan patties I ate were juicy and wonderful.

Breakfast is also a concert of flavors and colors - from the Shabbat geranium to omelets of your choice on Midnight, accompanied by salads, breads and what not.

Eat with the eyes, and how.

The buffet at the hotel (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Pampering for less than NIS 300

Pastoral also has a good spa, which was renovated during the Corona period, and provides exactly what you need to relax after you have relaxed from the food.

There is nothing new in the type of treatment segment - the familiar Swedish, deep tissue, aromatherapy and a few other treatments from the Far East.

Most of them will cost 295 shekels for 50 minutes (355 shekels for 75 minutes), a relatively inexpensive price for the value, which also includes a Turkish bath, a cave of streams (a room with streams of water from all directions) and a reflexology bath for the feet.

If you just want to use the spa facilities you will pay 40 shekels.

And just a thought: in the recovery room on the second floor there is a container for drinking water.

Maybe you should move the great tea stand from down there to there?

And one more thing: there is a gym in Pastoral, but in a hotel of this level it is worth lubricating the old and squeaky devices, and maybe already replacing them and that's it.

The treatments are not expensive and there are also equal facilities.

Pastoral Spa (Photo: Walla !, Ziv Reinstein)

Not cheap, but affordable

So how much did it cost?

We have nothing because we were hotel guests, but a couple who wants to stay in the pastoral weekend July-August will have to get rid of a little money. Starting at 1,615 shekels, including breakfast in a classic room with a balcony. Half board - 1,900 shekels. NIS 2,185 per night. And as you progress with the summer, you will pay more and on weekends in August there is almost no room left.

The price of accommodation in hotels in our country is always high, probably in the summer, probably the current one.

However, compared to the prices of flights abroad this year and the queues at airports, it can be said with caution that it is not always worthwhile to spend a few days in Europe, and it is better to vacation in Israel already

• Tourism

• news

Tags

• hotel

• Bloom village

• summer

• Vacation in the Galilee