Your private guide for Jerusalem – Léontine Cohen
I have designed a fascinating tour of the Old City with the four quarters, the Holy Sepulcher, the Wailing Wall, the Via Dolorosa, as well as West Jerusalem with the buzzing market and fun areas.
I will explain about the history, the religions and the political situation but we will also taste the local specialties such as humus, tehina, Jerusalem bagel and much more !
Feel free to ask for visiting Mount Zion, Mount of Olives or other sites, I am very flexible and will adapt to your wishes and expectations.
1. Jerusalem Old City Guided Tour – 4 hours
We will visit the four quarters, the Holy Sepulcre, the Wailing Wall, the room of the Last Supper , the Tomb of King David and much more… We will discover some hidden places and secrets of Jerusalem
During the walk, I will explain the history and the mysteries of every Sacred place, its origin and its religion.
Jerusalem is not a big city, it is possible to discover all the different neighborhoods : We will begin by the West Jerusalem and learn about the development of the city from the 1860-s until today.
Then, I will take you by the tiny Jewish neighborhoods with their different origins and histories, through the Christian German Colony, admire the Arab neighborhood of Talbiya and visit the small Garden City Rehavia.
We will discover the different architectures, from Middle Eastern style to International Style and I will bring to life the different people who made Jerusalem what it is today.
2. Jerusalem food tours
Visit the shuk, taste and sample the different specialties like halva, humus, herbs, Israeli cheeses, olive oil and wines.
Then move on to the Old City where we can taste warm humus, freshly made in front of us and for the adventurous foodies I can bring you to a tiny restaurant where we can taste grilled brains.
3. Jerusalem Museum tours
3.1. The Yad Vashem guided tour
( Shoah Memorial of Jerusalem )
The name of this impressive museum means “The Memorial to the Name”.
A special law was made in the 1950s in order to preserve the memory of the 6 million Jews murdered during World War II.
I will guide you through the museum of Yad Vashem and we will see the different memorials and monuments that are located in the compound.
We will learn about the The Righteous Among the Nations, the Diaspora (the Jews living in Europe before the war) and the terrible destiny of these Jews.
3.2. Israel Museum guided tour
(The louvre of Israel )
Thanks to my experience and education as a French National guide, I will be able to show you the impressive art collection.
I call this museum “The Louvre of Israel”.
The amazing archeological collection emphasizes on the biblical history of Israel and you will be stunned to see artifacts that we will connect directly with the Old and New testament.
The Shrine of the Book, a memorial to the oldest written biblical text in the world, will bring us to Qumran, a Jewish religious community, living in the Judean desert more than 2000 years ago.
Other museums I can guide you and highly recommend:
L.A. Mayer Institute for Islamic Art, Friends of Zion museum, Bible Lands Museum, Tower of David Museum and many more.
I curate only for private groups, up to 6 people maximum to keep the high quality of my tours.
Of course , I will adapt the tour for you :
” My day tours are absolutely adapted for your wishes. We will take a lot of pleasure learning, walking, talking, asking questions, exchanging and of course eating the best hummus, having a coffee with the locals, buying jewelry from the local business who lived in Jersualem for centuries, you will hear their stories too. We will enter and see all the Christian and Jewish Sacred places. I will give you first hand knowledge you can never find in travel books. With my experience, an my enormous passion for this country, I will do my best to make your day tour the best day in your trip in Israel 🙂 Thank you ! “
You can read more review on my Tripadvisor’s page
Fees for the tours
290$ for the 4 hours tour
460$ for the the full day tour
4. Assistance by email and Chat
As your Jerusalem Expert, I offer free help and booking services if you wish by email and whatsapp.
Email: leontineinisrael@gmail.com
If you have any question or need recommendations, feel free to contact me
A little about me …
I was born and raised in Holland. After high school, I studied to become a social worker and worked one year for the social services of the city of Amsterdam.
But after having visited Paris, I fell in love with the city and eventually moved there.
I enrolled in the Tour Guide school of Paris and started working in the best profession one can imagine: I became a licensed tour guide.
I have worked with great pleasure as a guide in France and have met so many people, developed so many new tours… it was an amazing period in my life.
But my Jewish roots pulled me to Israel and after having lived for nearly thirty years in France, I moved to the Holy Land.
The only job I could imagine doing in Israel was of course being a Tour Guide, so I enrolled in the Tour Guide school in Jerusalem, and…..here I am, ready to guide you with love and enthusiasm in this amazing country.
Like in France, I want to show you the beauty of this country, tell you the long history, share my passion with you.
I worked in Paris and designed the famed Jewish quarter tour in Paris
I trained my daughter Flora Goldenberg as a tour guide and now she is curating one of my famous tours in Paris : the Jewish Walking tour.
And sometimes, when I go back to Paris to visit her, I do the tour to help her.
The Jewish Walking Tour in Paris 
Korkaz Jewish Boutique Léontine Tour Guide in Paris 
Shoah Memorial in Paris with Léontine as a Tour Guide in Paris 
Léontine Tour Guide in Paris
But, Jerusalem is, by far, my favorite City !
Jerusalem has endless possibilities of visits with of course the Old City and its four quarters: Jewish, Armenian, Christian and Muslim.
Private Guide Jerusalem – Léontine 
Private Guide Jerusalem – Léontine 
Private Guide Jerusalem – Léontine 
Private Guide Jerusalem – Léontine 
Private Guide Jerusalem – Léontine 
Private Guide Jerusalem – Léontine
In the Old City, we can visit the Wailing Wall and the adjacent Archeological Garden where we see the history of the Second Temple Period come alive. We also visit the Roman remnants of the city, the Holy Sepulcher, the Mameluk architecture, the Hurva synagogue and walk by the Via Dolorosa and so many other sites.
Outside the Old City, we can visit the City of David with its archeology and the water tunnel of Hezekiah (yes, we will be walking through water in a 2700 year old tunnel), the incredible Israel Museum with the Dead Sea scrolls, the tomb of King Herod and many other splendors.
We can walk up the Mount of Olives and visit the churches there or end at Mount Zion where churches bear witness to the presence of events in the life of Jesus, for example his Last Supper and his imprisonment… and not to forget Yad Vashem and Mount Herzl, the Begin museum, the famous shuk and again, so many other sites.
Both the Old City and the city outside the 500 year old city walls, have endless possibilities for visiting, so I will adapt the program according to your interest, religion and previous experience within the city.
Email: leontineinisrael@gmail.com
Fees start from 290$ for a half day up to 6 people maximum to maintain the high quality of my tours.
I curate only for private groups.
See my other Guided tours in Israel ?
My new guided tours in Israel – North Coast
Here is my resume as a Private guide
I am Israeli, Dutch and French
My professional background as a private tour guide
- Free-lance licensed guide in France since 1998 until today
- Sales manager for Museum Arts Forains Paris 2005-2006
- Operations Manager with DMC Lafayette Travel Paris 2000- 2005
- Co-operator Art gallery and restaurant Paris 1985 – 1998
- Social worker with city of Amsterdam 1983-1985
- Experience with FIT, Incentive Travel, Congresses, Logistics of large events
- Professional Tour in France with License to guide in Versailles, the Louvre and all Parisian Museums
- Designed the Jewish Walking tour in Paris – I am still doing the tour in Paris , 2019 : The tour takes place in le Marais and is about 2000 years of all the Jewish Heritage of Paris, the French jewish life and WWII … you can search for my daughter : Flora Goldenberg and read about the tour
- Designed the tour of the Louvre Tour with a Jewish Influence in Paris : It is a Fantastic tour, inside the Louvre Museum, about the Kingdom of Israel and the famous donations by notorious and influent French Jews to the Louvre, about their lives, and the Jewish life in Paris before and after the WWII.
My Education
- High school Holland 1979
- Academy of social work Holland 1983
- Professional license for guiding in France 1989, 1993 and 2012
- Professional license for guiding in Israel, 2017
I speak 5 languages
- Fluent in Dutch, French, English.
- I speak Hebrew. I learned Hebrew when I moved to Israel and I loved it. It is by far my favorite language.
- Sufficient German …
To contact me :
Email: leontineinisrael@gmail.com
Adresse : HaNasi St 4, Jerusalem, 9218802, Israel
Check out my latest reviews on Tripadvisor and on Booqify.com