Getting from Ben Gurion International Airport to the city

Shabbat closes the railway

• Israel Railways normally suspends passenger services from Friday afternoon until Saturday night, and that includes the Ben Gurion Airport station. Two independent publishers establish it: The Jewish Chronicle writes that "the country's national rail network normally suspends passenger services during Shabbat, from Friday evening until Saturday night", and The Times of Israel that "Israel has never had official public transportation on Shabbat due to opposition from religious lawmakers".
• The exceptions have been emergency wartime arrangements, announced a few days in advance to move returning Israelis, and reported as extraordinary precisely because they are not normal. Do not plan a Friday evening or Saturday arrival around the train.
• The station serves Terminal 3. Israel Railways information: *5770 or 03-5774000.

The Egged trap: five kilometres of no man's land

• This is the finding that catches people. Egged's lines reach El Al Junction on Highway 40, a distance of 5 km from Ben Gurion Airport, not the terminal. The airport says so on its own directions page.
• On an intercity line serving El Al Junction, ask the driver for a ticket which includes the transfer to the airport. If you do not, you cannot simply pay on the connecting shuttle: payments on Egged route 5 are for internal trips only.
• Route 5 is the shuttle between Airport City, El Al Junction and Ben Gurion Airport, stopping on Level 2 (Public Transport) at Terminal 3.

The buses that do come in

• Bus 485 to Jerusalem, from Terminal 3, Level 2, Exit 21. The airport lists it under the Egged heading but states that Afikim operates it. Afikim: *6686.
• Kavim route 445 to Tel Aviv, Terminal 3, Level 2. Kavim: *2060 or 03-7732060.
• Metropoline to Be'er Sheva, Terminal 3, Level 2. Metropoline: *5900.
• Egged customer support: 03-6949888 or *2800. The Ministry of Transport's national public transport information centre is *8787 or 08-6831610.

Fares, taxis and the app that is not there

• The airport authority publishes no fares at all. No train fare, no bus fare, no taxi tariff, no sample price to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Every page hands you a phone number instead. That is a real answer: if you want a number before you land, you have to ring one of the operators above.
• Taxis are meter only. The airport states "Payment of the taxi fare is by meter only" and that the service runs 24 hours a day. Terminal 3: the licensed rank is along the pavement on the ground floor at the exit from Gate 03. Terminal 1: at the exit from the domestic flights welcomers hall.
• Uber does not operate in Israel. Israel does not appear on Uber's own country list of the 15,000 cities it serves, and no Israeli airport appears on Uber's list of airports where it is available.

Getting between the terminals

• Two free shuttle routes, both every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, all week, with the airport promising no wait longer than 20 minutes: long-term car park 15 to Terminal 3 (stop on Level G near Gate 01) and Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 (Terminal 1 stop opposite Gate 4).
• The airport's own advice is to check which terminal your flight leaves from before you get in the taxi, and tell the driver.

Short term bills by the minute

• 0.5 NIS per parking minute, in the Terminal 3 short-term car parks (Orchard and Vineyard) and at Terminal 1. At 30 shekels an hour that is one of the more expensive kerbside car parks in the region, and it is the one the signs steer you into.
• A 15 minute grace period allows a free exit. Stay 16 minutes and you are paying from minute one.
• Parking beyond 24 hours is not permitted in short term, and the airport says vehicles left longer are towed at the owner's expense.

The waiting lot is the one with the free hour

• The separate passenger waiting lot charges nothing for the first hour, then 0.50 per minute up to 24 hours.
• Its daily maximum is seasonal: 135 NIS a day between 15 June and 31 October, and 100 NIS a day outside that window. If you are meeting a delayed flight, this is the car park to use, not the short-term one.

Long term

• Lot 15, the main long-stay facility, open 24/7: 50 NIS per day unroofed plus 12 NIS per extra hour, or 90 NIS per day roofed plus 16 NIS per extra hour. Free shuttle to Terminal 3 every 20 minutes.
• Lot 22 in the east area serves Terminal 1; lots 26 and 28 in the west serve Terminal 3. All three are 50 NIS per day plus 12 NIS per extra hour, with free shuttles 24/7 every 10 to 20 minutes.
• No weekly rate is published.

If something goes wrong

• The parking control office sits next to the exit lanes from the Kerem short-term car park at Terminal 3: 03-9752550, extension 4.