Yavne: We've been riding the rails, being convinced that the best way to (a) get from point to point and (b) to see much of the country in comfort is to buy a ticket on Israel Rail.
We rode from Yavne to near Haifa - and back.
What you discover riding the rails is that Israel is a land of cranes and fields.
Source: http://www.rail.co.il/EN/Stations/Map/Pages/RouteMap.aspx
Israel is, unlike less civilized countries, is expanding its rail system. Coupled with better-than-good bus systems, a car is pretty much an expensive option. The train to Bet Shean is expected to be operational in 2016 or sooner; bridges already are in place and awaiting tracks.
The trains are clean (!), climate-controlled, reasonably comfortable (OK, the seats are a little hard - bring your own cushion if you have a sensitive backside), have Wi-Fi and electrical outlets for computers, the ubiquitous cell phones, and other devices.
There is one caveat: the railroad cars (coaches, carriages) are packed to Standing Room Only capacity on Fridays, early Sundays, and the days before and after holidays; soldiers ride both trains and buses gratis. Still, even in SRO conditions someone will give their seat to a geezer.
Because we bought one-way tickets we paid a small penalty over the round-trip price, but even then our half-price geezer tickets were only 27.50 NIS from Yavne to Hutsot HaNifrats, north of Haifa Center - HaShmona. We changed trains twice going north and once coming south; the wait times were short.
As I write this, US$1 = NIS 3.455580, you do the math.
According to one of my sisters-in-law - here after SIL - she and her husband buy roundtrip tickets from Hatsot HaNifrats to Tel Aviv - they like to shop - and their geezer tickets include bus passes so they can ride a local bus from the train station (takana rakevet) to wherever they want to go in Tel Aviv, then return to the train station. Not bad for less than US$10. ('Course what they spend in Tel Aviv . . . )
The trains have large, fairly clean windows that allow passengers to survey the landscape as they roll by.
Near any city of consequence - and a few of little consequence - the view is a mixture of cranes raising buildings of 10 or more stories next to open fields that, depending on season, are either bare or bearing.
Old houses compete with new mid- and high-rises for space in established communities; it's easy to see a Mandatory-period structure next to a new building.
All this from a train window.
