TRAVEL TIPS

Mail

The post office does it all: handles regular and express letters, sends and receives faxes, accepts bill payments, sells phone cards and parking cards, handles money transfers, and offers quick-delivery service. Nearly every neighborhood has a post office, identified by a white racing deer on a red background. English is almost always spoken. The main branches are usually open from 8 until 6 or 7, and small offices are usually open Sunday to Tuesday and Thursday 8 to 12:30 and 3:30 to 6, Wednesday 8 to 1:30, and Friday 8 to noon. In Muslim areas the post office is closed Friday, and in Christian areas it's closed Sunday.

It takes 7 to 12 days for mail to reach the United States from Israel. Mail delivery from Israel is mostly reliable.

Israel changed from using postal codes with five digits to seven in 2013. In mailing addresses, the abbreviation M. P. stands for Mobile Post (M. P. Gilboa, for example). You see this as part of the address in more rural areas. Tourists who want to receive mail at a local post office should have it addressed to "Poste Restante" along with the name of the town. Such mail is held for pickup free of charge for up to one month.

Shipping Packages

Most stores offer shipping to international destinations. If you choose to send your purchases home yourself, all the supplies you need are at any local post office, but be prepared to wait in a long line. Bring picture ID with you. To Canada and the United States, packages take approximately two weeks by air. Quicker, more expensive alternatives are FedEx and UPS.

Express Services

EMS Service. 076/887–0007; www.israelpost.co.il.

FedEx. 700/700–339; www.fedex.com.

UPS. 800/834–834; www.ups.com.

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