middle east apartment renting

Cairo is cheap. Israel is not. Renting in west bank will be cheap but I don’t know if it makes sense, depenending on what you wanna do of course. I don’t think you can rent in gaza. It’s also fun with visas here. Don’t let the Israelis stamp your passport, or you’ll have troubles getting into some other coutries in the region. It works both ways with some countries actually.

I’m working out of Jerusalem and I’m renting a place (single room in a hostel) for about 80 shekels per night. Very good location, cool place, etc. Renting an apartment has got its pros and cons – if you’re coming to stay for longer than a month in one place then I guess it makes sense, but on the other side, no everywhere is safe, a fellow lighstalker got shit stolen from his HQ here recently…

Luke’s right, it’s cheaper to find a place in Ramallah or Gaza as opposed to Jerusalem. I rented an apartment in Gaza city for a month and it was around $300. For apartments and rooms in Jerusalem you can try this message board: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Flathunting/

The cost of living in Cairo is much cheaper than Israel, although I’m not sure of what the apartment rates are at the moment. You can have a room in a small pension near the heart of downtown for around $6 per night. Google the Pension Roma and you should be able to find it. Cheap and clean enough to give you time to look for another place if you settle there.

The countries you mentioned should all give visa on arrival although some charge more or have different rules if you have US passport, I think Turkey is one of them. More info on visas here: http://www.traveldocs.com/nations.htm#a

Good luck,

Frazer

thanks luke and frazer for the information.

i am thinking of longer term, so the information is good. the last two times i was in israel i stayed in the old city in jerusalem at the petra hostel over by the jaffa gate. not bad and the clientele is very interesting.

thanks again

k

are Moses and the Roman Centurion still staying at the Petra?

ha

i dont remember them, but Gabriel and his wife and child are there, fully ensconced in robes and cowls. also, there was a chechnyan who had somehow, according to him, lost his citizenship and various and sundry others.

k

Gabriel is the man!

(No sign of Moses or Roman Centurion, but there are plenty of other fun characters around.)

yes indeed, Gabriel rocks. he gave me many free beers in exchange for good conversation.

Lived in Berirut for a while, its not cheap! paid around $600/month and that was at the cheap end of the market. there pretty good about visas and residence permits, its just lots of trudging around offices and you need to pay in Lebenese Lira which means trying to find a bank that has a couple of million of them knocking around :-)

Ditto what everyones said about jerusleum/rammalah etc.

Paul

Lived in Berirut for a while, its not cheap! paid around $600/month and that was at the cheap end of the market. there pretty good about visas and residence permits, its just lots of trudging around offices and you need to pay in Lebenese Lira which means trying to find a bank that has a couple of million of them knocking around :-)

Ditto what everyones said about jerusleum/rammalah etc.

Paul

Lived in Berirut for a while, its not cheap! paid around $600/month and that was at the cheap end of the market. there pretty good about visas and residence permits, its just lots of trudging around offices and you need to pay in Lebenese Lira which means trying to find a bank that has a couple of million of them knocking around :-)

Ditto what everyones said about jerusleum/rammalah etc.

Paul

not sure why that came up 3 times :-(