Here is how to navigate the biggest all night celebration in Israel. Lag B’omer in Israel is, in a word, awesomenatious. In America, Lag B’omer is a glorified sports day, where kids will have a day off from math and go to a park to play some baseball and have a bbq. The adults may notice it’s LB because they have a few weddings to stop in at. That’s it. In Israel, about half a million people converge on the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. The celebration lasts all night and continues on into the day. If you are lucky enough to be in Israel for Lag B’omer, here are some tips on how to get there and navigate the crowds of revelers.

There are two ways to do Lag B’omer in Meron. One is to stay someplace up North. Get there a day or two before. Leave a day or two after. This year, LB comes out on Thursday, so you may want to plan to stay in the area for the shabbos after. You can find a hotel in Safed, which is only about 11 km away from Meron, or stay in Meron itself. There are all kinds of accommodations to be had, from the cheap and functional to expensive and luxurious. Click here to search for accommodations.

If you want to be in Meron for the night and day of Lag B’omer only, there are a few things you need to know. Firstly, you can’t take a private car to Meron. You can take a private car almost to Meron. It’s so crowded that they stopped allowing private vehicles on the road leading up to the mountain. There are makeshift parking lots set up and shuttles that take people closer to the mountain. I say closer, because no matter what kind of vehicle you take, bus, shuttle van or cab, you will still have to walk about 20 minutes up a hill from where you are dropped off. So secondly, you should definitely have very comfortable shoes. You will also probably be doing a lot of dancing. And standing.

Back to taking the bus. If you are coming in from Jerusalem or any other major city in Israel, there are buses leaving to Meron every few minutes. It almost looks like a train because you can hardly tell where one bus starts and another one ends.

If you are coming with kids, people might dissuade you from bringing a baby carriage. DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE FOOLISH PEOPLE. Bring a carriage. Even if it means pushing it up a hill and negotiating around with the carriage. At one point you might wish you were a little kid yourself and had a nice comfy place to lie down for a while. Which is exactly the point. Your kids are going to conk out and you will be stuck holding them or dealing with crying, exhausted children. Have some place to put them.

Getting home is just as important as getting there. Make sure you have money on you. On the way back down the hill to catch the bus or get a cab, you will pass vendors setting up stalls selling a mishmash of stuff, jewelry, judaica, you name it. Some people are still in party mode, and some are dragging themselves down the hill just looking for a place to crash. Most people describe trying to get on the bus home as the hardest part of the night. Thousands and thousands of people are trying to get on buses, so you need to a) put your fight face on. b) make sure you don’t get trampled.  And c) have fun and take it for the experience it is.