Mini Israel, a tourist attraction that features Israel’s most known sites in miniature, has become
“an exceedingly popular tourist venue,” according to the Jewish Journal, but visitors to the site have offered mixed reviews.
The 15-acre site includes more than 350 detailed 1:25 scale models of the country’s most well-known sites and monuments, ranging from the Temple Mount to a bus station. The site, which opened at the end of 2002 in the Ayalon Valley between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, includes pathways that resemble a Star of David featuring six main areas of the country with dwarf vegetation and moving figurines.
According to TripAdvisor.com, Mini Israel ranks 378th of 585 attractions in Israel, averaging three and a half out of five stars from 98 reviews.
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Some of the main complaints voiced on TripAdvisor.com include that the attraction is expensive, outdated, and in disrepair.
“The concept is confused and the models past their sell by date,” one reviewer wrote in December. “We last visited mini Israel 10 years ago. Sadly little has happened in the interim except for decay and poor maintenance. No doubt it costs a lot to maintain an attraction like this ... but despite the very high entry price it does not look like this is a priority.”
Others loved the attraction, calling it adorable and a nice preview of the country.
“We visited Mini-Israel on one of the hottest day we can imagine, but we forgot the heat and had a wonderful day exploring new places we want to visit for real,” another review wrote in November 2012. “On our journey further our grandchildren had to remind us of several buildings we had seen in the park. It became like a competition finding it for real. When we came home, we enjoy looking at pictures from the park and pictures for real.”
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