This spring, the eagerly awaited high-speed train linking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem takes to the tracks. The 28-minute journey on Israel’s first electric rail line becomes operational in April, making it a breeze for visitors to get between cities. On May 4, the Giro d’Italia cycling race — one of three races that make up the sport’s Grand Tour — begins in Jerusalem. Once leaving the streets of Old City, 176 competitors will spend two days cycling from the northern part of the country to the Red Sea. The race’s location in Israel marks the first time in the competition’s history it takes place outside of Europe.

Significant new luxury hotel launches are also on the horizon, beginning with the soon-to-open The Setai Tel Aviv, located in Jaffa’s Clock Tower Square in the historic Kishle Building, once an Ottoman prison. Now, 120 elegant guestrooms and suites provide opulent lodging augmented with fine dining; a lounge bar housed in a 1,000-year-old room; a modern spa and health complex with seven treatment rooms; a Turkish hammam; and a full-service fitness center. Later this year in the Negev Desert’s Arava Valley, the Six Senses Shaharut opens the doors on a sustainable property with plenty of luxury. It will feature an outdoor cinema open to the stars, a Six Senses Spa, traditional Bedouin dining, camel stables and a desert activity center featuring an Earth Lab.