Before you start

A valid foreign licence, plus an IDP or notarised translation if it is not in Hebrew, English or Arabic
A Teudat Zehut and, for olim, a Teudat Oleh, for licence conversion
A Rav-Kav card or a phone set up with Moovit, HopOn or Rav-Kav Online
A view on whether you want a car at all — in a flat grid city with cycle paths, the answer is less obvious than elsewhere

Step-by-step

1
Get a Rav-Kav or set up an account-based app
A local ride is roughly ₪6 with a free transfer window. Post-paid apps apply daily and monthly fare caps automatically; a stored-value card does not.
Mobile appWho: You≈₪6 per local ride
2
Work out where Ad Halom sits relative to your rova
Ashdod's railway station is at Ad Halom, on the eastern edge beside the park, not in the residential centre. From a western rova near the sea that is a bus ride or a long cycle before you board. Price the whole door-to-door chain at the hour you would actually travel before you assume the train is your commute.
Mobile appWho: Commuters
3
Consider a bike seriously before buying a car
The city is flat, laid out on a planned grid, and has an extensive network of separated cycle paths — a combination no other large Israeli city offers. Many residents cover the whole city by bicycle or e-bike. Electric bikes and scooters are regulated: helmets and minimum ages apply and enforcement is real.
In personWho: You
4
Plan around Shabbat, which stops everything
Israel Railways and the intercity coach network stop from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening, and Ashdod has no Haifa-style Saturday bus exception. A Saturday trip to Tel Aviv or Ben Gurion Airport needs a sherut, a taxi or a car.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Convert your licence within the window
File the online green medical declaration, take a vision test at an approved optician, then book a Misrad HaRishui appointment with your foreign licence, Teudat Zehut and Teudat Oleh. Olim from Western countries with five or more years of driving history who apply within five years of aliyah usually get the expedited, no-practical-test track.
In personWho: YouPlastic licence posted in about 2–3 months

Documents you’ll need

Valid foreign driving licence, with an IDP or notarised translation if required
Teudat Zehut, and Teudat Oleh for the expedited track
Proof of five or more years of driving history for the expedited track
Completed online green medical self-declaration and an approved vision test
Lease and utility or arnona bill for a resident parking permit

Things most newcomers don’t know

Ashdod is the rare Israeli city where a bicycle is a serious transport answer.

Jerusalem is a mountain, Haifa is a cliff and Tel Aviv is congested. Ashdod is flat, planned on a grid and laid out with separated cycle paths across the quarters, so distances that would need a car elsewhere are a fifteen-minute ride here. Newcomers arrive assuming they must buy a car and frequently find, after a month, that they did not.

Source: community-reported, corroborated across Ashdod residents

The station is at the edge of the city, which changes the Tel Aviv arithmetic.

Ad Halom sits on the eastern boundary beside the Lachish, not in the middle of the residential quarters. From a seafront rova the journey starts with a bus or a substantial cycle. Anyone comparing Ashdod with a Tel Aviv suburb on published train times is comparing the wrong number: measure from your front door.

Source: Israel Railways station locations

No Israeli city outside Haifa has Saturday buses, and Ashdod is not the exception.

Haifa's Shabbat bus service is a status-quo arrangement peculiar to that city. Everywhere else, including Ashdod, the rail and bus networks stop from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. If a car-free plan depends on weekend mobility, price the sherut and taxi alternatives before you commit to it.

Source: Israel Railways Shabbat service; national bus operating practice

The expedited licence conversion has two separate deadlines.

Your right to drive on a foreign licence ends one year after entry, and the no-test expedited conversion right for olim expires five years after aliyah. People assume there is no urgency because they are still legally driving, then discover at year six that they face the full new-driver theory and practical tests.

Source: Nefesh B'Nefesh — converting a foreign driving licence; Misrad HaRishui

Common mistakes to avoid

Judging the Tel Aviv commute from published train times without adding the trip to Ad Halom.
Assuming some Saturday service exists — outside Haifa, it does not.
Buying a car in the first month before testing whether the flat grid and cycle paths cover your life.
Driving on a foreign licence past the one-year mark from entry, which voids insurance as well as legality.
Letting the five-year expedited-conversion window lapse and being pushed into the full test route.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.