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 realistic plan for parking if you take a flat anywhere near the old city

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. Moovit is the app locals actually use for live times.
Mobile appWho: You≈₪6 per local ride
2
Build your commute around the Haifa corridor
The direct bus from Paulus VI Street to Haifa Merkaz HaShmona takes about 50 minutes and runs roughly every twenty minutes. That corridor, not the rail network, is what puts a metropolitan job market within reach of a Nazareth address.
Mobile appWho: Commuters
3
Treat Afula station as a connection, not a station of your own
Afula, about 10 km south, is the nearest Israel Railways stop and sits on the Valley Railway to Haifa and Beit She'an. Nazareth buses do not serve its platform directly, so a rail journey means a bus, a change and then the train. Price the whole chain before you assume the train is faster.
Mobile appWho: You
4
Know which Saturdays move and which do not
Nazareth's own shops and much of its local bus service run on Shabbat, which is unusual in Israel and one reason the city fills with day visitors. Israel Railways and the national intercity coach network still stop from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening, so a Saturday trip to Tel Aviv or Ben Gurion Airport needs a sherut, a taxi or a car.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Do not plan to park in the old city
The lanes below the basilica are steep, narrow, largely one-way and in places not driveable at all. Residents park in lots on the ring roads and walk down. If a flat in the souq appeals to you, work out where the car goes before you sign, not after.
In personWho: You
6
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 and Teudat Zehut. 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

The largest city in the Northern District has no railway station, and that shapes everything.

Every other Israeli city of this size sits on the rail network, and relocation advice quietly assumes it. In Nazareth the bus corridor to Haifa is the transport network, so where you live is judged by walking distance to Paulus VI Street and the ring-road stops rather than by distance to a platform. Check the actual bus route from a shortlisted flat at the hour you would travel.

Source: Israel Railways network map; Nazareth bus network

Nazareth's open Saturday is local only.

The city trades on Shabbat, which is genuinely useful and is why Israelis drive here for the day. But the national rail and intercity coach network stops for it. So a Nazareth Saturday gives you an open city and a closed country: fine for a day at home, useless for a flight or a trip south. People conflate the two and miss departures.

Source: Israel Railways Shabbat service; local trading practice

The old city is a walking city, and the flats in it are priced as if it were not.

The souq lanes are steep, stepped in places and effectively closed to cars. A beautiful Ottoman flat two minutes from the basilica may be fifteen minutes from anywhere you can leave a vehicle, uphill, with shopping. Walk the route from the nearest legal parking to the front door before you fall in love with the courtyard.

Source: community-reported, corroborated across Old City tenancies

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

Planning a commute around a train, in a city that has no station.
Assuming Nazareth's open Saturday means the national network is running — it is not.
Taking an Old City flat without establishing where a car can legally and permanently go.
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.