Bethlehem Half-Day Historical Trip from Jerusalem | La Vacanza Travel

Bethlehem Half-Day Historical Trip from Jerusalem

Duration: 5 hours
Destination: Israel, Jerusalem District, Jerusalem
from
142.6

Check Availability

  • 5 hours
  • Jerusalem
  • E-Voucher
  • Lowest Price
  • Not-Cancellable

Overview

Holy Bethlehem Tour

See the birthplace of Jesus on this guided half-day tour from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Visit Greek and Catholic churches and trace the events of the Nativity of Jesus. See the Grotto of Lady Mary, also called the Milk Grotto, where it is believed Mary, Joseph and Jesus sought refuge from King Herod before fleeing to Egypt From Manger Square to the Church of the Nativity, the Milk Grotto and Shepherds’ Field, follow the timeline to Jesus’ birth. Uncover the highlights of this holy city, a major Christian pilgrimage site.

.
• Guided tour of the popular Holy Land sights by local experts
• Transport by air-conditioned coach
• Includes all entrance fees
• Pickup only Jerusalem Hotels.
• Instant Confirmation

What Can You Expect?

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Harei Yehuda, Israel

This tour is half-day historical Bethlehem tour sets off through the Judean Hills to Bethlehem to explore the Holy Grotto where Jesus was born.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Bethlehem, Bethlehem, West Bank

Explore The little and the Historical city Bethlehem

Duration: 3 hours

Stop At: Church of the Nativity, Manger St, Bethlehem Palestinian Territories

On arrival, we stop in Manger Square and go into the historic Church of the Nativity. This church was built around the Holy Grotto where Jesus was born on the first Christmas Eve. The silver star on the grotto floor marks the site of the nativity. Enjoy the architectural features of the church, the many works of art and see part of the original mosaic floor.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Bethlehem Palestinian Territories

From here the tour continues to the Church of St. Catherine. The tour goes beneath the church into ancient grottoes to see altars, tombs and where St Jerome translated the Hebrew Bible to Latin.

Duration: 25 minutes

Pass By: Chapel of the Shepherds’ Field, Beit Sahour. Beit Sahour

We leave Bethlehem passing the historical Shepherds Field and the Biblical Field of Ruth before returning to Jerusalem. End the tour approx. 13:00 - 14:00 at David Citadel Hotel, Jerusalem. There is no return back to your hotel.

Inclusions & Exclusions

Inclusions
  • Hotel pickup
  • Professional guide
  • Air-conditioned vehicle
  • Includes all entrance fees
  • Entry/Admission - Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria
  • Entry/Admission - Church of the Nativity

Exclusions
  • Food and drinks.
  • Insurance.
  • Drop-off No retourn to hotel

Additional Info

  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Modest dress is obligatory for visits to holy sites; covered knees and shoulders.
  • Passport compulsory.
  • Visit to Bethlehem: due to the high number of visitors, entrance to the Nativity Cave may be limited.
  • Minimum starting age for the tour is 4 years old.
  • Most travelers can participate
  • Tour ends approx. 13:00 at the David Citadel Hotel, Jerusalem. There is no return back to your hotel
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 40 travelers
  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking

Departure Point

Departure Point

Traveler pickup is offered


Departure Time

07:50 AM

Duration & Voucher Info

Voucher info

You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity.

Duration

5 hours

Cancellation Policy

User's Reviews

lisadlv

11 Dec, 2022

I generally try not to leave bad reviews, but this experience what so poorly operated that I want to make sure no one else makes the same mistake in booking this tour. First of all, our hotel pick up was 20 mins late. Once our bus finally arrived, we were shuttled to a view point outside the city where we waited an hour before getting on our second bus. We then met our driver, Hassan. While he was nice, he was a very heavy smoker & his bus smelled quite musty with smoke. Hassan drove us to our first stop, the Shepherds Fields where we met our tour guide, Danny. He didn’t offer much historical information, but rather gave us a pitch as to why there were no more Christians in Bethlehem & why we should encourage Christians to move back to Palestine. It was quite strange & slightly uncomfortable. In this first stop we saw some caves where shepherds used to sell their cattle. Honestly, it wasn’t very interesting to see & it was unclear as to why this was a highlight of the tour. Then we had a brief stop at the Church of the Shepherds. Again, not a lot of historical information was given. I actually had to Wikipedia what the area was to understand what the history of what we were seeing. Then we were quickly moved back to the bus and went to the next stop, which was a very overpriced souvenir shop. There was no indication on the tour explanation page on Tripadvisor that we would be stopping at this shop. Clearly the tour guides got a commission for bringing buses here, which was frustrating, as we spent about an hour there waiting to leave for our next spot. Most of the people on the tour did not purchase anything as the items were about 3x the price for what you could also buy in the old city in Jerusalem. Most of us just sat & waited to leave. At this point our bus & driver were no where to be found. Our tour group was split up and asked to get into 2 different minivans without explanation of what was happening or where we were going, which was a bit scary. Our new driver Johnny drove us through heavy traffic to the Church of the Nativity. Again, once we got there our tour guide Danny failed to give us any historical information. Instead, he just directed us to stand in line to see the manger & the star of Bethlehem. Danny left us for a majority of the time & we were alone standing in this line with no indication of where we were or what was happening. The line was extremely disorganized. Hundreds and hundred of people were waiting in this line. Frustrated with how much time the queue was taking, several tour groups were being encouraged to skip ahead. This line took 2.5 hours before we got to see the manger. Again, Danny failed to give us any pertinent information about the church. We could have spent the 2.5 hours in line learning about the church, but again, Danny was not with us as we waited. The line was utter chaos as we inched closer to the entrance. You had to descend down some steep stairs on a very narrow path to see the manger, and all the people we cutting & shoving each other to get down there. My particular group had 3 octogenarians and it was terrifying to put them in that scenario. Once we got to the manger & the Star of Bethlehem, we had less than 2 mins to spend there as the rest of the tours were pushing to get their chance to see the manger as well. There was no order & the complete chaos made the experience awful. What was meant to be a poignant & holy stop, felt rushed and honestly quite bad as the people in line were very aggressive. Once we all exited, our tour group gathered outside & our tour guide left us again & encouraged us to “meditate” in garden. Our group was extremely frustrated at this point, as we were exhausted from standing in line. Our tour was well past the time we were meant to be back at our hotels. And because the line inside took so long, we were unable to go to our final stop, the Milk Grotto. As we left the Church, our minivans were nowhere to be found & we were asked to walk UPHILL about 800 meters to a different location. I want to remind you that our group had 3 - 80+ year olds, one who had a heart condition. An uphill climb in the heat was very challenging for them. The entire group was extremely frustrated. At this point it was 3pm. We were supposed to be back at our hotels & finished with tour by 1pm. This tour started at 7:50am & offered no meals or any stops to eat. We were well past lunchtime, starving, exhausted & very much wanted to go home. Once we stopped walking we had to wait for the 2 minivans to pick us up. The driver Danny said that the drive would only be 5 mins to next location where we were meant to meet our original driver, Hassan, who would take us back to Jerusalem. The ride was more like 20 mins & we were dropped off at a random location on a hill with nothing was around us. We waited another 20 mins until our final bus arrived. During this time I called the tour company to complain & they assured me that the driver was 4 minutes away. That was clearly not the case. Finally Hassan and our original tour bus arrived. Our whole tour group sat in silence on the ride back to Jerusalem. We were all tired, hungry, exhausted & upset with how the whole day played out. In fact, my family asked to be dropped off early once we got into town, as we were completely over this excursion. Do yourself a favor if you are interested in booking this tour. Steer clear of this company. It was a poorly run, disorganized mess. I learned more about these stops by googling info on my phone while we waited in line. My family traveled from California as this was a bucket list destination for my catholic family. What a complete disappointment the whole day was. Rest assured I will never book this company again & I encourage you to do the same.

bkpmeap

15 Jul, 2019

While I cannot recall our guide's name in Bethlehem (it might have been Maria), I will attest that she (petite, brown hair, early 50s) was amazingly loving and informative and took care of our group making sure we were able to experience everything scheduled. Almost like a momma bear, she patiently answered all questions, made it so that other groups did not skip us on line and was fluent in English and Spanish (and probably other languages!). You could tell she really enjoyed her job and respected and took great pride in sharing the history of Bethlehem and more importantly, of her faith. Getting there was tricky, but not an inconvenience. If anything, riding with our personal driver (six or seven to the van) through windy Palestinian streets was an adventure, a safe and exciting adventure. Our drivers in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Bethlehem were knowledgable and drove safely. What a day!

User's Picture Gallery

Similar Packages

Other Populars

Some popular Sightseeing Tours, Activities and Holiday Packages.

Israel - SightSeeing Tours and Activities View All

Masada and the Dead Sea Day Trip from Jerusalem
747Reviews
From$111.00

Masada and the Dead Sea Day Trip from Jerusalem

Masada and the Dead Sea Day Trip from Tel Aviv
1003Reviews
From$120.00

Tel Aviv to Masada and Dead Sea Day Trip with Cable Car Ride

Travel To Bethlehem, Jericho & Jordan River - Group Guided Tour from Jerusalem
127Reviews
From$89.00

Travel To Bethlehem, Jericho & Jordan River - Group Guided Tour from Jerusalem

Old and New Jerusalem Full-Day Tour
270Reviews
From$75.00

Old and New Jerusalem Full-Day Guided Tour

Jerusalem : Private Walking Tour with A Guide (Private Tour)
10Reviews
From$108.41

Jerusalem : Private Walking Tour with A Guide (Private Tour)

Day Tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Tel Aviv
717Reviews
From$121.00

Day Tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Tel Aviv

Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee Day Trip from Jerusalem
442Reviews
From$108.00

Nazareth, Sea of Galilee Day Tour from Jerusalem

4WD Masada Ein Gedi Judea desert Dead Sea adventure 4x4 Tour.
20Reviews
From$599.00

4WD Masada Ein Gedi Judea desert Dead Sea adventure 4x4 Tour.

Masada, Ein Gedi and The Dead Sea from Jerusalem
259Reviews
From$69.00

Masada, Ein Gedi and The Dead Sea from Jerusalem

Private Full Day Tour to Bethlehem and Jerusalem From Tel Aviv
10Reviews
From$420.00

Private Full Day Tour to Bethlehem and Jerusalem From Tel Aviv

Best of Tel Aviv and Jaffa Walking Tour - 1 Day
50Reviews
From$89.00

Best of Tel Aviv and Jaffa Walking Tour - 1 Day

Bethlehem & Dead Sea Day Tour from Jerusalem & Tel Aviv
38Reviews
From$65.00

Bethlehem Tour and Dead Sea Visit from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv

Carmel Market Tasting Tour - LocaLocal
136Reviews
From$122.00

Tel Aviv Carmel Market Food-Tasting Tour

Jerusalem and the Dead Sea from Tel Aviv
443Reviews
From$133.00

Israel Day Tour of Old City Jerusalem, Dead Sea from Tel Aviv

All the Best of Tel Aviv Walking Tour
155Reviews
From$28.19

All the Best of Tel Aviv Walking Tour

Jerusalem - Holiday Packages View All

FromRs.74500

4-Days Best of Jerusalem with Masada and The Dead Sea in Israel

Duration : 03 Nights | 04 Days

Ask For Price

8-Days Best of Israel and Jordan

Duration : 08 Nights | 09 Day

Ask For Price

08 Days Tour - Best of Israel

Duration : 7 Nights | 8 Days

Jerusalem - Top Tourist Attractions View All

Jerusalem Old City

Jerusalem Old City

If you want to truly experience what ancient Jerusalem was like, you should book a tour to the Old City. The walled area within the modern part of Jerusalem preserves

Al-Haram Al-Sharif | Temple Mount

Al-Haram Al-Sharif | Temple Mount

For the Jews, the world was created and will finally end at Al-Haram Al-Sharif or the Temple Mount

The Wailing Wall | Western Wall

The Wailing Wall | Western Wall

Located within the Old City of Jerusalem and connected to the Temple Mount, the Wailing Wall is an important holy site for the Jews. It is one of the tourist attractio

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

As one of the top attractions within the Old City of Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a part of a full-day tour in the Holy Land. Identified as the place

Dome of The Rock, Jerusalem

Dome of The Rock, Jerusalem

Located inside a compound referred to as al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, by Muslims, and as the Temple Mount by Jews in Jerusalem's Old City (A UNESCO Worl

The Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is not far from the Dome of the Rock, It is located inside the same compound referred to as al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, by Muslims,

Mount of Olives

Mount of Olives

One of the most significant places in the history of Jesus’ life is the Mount of Olives named after the groves of olives that once covered the mountain ridge.br

The Church of the Nativity

The Church of the Nativity

Setting foot on the place where Jesus Christ was born is a sacred moment for any pilgrim. The Church of the Nativity located in Bethlehem in the Palestinian West

Via Dolorosa Street

Via Dolorosa Street

Any Christian pilgrim dreams of walking the same path that Jesus Christ took to his crucifixion and death. The Via Dolorosa or the Way of Sorrows is a route in the Old

Tower of David

Tower of David

Towering high above Jerusalem’s skyline is the Tower of David, a citadel that is perhaps the only witness to Israel’s long and colorful history. A living m

- Where To Stay View All