A Christmas Story To Remember (Private)

Arrival to the Holy Land via Ben Gurion International Airport. Go through passport control and customs. Retrieve your luggage from luggage claim and continue to the arrival hall where you will meet your driver. Transfer to Bethlehem for check-in and overnight.  *Since this is a shared group tour arrival transfer is not included. $150 USD per 5-seater van transfer from the Airport to Bethlehem Hotel. 

After breakfast at the hotel, meet with your driver for a tour of the Old City.  Jerusalem occupies a unique place in the world. It is holy to Judaism Christianity, and Islam. This day’s tour starts on Mt. Scopus with a panoramic view of the city from the east. Mount Scopus is part of a ridge of mountains that includes the Mount of Olives. Scopus deserves its name as one of the best places to get an overview of Jerusalem especially from the mount’s promenade. Then to Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives, one of three hills on a long ridge to the east of Jerusalem, is the location of many biblical events. Rising to more than 800 meters, it offers an unrivalled vista of the Old City and its environs. Continue to Garden of Gethsemane. The Garden of Gethsemane, near the foot of the Mount of Olives, named in the New Testament where Jesus went with his disciples to pray the night before he was crucified.  In the afternoon, walk into the Old City to see and touch the Western Wall (Wailing Wall), the only one remnant of the Second Temple. Walk the Way of the Cross, the Via Dolorosa, to Calvary and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, housing both the traditional site of Crucifixion and the Tomb of the Resurrection. Then turn southwest, just outside the Old City, visit Mount Zion, with the traditional tomb of King David and the Room of the Last Supper. Finish your day by transferring to your hotel in Bethlehem for an overnight.

After breakfast at the hotel, meet with your driver. There’s no better place in the world to spend Christmas Eve than in Bethlehem, standing in the same place where Jesus Christ was born. Celebrate Christmas Eve morning with the Scout Boys and locals to welcome the Patriarch at Manger Square. Continue to roam in Manger Square, visit the Church of the Nativity, the Grotto of the Nativity, and Chapel of Saint Jerome. The Church of the Nativity is the most important landmark in Bethlehem and marks the site where the nativity took place. It was in Bethlehem just over 2,000 years ago that Mary gave birth to baby Jesus. Today Bethlehem is a thriving city in the Palestinian Authority West Bank approximately 10 km south of Jerusalem and the Nativity Church is the city’s top attraction.  Transfer back to your hotel. Later today, go back to Manger Square to watch Midnight Mass in its center, take photos in front of the soaring Christmas tree and soak in the unique Christmas atmosphere all around (Driver only). Overnight at your Bethlehem Hotel.