Bethlehem

The tour of Jerusalem was 5 star. An excellent, knowledgeable and friendly driver who talked us through the journey to and from Jerusalem and guided us through the city itself. Immensely enjoyable and rich experience.
I wish I could say the same for Bethlehem. The guide there couldn't get us round quick enough and was so disinterested he could have been talking about fish and chips rather than Christ's birthplace. The entrance and exit from Bethlehem through the ghastly passport control cages was distasteful, if not actually quite frightening. And the whole experience felt like an engineered tourist trap. Don't go, is my advice. Stay in Jerusalem for the whole day or go to the Dead Sea instead.

Doing what: Day Tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Tel Aviv

This tour was awful. It should have been the best! The old city is magical and I couldn't even enjoy it because our guide was a rude old lady who didn't speak loud enough in the crowded quarters and then she told (as rude as possible) that you aren't listening if you didn't hear her. She was AWFUL..the only thing missing was the broom she rode in on.

But Bethlehem was the saving grace. The guide in Bethlehem was amazing!!!! It was great.

Doing what: Day Tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Tel Aviv

worst tour We have ever experienced ... guides and drivers extremely rude , no hello , no welcome , no good bye ... totally unpersonal .... treated like a cattle, counted numerous time like animals ... that was just about it king the boxes .. the visit of Bethlehem was a real joke ..

Doing what: Day Tour of Jerusalem and Bethlehem

We went on this tour on 15th February. We have been on a lot of similar tours in other cities and countries, and I am sorry to say this was one of the worst tours we have ever been on. We were very disappointed with the organisation, the quality of the guides, and the time we were 'forced' to spend in shops.

The tour of Jerusalem was OK, but quite uneven - a lot of time spent 'admiring' the streets and derelict buildings and not enough time at the religious sites, which is what we really wanted to see.

Bethlehem was a bit of an organisational disaster. Our guide left us in the queue for the Nativity church and only showed up again much later when we'd already walked past a couple of attractions. He didn't apologise or cover the bits he'd missed off.

We then finished the tour of the Nativity church and had to wait almost 20 minutes in the cold for the bus to pick us up, which everyone thought was unacceptable.

To our shock we were then taken to yet another shop and forced to spend half an hour there, even if no one from our group bought anything. We told the guide we wanted to leave but he told us quite rudely to wait.

When we couldn't find 5 people, we were told by the guide that we (not he) should look for them. In the end we found them waiting in the bus - I wish I had done the same, as that was half an hour of my time I will never get back.

Such a shame as both Jerusalem and Bethlehem are great places. This tour needs improving. Please take this feedback on board and make some drastic changes.

Doing what: Day Tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Tel Aviv

It's hard to find fault with a tour that took me to the birthplace of Christianity, but neither of the guides (we were handed over from an Israeli guide to one in the Palestinian-controlled territories) seemed to have any real knowledge to share, other than the most basic facts. Even in Bethlehem, commercialism reared its unpleasant head with a tour-included stop at a souvenir shop. Still, it's hard to argue with all that history (ancient and somewhat current). As long as you can withstand the pleas of merchants to buy their trinkets, though, this is definitely a tour worth taking.

Doing what: Day Tour of Jerusalem and Bethlehem

It was an interesting tour in itself, although there may be better operators than Ben Heim (sp?). 3 souvenir shops in 1 day was a bit much. The first one was supposedly for a toilet/coffee stop (yeah right) but the facilities were stinky, foul and unclean. The carpark was full of rubbish too. The first guide was a little full of himself - quite interesting but it was "my darling" this and that constantly. Then towards the end of the Jerusalem portion, 4 of us were suddenly told to go with the bus driver as the tour was splitting. We were deposited at the border with Bethlehem to wait for a guide. We waited and waited but no one showed. So finally we nervously ventured through the border only to find a driver waiting for us on the other side. So much for the instructions! He delivered us to our next guide who actually was very good although again, we had the inevitable and lengthy souvenir shop visit. After seeing Bethlehem, we went back through the border, waited for a while and finally a vehicle arrived but we apparently had to wait for 5 minutes for another person to join us from another tour. It ended up being an hour of sitting, waiting in the gathering dusk with no explanations. So it was a big 12 hour day. Conclusion? I'd recommend trying another operator.

Doing what: Day Tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Tel Aviv

The content was good but the tour company and tour guides spoiled it for me. The tour company kept passing us around like hot potatoes, from one bus to another to their convenience and not ours. "Ossie" the Israeli tour guide was very unpleasant when we complained about being left stranded in and passed around from one happless guide to another in Bethlehem (West Bank).

Doing what: Day Tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Tel Aviv

The tour of the Old City, Masada and Bethlehem were great. Our tour guide with Bein Harim (his name is Aharon Yahav) did a fantastic job. HOWEVER, I sent a email to support@viator.com on October 8 (enquiry #4082080) and a follow up email on October 13 (enquiry # 4092121) about an issue that needs to be resolved. You can call me at 480-239-6721. Thank you, Jeffrey Sloan

Doing what: 2-Day Best of Israel Tour: Old Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Masada & the Dead Sea

We appreciated the guided tours of old town Jerusalem and part of Bethlehem, but did not appreciate being steered into particular souvenir shops and food vendors. Our guides were friendly, but didn't spend much time actually explaining history or context of what we were seeing. For the amount of money we spent, I would have appreciated more "tour" and less shopping.

Doing what: Day Tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Tel Aviv

Tour guide for Jerusalem was good.
Spoke good English, knew his stuff.
Tour guide in Bethlehem - was not as good. Was more interested in ushing us to the gift shops to buy mementos. We would have preferred to spend more time in the Nativity Church.
The Coach that was supposed to "pick us" up at 8:30 did not come till 9:pm. We were left guessing which was the tour coach - as there were various.

Doing what: Day Tour of Jerusalem and Bethlehem

Communication from me via email was efficient and easy, however that company not having my reservation caused a one hour and 15 minute delay for my pick up. I had to call the company to get picked up. The bus ride to the transfer point was timely and the bus was clean, the tour guide was knowledgable and easily understood and made sure I found the correct bus to be on for my tour, he was going to Masada I was going to Bethlehem. The transfer bus was clean and the driver was nice. The driver and guide from Bethlehem were excellent! We were able to avoid long lines, they had incredible knowledge, made sure all 8 of us on the tour had a chance to see and photograph everything we wanted, and made sure we were on time for all sights. After the tour we were taken to a store that had quality items as well as kitsch items. I did not feel pressured to purchase. I enjoyed the hospitality of tea or coffee. The bus back to Jerusalem was late and the driver dropped us at Jaffa Gate instead of the hotel due to of the ladies on the tour requesting that they be dropped off at the Jaffa gate. The driver refused to take us to the hotel that was the original drop off point. We had to walk. Thankfully one of the other tourists knew where we had to go. My rating for the tour guide and driver in Bethlehem is a five plus, my rating for the Bein Harim part in Jerusalem and my pick up 2.5.

Doing what: Little Town of Bethlehem Half Day Trip from Tel Aviv

Jerusalem was fantastic , i think everybody must see this holy city before die . I think it is the best daily tour in İsrael , Bethlehem also has very different atmosphere . Church of Nativity must seen .

Doing what: Day Tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Tel Aviv

Totally disorganized....took 3 calls to get someone to show, then long wait at meeting place, then poor guides. Complete waste of time and $. Just get an Arab taxi driver to take you into Bethlehem!

Doing what: Little Town of Bethlehem Half Day Trip from Jerusalem

The trip to Bethlehem was okay. It was only a half day, so by definition it was rushed. It was a bit difficult because the Israeli guide could not go with us through the wall into the West Bank, and we had to meet the Palestinian guide on the other side. It all went smoothly, but it added a bit of stress to the day. They guide got us into the grotto in the Church of the Nativity by avoiding the long line. In the end, the tour was not great (no tour is), but we did get to see the highlights.

Doing what: Little Town of Bethlehem Half Day Trip from Jerusalem

Fantastic tour of the safe areas in Jerusalem including walking the last half of the Via Dolorosa to Holy Sepulchre Church. Great guide who gave us all time to absorb the atmosphere. The Wailing Wall and the walk through the old city was fascinating. NB There are many steps and slippery marble pavements to negotiate as well as lots of standing in queues to see things more closely. The trip to Bethlehem meant crossing into the Palestinian Territories (remember your passport) and winding our way alone through the wall which divides the 2 states.The Jewish guide stayed in Israel and we met our Palestinian guide on the other side. No queues and no problems. The Church of the Nativity had the longest queues but our guide helped the time pass with lots of information and humour. Went up to the Shepherds Field and there were sheep and modern shepherds in the valley opposite. A long but very rewarding day.

Doing what: Day Tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from Tel Aviv