Tours To Bethlehem - Having Difficulty Finding

[pirokp]

Hi,

 

We will be at the port of Ashdod for two days. My husband and I would really like to go to Bethlehem. Royal Caribbean offers a tour (5 hours) for $119. I cannot find any private tour companies that go to Bethlehem. I assume this is because Israel citizens cannot enter Bethlehem?

 

Is there a way to do Bethlehem on our own? Or does anyone know of any private tour operators.

 

The ship tour at $119 a person seems a bit pricey.

 

Thoughts? Thank you all!

[Fblack]

While it seems pricey, tours to Bethlehem are a bit more expensive due to special travel issues. You have to change guides and occasionally buses at the Palestinian Territories during the trip. I am sure you can find some private companies to take you. Check out King David Tours from Ashdod. I have not personally used them.

[Keith1010]

In my opinion this tour is not pricey. The ride alone is over one hour each way and you will have two different tour guides. A private tour is nice but you will likely pay more than this. I would go with the ships tour.

 

I would actually pick either one tour that does both Jerusalem and Bethlehem or do tours on two days. You will get so much more on a tour.

 

Keith

[suekay]

We went to Bethlehem and Jerusalem with Guidedtoursisrael

[marilyn71]

Hi,

 

We will be at the port of Ashdod for two days. My husband and I would really like to go to Bethlehem. Royal Caribbean offers a tour (5 hours) for $119. I cannot find any private tour companies that go to Bethlehem. I assume this is because Israel citizens cannot enter Bethlehem?

 

Is there a way to do Bethlehem on our own? Or does anyone know of any private tour operators.

 

The ship tour at $119 a person seems a bit pricey.

 

Thoughts? Thank you all!

 

We'll be there in nov and have a Jerusalem/Dead sea tour with Group Tours Israel then a tour to Ceasarea, Acre, etc with tour plan israel, we're cruising with ncl and the private tours we found r much much less than ncls plus you can customize them to your liking. We've cruised over there before a found out quick that very few of the cruise lines tours r worth the money, wayyyy overpriced. Hope this helps, Marilyn

[mikewrit]

We got terrific service from Guided Tours Israel from initial contact (through our roll call) to final farewell. We toured the north of the country out of Haifa and the south out of Ashdod. Bethlehem is always problematic because it is behind the Palestine wall. The guide either has to have a border pass or have a Palestinian meet the bus or van outside.

[aqua]

We went to Bethlehem when we used Guided Tours Israel in November.The guide from GTI left us at the gift shop outside the gates of Bethlehem. After shopping for a half hour or so, we boarded a bus and went inside. (Please note that GTI had told us of Bethlehem's gift shop requirement in advance.) We were very lucky because we were the only English speaking people on the bus, so we had our own guide inside the city. The guide, Ramzi was amazing. Although there was a 2 hour line to go into the "cave" where Jesus was born, he arranged for us to enter through the exit. I don't know if this is the norm, but that alone was worth the cost of going on a private tour. After our visit to Bethlehem, the GTI guide picked us up and continued our tour of Jerusalem.