Trip Details

Basic Itinerary :

We arrive at the Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport and visit the old city of Jaffa and Tel Aviv, the largest Jewish metropolitan area in the world. Our first night will be on the Mediterranean coast as we prepare for our amazing experience.

Travel up the coast to Caesarea, Mt Carmel and onto Nazareth, the boyhood home of the Savior. We stop on Mt Tabor, to study the transfiguration of Christ before we end our day by the shores of Galilee.

We study at the Mt. Of Beatitudes and Capernaum where Jesus performed many miracles and Bethsaida on the east side. We will have an unforgettable experience as we board a boat on the Sea of Galilee and read about the miracles and visit the museum of Jesus’ boat. We travel to Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus asked “Whom say ye that I am?” We drive to Mt Bental with gorgeous views of Mt Hermon & the road to Damascus.

Leaving the Galilee area we visit the archaeology site of Beit She’an. We travel along the Jordan river to Jericho one of the oldest cities in the world. We reflect at the traditional baptismal site on the Jordan River. At Masada we take the aerial tram up to Herod’s mighty fortress, visit the caves of Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We can enjoy the buoyant salty waters of the Dead Sea for a memorable experience and then get our first glimpse of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.

In Jerusalem we have a spiritual highlight at the Garden Tomb where we will have time to ponder the resurrection in quiet reflection. Sacrament meeting will be at the BYU Jerusalem Center and enter the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden on the Mt of Olives overlooking the old city. At the Garden of Gethsemane we visit the Church of All Nations.

At the Pools of Bethesda we will sing at St Anne’s church. Walking the last days of Jesus’ life at the House of Caiaphas, the traditional upper room of the last supper and the Antonio Fortress where Pilate questioned Jesus, Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

We enter the old walled city through the Dung gate to the Western Wall, and explore Rabbi’s Tunnel and the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock. We visit the steps south of the temple wall, old city of David, Gihon spring, Pool of Siloam, Warren shaft and the amazing experience of Hezekiah’s Tunnel. Evening entertainment will be a light and sound show at the Jaffa gate.

At the town of Bethlehem we see the Church of the Nativity, the traditional site of the birth of Christ and ponder in shepherds’ fields contemplating the events that took place so long ago. We stop at Rachel’s Tomb then tour the Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem.

The Israel Museum featuring the Shrine of the Book, and the priceless Dead Sea Scrolls. We will pull it all together at the Holy Land Model.

This is a very flexible itinerary. The places of interest and the sequence of sightseeing might be changed if necessary or desirable.