Ashdod Port Shore Excursion: Jerusalem and Bethlehem Day Tour from Ashdod Port
Description
Step off your cruise ship in Ashdod port and make the most of a day in the Holy Land with a tour of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The itinerary for this tour was created specifically for cruise passengers docking at Ashdod port. Tour guide will meet you when you disembark, and take you to Jerusalem in a comfortable vehicle with A/C. Stop to get an overview of the city from Mount Scopus before continuing to Jerusalem’s Old City. Pass the Mount of Olives, and spot the Church of All Nations and the adjacent Garden of Gethsemane. Drive parallel to the Old City walls alongside Kidron Valley, and the Ophel Promenade. Enter the Old City for a walking tour of top sites like the Western Wall, the Cardo, and Via Dolorosa. Tour the Sepulcher Church, and explore the Old City market before taking a lunch break. The tour leaves Jerusalem passing Mount Zion. The next stop is Bethlehem, to see the Nativity Church. At the end of the tour, you’ll be returned to Ashdod port and your cruise ship.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Stop to get an overview of the city from Mount Scopus before continuing to Jerusalem’s Old City.
Enter the Byzantine Cardo lined with columns in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City
Visit the Jewish Quarter in Old City of Jerusalem
We enter the Old City on foot through one of the massive gates in the 16th-century walls and pass the Western Wall excavations as we walk towards the Western Wall. This sacred Jewish site is all that remains from the 2,000-year-old holy Jewish Temple that once stood on Temple Mount
The Holy Sepulcher Church was built in the 4th century to encompass Christ’s tomb and the site of the crucifixion at Golgotha (Calvary)
We walk along a section of the Via Dolorosa, as Jesus did bearing his cross
Visit the Christian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem
We enter the Old City on foot through one of the massive gates in the 16th-century walls and pass the Western Wall excavations as we walk towards the Western Wall
In Bethlehem, we tour the Nativity Church and see the Holy Grotto where the nativity took place. Occasionally there are too many visitors at the Nativity Grotto in Bethlehem, which makes a visit not always possible.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
When you arrive at the port, a guide from Bein Harim will be waiting for you, holding a sign that reads “Bein Harim”.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- This tour is not suitable for people with mobility issues.
Reviews(31)
Our favourite time on the tour was with our tour guide Avi. Took us into the old city. He was knowledgeable and understanding. I would like to know if Avi is safe. With all the horrors that’s the enfolding in his country. He was a caring man.
Great excursion, all on time, great explanation in each place. Great food, the guide was very kind i tecomend this company.
Thank you for the kind words and recommendation! We're thrilled to hear you had a great excursion with us. We look forward to welcoming you back in the future!
Terrible experience. Could not get into port. The lady at the info desk said this was not the first time. We had to drive 2 1/2 hours back the next day just so that we could see Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The lady from the office Ashdod information desk was amazing. Thank goodness for her help. Complete waste of the day as we could not book another tour. The ship was completely booked. Definitely look for another tour guide. Bein Harim the worst. TripAdvisor should exclude them from their tours!!!!
We are truly sorry to hear about your disappointing experience during your recent tour. Your feedback is important to us, and we take your concerns seriously. We would like to understand your experience in more detail. Please contact our office at your earliest convenience so that we can address your concerns.
Yoav Malachi was our wonderful guide on this one day tour. He covered a lot in the one day so it was a fast paced tour. Yoav was the perfect guide, keeping the group of 29 together in such a busy city is a difficult task which he managed with good humor. The tour was the highlight of our 7 day cruise and fulfilled a lifetime goal to see the holy land.
Wow! Thank you for the amazing review! We're thrilled to hear that you had a great tour with Yoav as your wonderful guide. It's fantastic to know that the tour was the highlight of your 7-day cruise and fulfilled a lifetime goal. We hope to welcome you back for more incredible experiences in the future.
Well taken care of, just miss a sound system. Everything we wanted and was offered. Also the tour guide was fine and told fine. Only because the group was very large, it was sometimes difficult to understand
We appreciate your feedback and are delighted to hear that you had a positive experience overall. We take pride in providing a well-cared-for tour experience. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the absence of a sound system. We understand that it can be challenging to fully understand and appreciate the tour commentary, especially in a large group. We are glad to know that you were able to see everything you desired and that the tour guide did a good job of providing information. Their storytelling skills are essential in creating an engaging experience for our guests.
This tour had poor communication on pick up location which resulted in people being lost and late trying to find the bus. We were all from the Norwegian Jade ship and had to meet the tour bus in Ashdod outside the Sea Mall but the instructions were too vague. The tour guide seemed impatient with tourists. We drove to Jerusalem and entered at Jaffa gate. The guide advised there was a small washroom at the gate and too many women went and we ended up waiting 35 mins for them all to get back. The tour guide should have found a different restroom stop in the old city that was less crowded!! This resulted in him RUSHING the tour through the old city quarters, walking so fast most could not keep up with him. The small alleys were packed with cruise ship tours and almost impossible to move in. The guide took us to the Christ church in the Muslim quarter which was chaotic and disorganised packed with way too many people to either see or enjoy. The Western Wall was worth witnessing and we did have enough time there. The tour has a LOT of steps and stairs and winding uphill alleys which should be explained in the tour details. This is NOT a tour that someone that has mobility issues or is not fit should be taking in the heat. We were held up several times waiting for people to catch up who were struggling to cope with all the walking and stairs. We did not have any time to stop in the little shops in the old city and the lunch stop was planned by the tour at an over priced upstairs falafel counter who charged ridiculous Euros prices (22) for a falafel or sharawrma sandwich and drink!!! This The 2nd stop was Bethlehem. This was disappointing. It was over crowded, hot and disorganised and should be at the BEGINNING of the tour (if at all) so the group has time to shop in Jerusalem old town. We asked the guide to allow us to shop somewhere in Bethlehem and we were dropped at a run down, grubby, mall with over priced poor quality items and a store that only sold insanely priced Christian carvings. This is not what most on our bus wanted and was a waste of time. If you are choosing a Jerusalem excursion choose one that allows for free time in the Old City and without lunch stop included. If we could do it over we would have skipped the chaos at the Christ church and spent the time wandering in the spice and gift shops in the Christian quarter, chose our own lunch spot, and met the guide back at the Jaffa gate at a predetermined time. It would have been far more enjoyable than the stress of keeping up with our guide racing through lanes and alleys packed with tourists.
Thank you for providing your feedback on the tour experience. We apologize for the challenges and inconveniences you encountered during the tour. We take your comments seriously and will address them with the necessary parties to improve our services. Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your valuable feedback. If there is anything else you would like to discuss or if you have any further suggestions, please feel free to contact us directly.
Very poor experience. Look elsewhere if you can. They couldn't get into the port to meet us and never advised ANYONE on the ship. We had to take a shuttle for 35 minutes to meet them at the Sea Mall. They waited 2 hours for people to come which cut into our time for the tour. Once a lifetime experience was totally ruined by them. The guide was OK, Many sites went unseen because of their issues at Bein Harim. They took us to their lunch place which was a total rip-off for the price with poor taste. Frankly, they didn't care.
We apologize for the experience you had with our tour. We understand that the miscommunication and delays had a negative impact on your tour, and we regret any inconvenience caused. We are sorry to hear that you felt many sites went unseen due to the issues raised. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive and fulfilling experience, and we regret that this was not achieved in your case.
We thoroughly enjoyed our tour. It was one of the highlights of my trip. Dan Porges was our guide. He was friendly, funny, knowledgeable and efficient. From the time the bus took off, we were learning facts and history about our destination. I highly recommend going on a guided tour. We would have wandered aimlessly without Dan. It’s a very long day, be prepared for that. I thought lunch was included, it was not. We stopped at a restaurant as a group and enjoyed an incredible meal.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We're thrilled to hear that you thoroughly enjoyed your tour and that it was one of the highlights of your trip. We appreciate your kind words about our guide, Dan Porges. He takes great pride in providing a friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient experience for all our guests. Your recommendation of going on a guided tour is greatly appreciated. Our aim is to provide a seamless and enriching experience for our guests, ensuring that they make the most of their time and fully appreciate the destinations they visit.
Enterprise didn’t wait for us, there were many people in migration and we left a few minutes late. They told us they'd refund our money and nothing until now.
Kindly contact our office at your earliest convenience so that we can discuss the issue further.
We got to see every places listed on the itinerary but it was very rush. The tour guide stopped at a store where they had jewelries, status, and many other religious items. As we also stoped at other similar stores and the price was much cheaper at the store were taken to. It was an identical piece of jewelry. We just didn’t understand that. Overall it was okay.
Thanks for sharing as well as raising the matter of shop stops. We are unable to allow travelers to wander off on their own...The vendors in Both cities often sell similar items The nature of market suq shops.
