Excursión de un día a Belén, Jericó y Qasr El Yahud desde Tel Aviv

The tour operator canceled my tour of this just one day before the tour. They did not explain why and not provide any apologies but just sent me a cancellation notice. Such dishonest, unprofessional and insincere attitude was really disappointing.

This TOUR was a 4.5 out of 5 stars as were the tour guides. I loved visiting Bethlehem, the shepherd’s field and Jericho, seeing where Jesus was born and baptized, the mount of temptation and Zacchaeus’s tree. However the “lunch” was WAY over priced ($32), not much variety then they asked us to pay extra for drinks. One of the drivers smoked in or very near the bus during one stop and a couple of times he said he’d be right back then left us waiting. I would recommend the tour but they have got to find a different lunch option or charge like $10 per person at most.

This was my second Tour booked with Bein Harim. It was well organised just like the first. Got a WhatsApp reminder a day before, pick up was on time, we met up in Jerusalem and switched vehicles depending on the tour we were booked on. Information was clear and everything went smoothly. The vehicles were clean, fully air conditioned with Wi-Fi and charging ports. Our guides Maria and Yoav were really good. We had Yoav the whole day and multilingual Maria just for Bethlehem cos we had English and Spanish speakers in the group for the Bethlehem leg of the tour. Yoav was kind and accommodating as we had an elderly lady who struggled with mobility on the group. He was very funny and entertaining too. Enjoyed every bit of this tour and would definitely recommend Bein Harim.

Itamar is an amazing guide! He is exactly what any group needs for an exellent tour experience, Knowledgeable, fluent, cheerful, full of energy, respectful, inclusive in words and deeds, funny. Explained processes in detail, repeated many times to ensure we knew when and what during change of buses etc. He even made sure we beat the crowd and left first or arrived first to cafes, meeting points etc. So we had enough time for undisturbed photos, coffee etc. Thank you nephew of Moses!! Hope to have you in all my other tours in the future.

Zahi did an incredible job as our guide. He was knowledgeable, friendly, funny, and kind. Would love to take a tour with him again.

PICKUP First of all, poor organization. It wasn’t at all clear that after leaving the pickup point (one of the hotels in Tel Aviv) the bus was to stop at a main meeting point in Tel Aviv with other buses and that most passengers would then transfer to the bus specific to their tour for that day. Bein Harim, I strongly suggest you specify this upon booking, you will avoid so much confusion for so many people! Though pickup time was 06:40, we actually started driving towards Jerusalem to pick up more people over an hour later. And in Jerusalem, we waisted more time because someone had put their suitcase on the wrong bus! AVISHAI, ISRAELI GUIDE Our Israeli guide Avishai, who described himself as a history professor, started the tour with a historically inaccurate statement, saying that “in 1947 the United Nations granted Israel/the Israelis a state”. Not true! In November 1947 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution proposing the partition of British Mandate Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jews of Palestine established the state of Israel in May 1948, hence the term “Israeli” for its citizens, Jews and non Jews alike. The Arabs of Palestine who did not declared a state in 1948 are those today referred to as Palestinians. One must also note that some Israeli arabs identify as Palestinians for political reasons. During the tour Avishai twice pointed to the Dead Sea saying it was the Sea of Galilee (that’s on the opposite side of Israel!) and twice more pointed to the main square of Jericho saying we were in the center of Bethlehem! He seemed more concentrated on sugarcoating Israeli -Palestinian relations with half truths and unclear statements throughout the tour and having us spend money in the Bethlehem shop than paying attention to what he was saying about the locations we visited. I would suggest that guides who are unable to speak factually about politics simply avoid speaking of politics ! After all, we were there to visit biblical locations! ADEL, PALESTINIAN GUIDE. In fact, our Palestinian guide Adel who took over in Bethlehem was much more coherent. In a remarkable linguistic feet, while describing Bethlehem as the city of David and then Jesus , he managed to not once utter the words Israel/Israeli, Palestine/Palestinian, Jew or Arab. While not ideal, his choice was coherent. I appreciated that Adel instructed us on how to deal with the aggressive street vendors , but did not appreciate the long time he dedicated to speaking about the shop we were taken to and how we could support the local Christian community. Too much time spent in the shop and talking about it. Especially because he then asked if we wanted to skip entering the church of nativity because of the long line. That is what we were in Bethlehem for ! Thank goodness we were nevertheless able to enter and see where Jesus was born. YIGAL, ISRAELI DRIVER Calm, polite, very skilled driver who drove safely and smoothly through narrow streets and tiny parking lots without ever losing his patience. Five stars for Yigal! In conclusion, do go visit Bethlehem and Jericho , but based on my experience I cannot honestly recommend this company.

This tour covered a lot in a short period of time. Itamar is very knowledgable and provided a great deal of information with humour and in both English and Spanish, which helped many of the guests enjoy the experience even more. This was the second tour I did with the company and I can only say fantastic service on both tours.

We are group of 4 and first time to visit Israel. This tour is Our second tour in Bein harim. Our tour guide Yoav and Merriam (Bethlehem) are very Nice. Yoav keep us information about the history of Jericho and Qasr El Yahud (baptism site). We honestly enjoy the trip but the time is so limited to the point that we are unable to visit the chamber where Jesus was born (which is the highlight in Bethlehem), my suggestion is that this site should give allowable time so that we, the tourist can go in the queue and wait to see this biblical site that was very important specially for us Christian. Bein Harim bus is very comportable and a lot of space. Overall we had a great experience with this agency.

It was safe, and well organized, I think this kind of trips are practical if you visit a country like Israel. The tour was amazing

Pros: Our guide Dan & the Palestinian guide (sorry I forget her name) were both very nice. The coach bus you go on is large with good AC. Cons: This tour is really only okay if you just care about transport to the sites. Tour info is misleading - duration does NOT include the time you spend being switched off between buses/getting to the first site so don’t make time-sensitive plans for after the tour. Didn’t get a ton of info from the guides. One of the sites was closed unexpectedly the day we went so it was skipped & somehow we still arrived back in Tel Aviv 2 hours late. The whole tour is just very time inefficient and didn’t feel worth the 12+ hours we were on it.