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To day trip, or not to day trip

One place many people overlook spending a good amount of time in is Bethlehem. Because the city is in Palestine, or the West Bank, many are concerned about staying overnight and instead book a day tour to visit the main site: the Church of the Nativity. Once they visit this one site and check out the tiny town square they usually head back to Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, making it a short day trip.

Bethlehem has so much more to offer! During our trip, we checked out the most famous sites and stayed two nights in Bethlehem. We really wished we had another day to see more and appreciate the wonderful Palestinian hospitality we received.

Where to stay in Bethlehem

I highly recommend staying at Dar Sitti Aziza. This is a family run “hotel” in a large house that is over 500 years old. It is also only a 2 minute walk away from the Church of the Nativity and the main square of Bethlehem.

The manager, Nabil, was the kindest and most generous man. Although the hotel is expensive (when we stayed it was $160/2 nights), you really do get what you pay for. It was clean, the room we had was HUGE, and the breakfast that Nabil cooks in the morning (included for free) was probably the most incredible breakfast we had on our whole trip to the Middle East.

You can choose the time you want to eat breakfast, and Nabil will set out a whole spread of food that includes a lot of home cooked and grown items, including jams, olives, cheese, hummus, and falafel. He also makes the most unique eggs we had ever tasted, frying a strip of dough in a circle around two sunny-side-up eggs covered in spices. And of course, you cannot leave without trying Arabic coffee, spiced with cardamom!

The first night we were there was also Nabil’s birthday. His mother came to visit and had baked a cake made from dates for him. We were invited to have some cake with the family and I even got the recipe from his mother! They were very proud of the house and its history, so if you get a chance to talk with them about it please take it!

We honestly felt very much at home here, and Nabil went out of his way to help us with everything. I really think we would have had a very different experience of the city if we had not stayed with Nabil.

If you are on a budget, there are many hostels and other hotels around the city, or you can do a day trip from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. There are many buses that travel to the city daily, or you can rent a car or hire a taxi if you want to see more.

Getting Around Bethlehem

I highly suggest you hire a taxi if you have not rented a car yourself. Getting to know the locals is something we think is important, and taxi drivers can sometimes be the best (and sometimes the worst!) tour guides. In our case, Ashrav, who was a friend of Nabil, was a wonderful tour guide and drove us around the area for $100 for the day. While that might seem steep, it’s the cheapest way to see everything in the surrounding area, which is very difficult to do in one day using public transport. Anywhere we wanted to go he took us! And at the end of the day, he even took us out for kanafeh, a sugary, cheesy traditional Arabic dessert. In true Palestinian hospitality he refused to let us pay for our desserts and even added some baklava on top!

What to do in the area

The Church of the Nativity

Our main point of interest was the Church of the Nativity. This church was commissioned in the 300s by Constantine the Great and built over the spot in which they believe Jesus may have been born. The original basilica was actually destroyed and then rebuilt in the 500s by Byzantine emperor Justinian I. The Grotto, or the cave where Jesus may have been born, is underneath the church. The church overhead has two sections: an elaborate Byzantine style section, and a more modern section where services are held and where the priests live.

The main doors to the church are actually quite small because over the years the church started doing everything it could to discourage looting. By making small doors looters could not take out cartloads of items and it was easier to defend the church.

The modern section of the church hosts the Grotto, which we nearly missed! There are stairs leading down to the Grotto on the side of the main congregation area. Apparently there is also a way to enter the Grotto from the Byzantine side, but when we visited they were holding a service in the area where you could enter and the door was closed in the Grotto itself.

We went very early in the morning (around 6am) before the tourists arrived. There were a few people in the church but we basically had the whole place to ourselves. At one point we spent nearly 15 minutes in the Grotto with not a soul disturbing us. We were very glad to have missed the crowds, especially as a huge tour group showed up around 7:30am! This is another big advantage to spending the night in Bethlehem.

Herodion (Herodium)

Just outside of the city is one of several places you will find left over by King Herod, one of the most villainous kings of Israel. Although he was wicked he left behind a great architectural legacy. Herodion is one of those places. Apparently, Herod wanted a palace built on top of a hill but decided it wasn’t quite high enough so he made the workers build it even higher. It stands nearly 2,500ft (over 700m) above sea level and is the highest point in the Judean desert.

We visited Herodion in the late morning and again had the place nearly to ourselves. Once you buy your ticket (27NIS) you can watch a video on the history of the place. The video was dubbed in English and was quite amusing to watch, but it emphasized the importance of the place as possibly being Herod’s burial site. This is still a point of controversy among scholars.

The site is very much intact and hosts the remains of a large palace, a synagogue, mausoleum, bathhouse, and multiple tunnels which were used by rebels in the 1300s. It also is a great place for viewing the land all around Bethlehem. The Dead Sea and many major cities, including Jerusalem, can be seen from Herodion.

Mar Saba

A big highlight for us in Bethlehem was Mar Saba. Mar Saba is an Eastern Orthodox Christian monastery overlooking the Kidron Valley. It is such an orthodox monastery that women are not allowed to go inside. Don’t think you can convince the monks otherwise!

The inside of the monastery wasn’t what was most breathtaking, however. The grounds and the valley around it were a great place for hiking. We ended up taking an hour to hike down into the valley, cross the stream, and climb up the cliffs to look at the monastery from the other side.

There were absolutely no tourists there – only locals – and we definitely attracted attention, though never felt unsafe! Mar Saba may be a grossly overlooked sight for many people but we would highly recommend a visit. Even if you are a woman there is still so much to see around the monastery, plus going for a short hike will expose even more beauty in the valley around the place.

Shepherd’s Fields & Solomon’s Pools

A few places we visited did not live up to expectations, and these included Shepherd’s Fields and Solomon’s Pools. If you are short on time I would recommend skipping both of these places.

Shepherd’s Fields was overrun with tourists. The area overlooks a field which isn’t that attractive, and has some ruins which are likely the remains of a small village. There is a small chapel which was built over the place where the angel Gabriel might have appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus. The chapel is very small and simply built. While we were there, a church group was singing in the chapel which was nice to hear.

Solomon’s Pools may have once been a great place to visit, go for a swim, and picnic. Now, however, the pools are drying up and the area around them is full of trash. Ashrav told us he used to swim in the pools when he was younger. Looking at them now, the fullest pool was maybe three quarters gone while the others were empty. There is also a fence around the pools so you can’t access them.

The history of the pools is more fascinating than the visit. They are three pools which were likely built around 100 B.C. The pools were fed by aqueducts and springs and provided water for many places around the area, including Herodion and Jerusalem. The pools were named after Solomon, but he did not build them himself as he lived over 800 years before they were built.

There appeared to be plans to restore the area and create a recreational space at the pools. For now, I would skip the pools and spend your time somewhere else!

Food

We weren’t that impressed with Bethlehem’s restaurants, although we were not there long enough to try a large variety of places and we didn’t research this beforehand. The best food we had was at Dar Sitti Aziza, and the street food also looked very good. You will always find someone selling a cup of Arabic coffee as well!

How to get to Bethlehem

Bus

It is fairly easy to take a bus to Bethlehem from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, and vice versa. Keep in mind that you are crossing into Palestinian territory so you may want to choose your bus carefully if you decide to take public transport.

Bus 21 from Jerusalem to Bethlehem travels frequently and only costs 5NIS. From Bethlehem to Jerusalem take Bus 234, which is located near KFC, very close to the main square. When you get to the border you may be asked to exit the bus so they can check your passport. Don’t be alarmed and just follow their instructions. This is a very normal routine for travelers, though it can be alarming that military checkpoints exist for those not used to traveling outside of the USA or Europe.

Taxi

Not every taxi will drive to Bethlehem, so if you are staying in a hotel we suggest arranging a private car with your hotel. A taxi from Jerusalem to Bethlehem may only take you to the city border so make sure you are clear with them where you want to go before starting. It is possible to get a taxi from Tel Aviv directly to Bethlehem as well.

Rent a car

Please note you cannot rent an Israeli car and drive it into the West Bank or any Palestinian territories. You will need to check out car companies in East Jerusalem to see if you can rent a car which can travel anywhere within Israel.

We took a private car from Tel Aviv to Dar Sitti Aziza that was provided by our hotel. This was very convenient for us as it was our first night in Israel. We ended up taking the 234 Bus to Jerusalem at the end of our stay.

3 Reasons to Stay Overnight in Bethlehem

To sum it all up, I highly recommend staying in Bethlehem longer than just one day. A main reason is to experience Palestinian hospitality. People are very nice and helpful, really going out of their way for you and genuinely enjoying it, and we loved our stay in Bethlehem! The second reason is that there are so many more places to see around Bethlehem than just the Church of the Nativity. The third reason is that tourists overlook a lot of really interesting places in the area because they do not want to stay overnight. We experienced places like Mar Saba and Herodion in a very special way because they were not overrun with tourists. If you are like us and want to experience Israel and the Palestinian territories without the mobs of tourists, Bethlehem is a really great place to start.

Have you been to Bethlehem? What did you see and do? Do you have better food recommendations for us? We can’t wait to go back!