Bethlehem

Star Street is the old pilgrim and processional route into Bethlehem, the way that, by tradition, Joseph and Mary walked into town, and the path the Latin Patriarch still takes each Christmas Eve on his way to Manger Square. Restored for the millennium, it climbs between limestone houses with arched doorways, carved lintels and iron balconies, past shuttered workshops and the occasional guesthouse. Side lanes lead down into the souk, where fruit, spices, bread and household goods are sold from tiny shopfronts, and towards the Old Market, still the commercial heart of the old town.

TipWalk Star Street downhill from Bab al-Zqaq towards Manger Square, and duck into the side lanes; many of the old houses have been converted into small cafés, galleries and guesthouses.

The town's main square is a broad paved plaza between the Church of the Nativity at one end and the Mosque of Omar, Bethlehem's oldest mosque, at the other. Around it are the Peace Center, shops selling olive-wood nativity sets, and cafés where taxi drivers, guides and residents gather. At Christmas it fills with a giant tree, scout bands with bagpipes and drums, and crowds watching the processions. After two years without public festivities during the Gaza war, the tree was lit again in December 2025 and celebrations returned, though with fewer international visitors than before.

TipBethlehem marks Christmas three times: on 24 and 25 December for Catholics and Protestants, on 6 and 7 January for the Orthodox churches, and on 18 and 19 January for the Armenians.

The emperor Constantine and his mother Helena commissioned the first basilica here in the fourth century, over a cave already venerated as the place of Jesus's birth; the present building largely dates from Justinian's rebuilding in the sixth century, making it one of the oldest churches in continuous daily use anywhere. You enter by stooping through the tiny Door of Humility, narrowed in later centuries, into a forest of red limestone columns. A long restoration, begun in 2013, cleaned the Crusader-era wall mosaics of angels and church councils and repaired the roof, and the church was taken off UNESCO's danger list in 2019. Steps beside the altar lead down into the Grotto of the Nativity, where a silver star set in marble marks the traditional spot.

The church is shared, under long-standing arrangements known as the Status Quo, between the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches, and the adjoining Franciscan Church of St Catherine is where the Christmas midnight Mass is broadcast worldwide.

TipQueues for the grotto can last an hour or more when tour groups are in town; arrive at opening, or come in the late afternoon. Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, and expect the grotto to close briefly during services.

A few minutes' walk down Milk Grotto Street, a Franciscan chapel is cut into a cave of soft, chalk-white rock. Tradition holds that the Holy Family sheltered here on their flight to Egypt, and that a drop of Mary's milk fell on the stone and turned it white. For centuries women of different faiths have come to pray for children or for nursing, and the walls of the adjoining room are hung with letters and photographs of thanks. The chapel is cool, quiet and usually far less crowded than the basilica.

At the northern edge of town, the Israeli separation barrier, here a line of eight-metre concrete slabs and watchtowers built from the early 2000s, cuts Bethlehem off from Jerusalem and loops around Rachel's Tomb. Its Palestinian side has become one of the world's best-known open-air galleries, covered with murals, slogans and portraits by local and international artists, including several attributed to Banksy around the town. Many visitors walk a stretch of it with a local guide, who will explain the barrier, the checkpoints and life on either side from a Palestinian perspective.

Facing the wall on Caritas Street, the Walled Off Hotel was created by Banksy in 2017 as a working hotel, museum and gallery that claims "the worst view in the world". It closed in October 2023 and reopened in December 2025; its piano bar, artworks and small museum on the history of the barrier are a draw even if you don't stay. Check the hotel's website for current opening hours before visiting.

TipThe artworks change constantly as new murals are painted over old ones. Photographing the wall is normal, but don't photograph soldiers or watchtowers.

West of Bethlehem, the village of Battir sits above a valley of dry-stone terraces that have been farmed for millennia, watered by springs through an ancient system of channels and pools; families still share out the water by a rota. The landscape of olives, vines and vegetable plots, including a small, prized local aubergine, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2014 and placed straight onto its danger list because of threats to the terraces. Footpaths drop from the village down towards the old Ottoman-era railway line in the valley, with views across to the hills on the Jerusalem side.

TipWalks here are best in spring, when the terraces are green, and in early morning in summer. Ask locally which paths are open and stay on marked trails.

Some 25 kilometres south of Bethlehem, Hebron (al-Khalil in Arabic) is one of the oldest cities in the region and holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims as the burial place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives. The great stone enclosure over the Cave of the Patriarchs was built under Herod the Great, and later served as a church and, for most of the past thirteen centuries, as the Ibrahimi Mosque. Around it, the Mamluk-era old town of stone-vaulted souks, glass-blowing and ceramics workshops was inscribed by UNESCO in 2017, and placed on its danger list.

Hebron is also the most sensitive place in this guide. Under a 1997 agreement, the city is split into H1, under Palestinian Authority control, and H2, the old centre and the area around the shrine, under Israeli military control, where several hundred Israeli settlers live. After a 1994 shooting attack in which 29 Muslim worshippers were killed, the shrine was divided into separately run mosque and synagogue sections, entered through different checkpoints. The FCDO describes a closed military zone in H2 around Shuhada Street and the shrine, flags a risk of hostile reactions from extremist groups, and urges particular caution about visiting at all; Hebron is not among the West Bank areas it exempts from its "all but essential travel" advice.

TipIf advice allows a visit, go only with an experienced local guide or an established tour operator who checks conditions on the day, carry your passport, and leave at once if tension rises or shops start closing.

South-east of Bethlehem, a perfectly conical hill rises from the desert edge: Herod the Great had it built up into a circular palace-fortress, with towers, a bathhouse and a theatre, as his summer retreat and, it turned out, his tomb. Archaeologists announced in 2007 that they had found the remains of his mausoleum on the slope. From the top, you look out over the Judaean Desert towards the Dead Sea and the mountains of Jordan; a network of cisterns and later rebel tunnels runs through the hill below.

Herodium is in Area C and is run as a national park by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, with an entry fee. Under international law most governments regard it as part of the occupied West Bank, a status Israel disputes.

TipThe climb is short but exposed. Go in the morning, take water, and check opening hours with the parks authority, as they shorten on Fridays and before Jewish holidays.

In the neighbouring town of Beit Sahour, the fields and caves where, by tradition, angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds are marked by rival shrines. The Franciscan site has a tent-shaped chapel by the architect Antonio Barluzzi from the 1950s, with frescoes of the shepherds and a dome pierced to let light in like stars, set among pines and the excavated remains of a Byzantine monastery. A Greek Orthodox church nearby stands over an older cave chapel. It is a gentle, green stop, popular with church groups for open-air Masses and carol singing.

About fifteen kilometres east of Bethlehem, the road runs out at one of the most dramatic buildings in the Holy Land: a Greek Orthodox monastery founded in 483 by St Sabbas, its domes, towers and cells stacked down the sheer wall of the Kidron gorge. Still home to a small community of monks, it keeps a strict rule: men may visit inside, usually by knocking at the door during set hours, while women are not admitted but can see the whole monastery from the Women's Tower and the path on the opposite side of the gorge.

TipThe last stretch of road passes through Area C, and there is little shade or water. Go with a driver who knows the route, and dress conservatively.

Jericho lies around 250 metres below sea level in the Jordan Valley, an oasis of palms, bananas and citrus fed by springs, and claims to be among the oldest continuously inhabited towns on Earth. At Tell es-Sultan, the mound beside Elisha's Spring, excavations have uncovered Neolithic walls and a stone tower built more than 10,000 years ago, long before writing or pottery. UNESCO inscribed the site in 2023. What you see are mostly trenches and earthworks, but the age of what lies beneath, and the view up to the Mount of Temptation, make it worth the stop.

TipJericho is very hot from May to October; visit early in the day and combine the tell with the cable car, whose lower station is just across the road.

The cliffs above Jericho are traditionally where Jesus fasted for forty days and was tempted by the devil, and a Greek Orthodox monastery hangs off the rock face over a cave chapel, rebuilt in the late nineteenth century on much older foundations. A cable car, opened in 1999 and among the lowest in the world, carries visitors up from beside Tell es-Sultan in a few minutes, with views over the oasis, the Dead Sea and the hills of Jordan; there's a café and restaurant terrace at the top station. Hikers can also take the steep path.

TipThe monastery keeps shorter hours than the cable car and closes for part of the day; check times locally, and cover shoulders and knees.

Just north of Jericho, Khirbet al-Mafjar is the ruin of an eighth-century Umayyad winter palace, with a mosque, courtyards and an enormous bathhouse. It's best known for its mosaics: a famous panel in a small reception room shows a lion attacking a gazelle beneath a tree of life, and the bath hall floor, one of the largest mosaic carpets in the world, has been put on permanent display under a protective roof. The carved stucco and the star-shaped window recovered here have made the palace an emblem of Jericho.

Twenty kilometres north of Jerusalem, Ramallah is the de facto administrative centre of the Palestinian Authority and the liveliest city in the West Bank, with cafés, restaurants, galleries and a busy nightlife. The traffic-filled Al-Manara Square, with its stone lions, is the centre; a short taxi ride away, the Muqata'a compound holds the mausoleum of Yasser Arafat, and the Palestinian Museum in nearby Birzeit, opened in 2016, hosts exhibitions in a striking building set among terraced gardens. Most visitors reach Ramallah through the Qalandia checkpoint, which can be slow.