Palestine 5 Day Itinerary

5-Day Itinerary for Travelling in the West Bank

A word on timing and safety before anything else, because it matters more here than in almost any other itinerary on this site. As of 2026, the US State Department advises Reconsider Travel for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, citing terrorism and civil unrest, and non-emergency government personnel were authorized to leave the region in February of that year amid a serious escalation. Conditions in the West Bank and Jerusalem shift quickly and unevenly by neighborhood and by week. Tourists do still visit Bethlehem and the wider West Bank routinely and safely as part of organized tours, and this itinerary reflects genuine current tourist practice, but nobody should treat any date-specific detail below as fixed. Check your own government’s current advisory, register with your embassy through a program like STEP, and strongly favor a licensed local guide or tour operator over independent travel for anything outside central Jerusalem. If the situation escalates further by the time you’re reading this, postpone.

With that said, here is what an organized, guide-led West Bank itinerary generally looks like.

Day 1: Arrival and the Old City of Jerusalem

Most visitors fly into Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv; travelers coming overland from Jordan cross at the Allenby Bridge, also called the King Hussein Crossing, which involves separate Israeli and Jordanian processing on either side and can take considerably longer than a standard border crossing, so budget extra time. Base yourself in East Jerusalem, where hostels and guesthouses like Abraham Hostel put you within easy walking distance of the Old City.

Spend the afternoon in the Old City itself: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over the site Christian tradition holds as Golgotha and Christ’s tomb; the Western Wall, the holiest site accessible to Jewish prayer and the last remaining retaining wall of the Second Temple; and the Via Dolorosa, the traditional route of Christ’s final walk, now lined with shops and pilgrim groups rather than solemn quiet. These three sites sit close enough together to cover on foot in a single focused afternoon.

Day 2: Mount of Olives and Bethlehem

Start at the Mount of Olives for the classic panoramic view over the Old City and the Dome of the Rock’s gold dome catching the morning light, then walk down through the Garden of Gethsemane, where olive trees, some genuinely ancient, still stand on the site associated with Christ’s arrest.

Getting to Bethlehem from Jerusalem means crossing into West Bank Area A, under Palestinian Authority administration, through Checkpoint 300 near Rachel’s Tomb. For tourists this is a routine, well-trodden crossing that thousands complete daily, either by bus 234 from the Damascus Gate area or, more simply for a first visit, as part of a guided tour that handles the checkpoint logistics entirely. Once in Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity, built over the traditional birthplace of Christ and one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world, anchors Manger Square alongside the smaller Milk Grotto and the old town’s souvenir workshops selling olive-wood carvings, a genuine local industry going back generations.

A note the original guidance to this trip got backward: it is Jericho, not Hebron, that holds the claim to being among the oldest continuously inhabited cities on Earth, with archaeological layers dating settlement back roughly 11,000 years. Keep that straight, since it changes what you’re actually looking at on day three.

Day 3: Jericho, the Jordan River, and the Dead Sea

Jericho sits about 40 minutes from Jerusalem and, at over 250 meters below sea level, is also among the lowest cities on Earth. Hisham’s Palace, an eighth-century Umayyad site with an extraordinarily preserved mosaic floor, and Tell es-Sultan, the mounded ruins representing thousands of years of continuous settlement, are the two anchor stops. From there, continue to Qasr al-Yahud, the West Bank site traditionally associated with Christ’s baptism on the Jordan River, distinct from the “Bethany Beyond the Jordan” site that sits on the Jordanian side of the same river and requires a separate country entry to reach.

Round out the day at the Dead Sea. Floating effortlessly in water roughly nine times saltier than the ocean is a genuinely strange, memorable sensation, and the mineral-rich mud along the shore is worth smearing on before a rinse. Avoid getting the water anywhere near your eyes; it stings intensely.

Day 4: Hebron and Herodion

Hebron, roughly an hour from Jerusalem, is one of the most historically layered and currently sensitive cities on this itinerary. The Ibrahimi Mosque, also venerated as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and sacred to both Muslims and Jews as the burial site associated with Abraham, sits at the center of a city divided into separate administrative zones, with the H2 area under tight Israeli military control and access for visitors genuinely restricted and unpredictable. This is not a day to attempt independently; go only with an experienced local guide who can read the situation on the day and adjust the route accordingly.

In the afternoon, Herodion, roughly 40 minutes away, offers a lighter contrast: the artificial mountain fortress and palace King Herod built for himself, with a commanding desert view and far fewer access complications than Hebron itself.

Day 5: Free Day in Jerusalem or Departure

Use the last day for whatever the trip has been missing. Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum, is a profound and heavy visit that deserves real time rather than a rushed hour. The Israel Museum holds the Dead Sea Scrolls among its collections. Mount Zion adds the Dormition Abbey and the traditional site of King David’s Tomb to a final walk through the city before heading to the airport.

Things to Know

Currency in the West Bank runs primarily on the Israeli new shekel, with Jordanian dinars also widely accepted in parts of the territory; US dollars work at many tourist-facing businesses but expect a worse exchange rate than using local currency directly. Entry requirements depend heavily on nationality and on which crossing you use, so confirm current rules for your passport well before booking flights, since policy at crossings changes with little public notice. Expect security checks at multiple points throughout any given day, more frequent and more thorough than in most other travel destinations, and pack patience along with your passport.