OPTIONAL PRE-TOUR OF JORDAN

March 11, 2025: Depart from your home city to Amman, Jordan. 

March 12, 2025: Welcome to the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. You will be greeted by your host, Dann Hone, and trasnferred to the deluxe Mövenpick Dead Sea Resort with its private beach on the Dead Sea and freshwater swimming pools

March 13, 2025: Dead Sea, Mount Nebo, Madaba, Moses Spring, Wadi Musa, Old Village Resort, Petra

March 14, 2025: Petra Visitors Center and Museum, Wadi Rumm, Camel Trek, Bedouin lunch and lecture, Wadi Musa Old Village Resort

March 15, 2025: Wadi Musa, Karak Castle, The Jordan Museum (Amman), Amman Citadel, Mövenpick Amman Hotel (optional evening visit to the Amman Suq (open air market)

March 16, 2025: Amman, Jabbok River, Jerash, Baptismal Site of Jesus (Bethbara or Bethany Beyond Jordan), King Hussein/Allenby Bridge, Hadera Resort by Jacob Hotels

Pricing: coming soon!

Please click on the TOUR INCLUDES button for more information

Depart the USA and Arrive Tel Aviv

Today you will depart the USA from your home cities and fly overnight to Israel. You will arrive at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport. We will meet at the airport and transfer to Hadera for dinner and overnight. (Those having chosen the Jordan Optional Pre-tour will also arrive this evening.)

Caesarea - Armageddon - Haifa - Mt Carmel - Sea of Galilee

After breakfast we travel north to Caesarea Maritima archaeological site. Caesarea, a historic seaport and home to the summer palace of Herod the Great built in 22 BC and later home to Pontius Pilate. We continue north along the Mediterranean coastal plain and then pass through the low hills of Mount Carmel at Jokneam to Megiddo, the royal city of the Canaanites, fortified by Solomon as a “chariot city”. View from the Tel the Valley of Armageddon, the site of the last great battle before the Second Coming of Christ. Returning through the Megiddo pass we climb the ridge of Mount Carmel, passing Daliyat Carmel to a unique, local Druze restaurant for lunch. After lunch we continue to the Muhkraqa Monastery to view the Holy Land and Jezreel Valley and recount the stories of the prophet Elijah and the priests of Ba’al recorded in 1 Kings 18. Continuing north along the Carmel ridge we arrive at Haifa and the Haifa Observatory to view the Baha’i Gardens, which mark the world center of the Baha’i faith, and Haifa Bay. Here we will point out locations and discuss LDS dedications of the Holy Land. Going down to the Haifa Port we come to the German Templar Cemetery and burial site of early LDS converts and missionaries dating to 1888. Our final journey is through the Lower Galilee Hill Country to the Sea of Galilee and our three-night stay along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. 

Mount Tabor - Nazareth - Magdala & Sea of Galilee

After an early breakfast, we will journey across the Galilean Hills to ascend Mt. Tabor, the site of the Mt. of Transfiguration, and visit the Basilica of the Transfiguration. We proceed across the Jezreel Valley to the 1st-century reconstructed Nazareth Village. We tour the village, built as Jesus would have known it in his lifetime, and enjoy a 1st-century lunch. Following lunch, we travel through the Nazareth hills past Cana, where the first recorded miracle of Christ took place turning water to wine, and the Horns of Hittin, where the Crusaders suffered their final defeat in 1187.  Our next visit is to the New Testament city of Magdala, home of Mary Magdalene. Here we will stand in a 1st Century synagogue where Jesus and his apostles stood and taught. After visiting the beautiful chapel Duc-in-Altum, we transfer to Ein Gev Holiday Resort. Here we board a fishing boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. 

Galilee - Capernaum - Mt of Beatitudes - Tel Dan - Banias - Golan Heights

Following breakfast, we travel along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee below the Golan Heights, passing Kursi (Jesus feeds the multitudes), Bethsaida, and the northern Jordan River to Capernaum. In Capernaum, we see the synagogue where Jesus preached and nearby what is believed to be the house of Peter. Here is Primacy of Rock where the resurrected Jesus asks Peter, “Lovest thou me?”; Tabgah, the site of the multiplication of the fishes and loaves; and the Mt. of Beatitudes where Jesus delivered His epic “Sermon on the Mount”. We continue our journey past Chorazin, Hatzor, the Hula Valley, to the Lebanese border near Tel Dan. We will visit Banias (Caesarea Philippi) at the foot of Mt. Hermon where Peter confessed the Savior’s divinity. This day we see the northern borders of Israel with Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Return to the resort to relax and perhaps swim in the Sea of Galilee. 

Galilee – Beit She’an – Shiloh – Crossing of Jordan – Jericho

We depart the Galilee and drive south along the Jordan River to Beit She’an, inhabited more than 6,000 years ago, and later occupied by the Romans. Here the bodies of King Saul and his sons were hung by the Philistines. The spectacular remains of the Byzantine city are comparable to the magnificent ruins of Ephesus, Turkey. After touring the Roman Byzantine city, we continue south along the Jordan River Valley to Jericho. Near Jericho we visit the site recently identified as the baptismal site of Jesus on the Israeli side of the border called Qasr Al-Yahud. We visit Tel es-Sultan, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. And here we see the remains of the Walls of Jericho that came “tumbling down” during Joshua’s siege of the city. Overnight at Jericho.  

Jericho - Dead Sea - Masada - Qumran - Jerusalem

We depart Jericho and drive south to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, and continue along its banks to Masada, a magnificent Herodian Mountain fortress once occupied by Jewish zealots under siege by the Romans. From here we continue to Qumran, site of the original Dead Sea Scrolls found by shepherds in local caves. Before we continue to Jerusalem, those who choose will have an opportunity to “float” in the waters of the Dead Sea. Departing the Dead Sea Rift Valley, we pass through the Judean hills to Jerusalem. We detour near the Old Roman Road of Jesus’ day to view the Judean wilderness and take a walk to view Kozeba or St. George’s Monastery across Wadi Qelt. We continue on to Jerusalem. This evening a visit to the Western Wall to watch the faithful Jewish community welcome Shabbat (the Sabbath day which begins at sundown) is available. Overnight at Jerusalem.

BYU Jerusalem Center - Dead Sea Scrolls - West Jerusalem 

For Latter-day Saints in the Holy Land, this is the Sabbath. From our hotel, we proceed to the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies (BYU) and participate in the LDS Sacrament meeting. After church services, we depart Jerusalem Center to West Jerusalem and the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed at the Israeli Museum. Here we see a Model City of Jerusalem that is a reconstruction of the Herodian city before its destruction in 70 AD. A brief stop at the National Menorah and Israel Knesset, or Parliament building. Return to our hotel in East Jerusalem.

Old City of Jerusalem - Temple Mount - Western Wall - Bethlehem

Today we visit the four quarters of the Old City, including the Muslim, Jewish, Armenian, and Christian quarters. We visit the Temple Mount, the Western or Wailing Wall of Solomon’s Temple, and site of the Ophel Museum.  We will follow the Via Dolorosa (“Way of the Cross”) and visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We then travel a few miles south of Jerusalem to Bethlehem the birthplace of Jesus. We visit Manger Square, the Church of the Nativity, and Shepherd’s Fields. Optional tour this evening to Ha Kotel excavations along the length of the Western Wall. 

Last Week of the Savior's Life - Bethany - Bethpage - Mount of Olives - Gethsemane - Mount Zion - Garden Tomb

We travel to Bethany this morning to visit the tomb where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. At Bethpage, on the eastern side of the Mt. of Olives, we visit the Church of Mounting, the traditional place of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus during the “Passion Week” or the last week of the Savior’s life. After a panoramic view of Jerusalem from atop the Mt. of Olives, we visit the sacred Garden of Gethsemane to remember the Atonement and Christ’s final hours before His arrest. In the Orson Hyde Memorial Gardens, we will review the events of Gethsemane, the visit of the Apostle Orson Hyde in 1841. We visit Mt. Zion and the “Upper Room” of the Last Supper, the traditional House of Caiaphas at St. Peter en Galicantu, the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed the paralyzed man and follow a portion of the Via Dolorosa or “Way of the Cross”, which is the route Jesus took when He carried His cross. Other sites include King David’s Cenotaph Tomb, Lions’ Gate, and the Damascus Gate. Our day will end at the Garden Tomb where Christ was buried and resurrected with time for instruction and personal thought and reflection.  

Jerusalem - with optional tours

This morning, we have optional tours to West Jerusalem, Yad Vashem (Museum of the Holocaust), and Mt. Hertzl, or for the adventurous a visit to the City of David Excavations, Hezekiah’s Water Tunnel, the Pool of Siloam, and the newly excavated tunnel to the Ophel excavations. The afternoon is free to spend as you wish. You can return to sacred sites and/or explore new ones. It’s a great day for shopping the bazaars and walking the labyrinth of alleyways and side streets throughout the Old City or visiting the “New City” with its many shops, restaurants, and boutiques along Ben Yehuda Street. Overnight Jerusalem

Jerusalem - Emmaus - Jaffa - Airport

Today we will have a free morning and check out of our hotel by noon. We then bid farewell to Jerusalem and travel to the ancient Emmaus (Nicopolis) before going on to Jaffa. It was from Jaffa that Jonah embarked on his fateful ocean voyage, and here Peter had his vision to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. We will enjoy a farewell dinner together before ending at the Tel Aviv airport for our flights back home.

Return Flights Home

Today we continue our flight home with a full heart and memories to last a lifetime.