Search hotels in Bethlehem

Bethlehem is a welcoming and safe city to travel ! It has some local attractions such as the nativity church, mosaic centre, Pro Terra Sancta community centre, market, or just bars and restaurants. The great thing about Bethlehem is that through Palestinian shared taxi services which act like buses you can reach all West Bank sites such as Jericho or Ramallah.

Overall, except the Nativity and St. Catherine church, and the areas surroundings Bethlehem which require a taxi (Shepard's field, St. Sava and St. Theodor), there is not much to see there. I initially went by mistake to an area which is a refugee camp, called Aida Camp. This was not the safest experience for a solo woman traveller especially if coming at the evening, if taxi dropping you at different location (at the checkpoint), provided incorrect information by the guesthouse staff in terms of safety, staff not at the guesthouse location at the time of arrival and upset that you are upset that you had to wait two hours in cold weather, in the evening at the doorsteps of the guesthouse. At last, I felt extremely unsafe, especially after the reception staff whom I had to wait for two hours outside at the doorsteps was "sensitive" when I was telling him how upset I was. Scary experience... Please be mindful when you book the guesthouse... Unless you look for a refugee camp experience...

We felt very safe. Plan to return. We found in Manger Square the best deals on olive wood. The people were so nice. Some things are made in China and others not. Did not like the kids coming up to us during dinner with gum expecting us to give them money. The restaurants did not either.

I went to Bethlehem during Christmas time, I took a city tour with a private guide recommended by the staf/ owners of the guest house and he went out of the way to please me on food requests that I had and he was very knowledgeable of the history and the different sites we visited. I couldn't have asked for better weather. The only advice I have is to better travel in slow season, Bethlehem had a sea of tourists and sometimes very difficult to see the important sites. But the best choice was the Herodium Guest House, owned and managed by a local family, I could have stayed one month with them, very warm, helpful and attentive to your needs! I'll do it again in a heart bit.

Bethlehem was very disappointing. There literally are two historical / religious places, and an insane amount of shops. After a few hours spent there, I was genuinely stressed out - the amount of taxi drivers stopping me was ridiculous, the amount of sales people stopping me was insane. What’s even worse, they really use people’s kindness and good heart for their own profit. I would absolutely not come back, nor recommend it.

We visited the Church of Nativity. It has many tourists. We were not able to enter the birthplace of Jesus. But it was comforting to note that this is the birthplace of the Savior of the world. Around the manger square there are many restaurants. You can choose what you like to eat. Some of the roads are narrow. It is quite difficult to navigate because of the traffic. It is better tow walk from the hotel. But then climbing up is a challenge for some who are identified as senior citizens. However, it is memorable.