Mar Saba & Orthodox Monasteries Private Tour

Tour Overview

The Orthodox Bethlehem and Desert Monasteries Private Tour is a full-day Orthodox pilgrimage from Bethlehem into the Judean Desert and back to the holy sites of the Nativity, led by a licensed local guide. Pickup is from your hotel, and the day moves at a private, unhurried pace built around veneration and prayer.

• Monastery of St Theodosius (Deir Dosi)
• Mar Saba, the Holy Lavra of St Sabbas
• Orthodox Shepherds Field, Beit Sahour
• Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
• Olive wood factory and Cooperative Souvenir Store

The morning begins in the desert east of Bethlehem at the Monastery of St Theodosius the Cenobiarch, the 5th century house where communal monasticism in the Holy Land began, with the cave remembered as the shelter of the Magi. From there the road climbs to Mar Saba, the Holy Lavra of St Sabbas the Sanctified, which has clung to the cliffs of the Kidron Valley for more than fifteen centuries and still guards the incorrupt relics of St Sabbas. Mar Saba is a living monastery that men may enter, while women take in the monastery and gorge from the Women's Tower and have full access to every other stop on the day.

Returning toward Bethlehem, you stop at the Orthodox Shepherds Field in Beit Sahour, where tradition holds the angels announced the birth of Christ, with its cave church and gardens. You then enter the Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto revered as the birthplace of Jesus. The day closes in Bethlehem at a family olive wood workshop and the Cooperative Souvenir Store, where you watch Christian artisans carve by hand and can choose a blessed piece to carry home, supporting the families who keep this craft alive in Bethlehem. The itinerary is a proposal and can be customized for your private group.