Jerusalem • Bethlehem • Nazareth • Mount of Olives • Gethsemane • Dormition • Galilee • Capernaum • Rome • Assisi • Tuscany • Florence • Venice
14 Days - Our prices include airfare from your hometown and exclusively 4 or 5 star hotels everywhere
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Trip Includes
- A Catholic priest will be with the group to celebrate daily Mass.
- Round-trip airfare from your hometown connecting in a major city to fly overseas is included.
- Airport Taxes, Security Fees, and Fuel Surcharges!
- Exclusively 4 or 5 star hotels in downtown areas.
- All breakfasts and all dinners. Wine is included with dinners in Italy only.
- Transportation with luxury bus.
- All entrance fees to all the sites.
- All tips to everyone involved in the tour.
- The tour fees for our guides. Our tour guides are well educated, caring, and professional. Most of them have their PhD's in Church history, archeology, philosophy, languages, or Theology.
- Luggage handling. Please pack light, one piece of luggage and one carry-on.
- Dress casually throughout the whole trip. Shoulders and knees should be covered when visiting Basilicas or churches.
- If you are traveling alone and you allow us to find you a roommate, you don't pay the $900 single supplement. If you wish to have your own room and you are not open to rooming with another passenger, then the single supplement fee is $900.
- Wheelchair can be provided for those passengers who cannot walk, with prior notice at registration for $150. A traveling companion has to push the wheelchair throughout the trip.
- NOTE: If you wish to deepen your knowledge of the Catholic Faith as a preparation for this pilgrimage, we recommend the following book as it is faithful to the teachings of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church (Imprimatur by ARCHBISHOP FELIPE AGUIRRE FRANCO): The Catholic Faith in Easy Terms. Introduction, Nihil Obstat, and Imprimatur by Archbishop Felipe Aguirre Franco.
Trip Itinerary
Day 1: You will depart from your hometown airport in the United States.
Day 2: Arrive in Tel Aviv at Ben Gurion Airport. Meet your fellow pilgrims and tour guides, and transfer to the hotel by deluxe motor coach. We will have a brief orientation meeting, and acclimate to our new surroundings. Dinner and overnight in Galilee.
Day 3: We begin this day with a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee to visit the ruins of Capernaum. Next we visit the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes and the Chapel of the Primacy at Tabgha. Proceed to visit the Mount of Beatitudes, which commemorates the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5:1-12). After lunch visit Cana in Galilee where Jesus turned water into wine during a wedding feast, and we end our tour for the day at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Dinner and overnight in Galilee.
Day 4: After breakfast we drive down through the Jordan Valley to the place of baptism for a visit and for renewal of baptismal vows if desired. Our next stop will be to the oldest city in the world, Jericho, and a visit to the Mount of Temptation on which our Lord was tempted 40 days and 40 nights. We shall also view Zacchaeus' tree, then proceed to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. We continue our drive on up through the Judean Wilderness to Jerusalem, and take a first glimpse of the city from the heights of Mt. Scopus before checking into our hotel. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.
Day 5: After breakfast we shall start our pilgrimage in Jerusalem with a drive to Mount of Olives, from which Jesus ascended to heaven after his resurrection. So, our first visit is the church of the Ascension next the church of Pater Noster commemorating Jesus teaching his disciples the Lord's Prayer. Walk down the 'Palm Sunday road,' and visit the chapel of Dominus Flevit, here Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. Then proceed to the garden of Gethsemane, and see the church of Mary Magdalene, and visit the Church of all Nations. Drive to Mount Zion and visit the upper room where Jesus had his last supper. Next visit the Dormition Abbey where the Virgin Mary assumed into heaven body and soul. Before lunch we visit the church of St. Peter in Galicantu, which built over the site of the house of the high priest Caiaphas and the dungeon where our Lord was imprisoned before his trial. It is also here that Peter denied knowing Jesus thrice. After lunch we will visit Bethlehem starting the Basilica of the Nativity and the Grotto, venerated as the birthplace of Jesus (Luke 2:1-7). We will also visit the church of St Catherine, the Crusaders' Cloister, the Chapel of St Jerome and the Grotto of the Holy Innocents. Finally, we will visit the shepherd's fields before returning to our hotel, for dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.
Day 6: After breakfast we will drive to St. Steven's Gate where we shall enter the old city and start our morning tour at the Crusader's church of St. Anne and the pool of the Bethesda. Continue to the tower of Antonia where Jesus was tried and the church of the flagellation from where we follow the Stations of the Cross ending inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. After lunch we shall visit the last standing remnant of the ancient Temple at the Western (Wailing) Wall. Next and drive to Ein Karem, home of St. Elizabeth, and mother of John the Baptist to visit of the visitation and the church of St. John the Baptist. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.
Day 7: Fly to Rome. Check-in at your hotel.
Day 8: Today, enjoy the most well know symbol of the city of Rome: The Colosseum. Built in 80 A.D., it still stand as one of the greatest monuments in human history. This will be followed by a visit to St. Mary Major, the Basilica dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rome. Then off to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the first Basilica ever to be built in the Roman Empire after it became a Christian empire under Constantine. In the afternoon, we will have an amazing tour of the Catacombs where 500,000 people were buried. Dinner and overnight in Rome.
Day 9: Today we will spend the day in Vatican City, the smallest country in the world. First, we will visit the Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel (the Pope's private Chapel). After the museums we will enter the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican. Since we arrange all of our tours in advance you will not have to stand in long lines to gain entrance. St. Peter's is the largest Basilica in the world and the building itself is great piece of art by Bernini, whose tomb you will remember seeing at St. Mary Major on Day 2. Vatican rules dictate that your shoulders and knees must be covered out of respect while in St. Peter’s Basilica, so make sure your wardrobe today includes long pants, capris, or skirts below the knee, and no sleeveless shirts or tank tops. Again, we will have dinner with red and white wine included and stay overnight in Rome.
Day 10: We will be outside most of the day today so dress casually with comfortable walking shoes. This morning is the Audience with the Pope at 10:00 am (10:30 am). We will need to depart from the hotel early so we get to see the Pope very closely. Following the General Audience there will be time for lunch in the area of the Vatican. We will spend the afternoon visiting the historical center of Rome. Our first stop will be the Spanish Steps, where the ancient Romans hung out. From there it is a short walk to Trevi Fountain; throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain and have time for shopping. This will be followed by a walk to the Pantheon, the oldest functional building in the world. Finally, we will end at the great artistic place of Piazza Navona, arriving about 4:30 pm. This evening’s dinner will be at a local restaurant in the area of Piazza Navona, and, as always, will include red and white wine. This will be our last night at our hotel in Rome.
Day 11: This morning we will say good-bye to Rome as we head north toward the Tuscany region. We will break up the drive by stopping to visit the beautiful town of Assisi. There will be time to see the tombs of Sts. Francis and Clare, take a self-guided tour of the Basilica of St. Francis, and enjoy the peace and serenity as you wander the streets of Assisi. Make sure you have some lunch at one of the café’s while in Assisi, then we will continue on our way to Florence. Dinner tonight will include red and white wine served at a local restaurant in Tuscany on the way to our hotel in Florence.
Day 12: Today, dress casually and get ready to see everything Florence has to offer: museums, shopping, a Cathedral, and more. Our tour will include Ponte Vecchio; Piazza della Signoria; the Uffizzi; Michelangelo's masterpiece, The David; the Flea Market; the Duomo (Cathedral); and the Baptistery. The tour guide will be available to assist you, if you are interested in seeing even more sites. Our dinner will include red and white wine and will be at a local restaurant in Florence. This will be our last night at the hotel in Florence.
Day 13: We will need to get an early start this morning because we will go to Venice, also known as the Dominante city, the city of Masks, an amazing city built on water. We will begin with a visit to St. Mark's plaza. From there you can choose to visit St. Mark’s Cathedral, go on a Gondola ride, or spend time shopping and visiting the beautiful streets and bridges of Venice. While the Gondola ride is optional, the tour guide will organize everything for you. Casual dress is appropriate for today but long pants are required if you intend to go inside St. Mark's. We will have dinner in Venice around the area of the hotel, of course, red and white wine will be included. We will spend the night in Venice.
Day 14: Today you will fly back home in the United States from your pilgrimage to Italy and the Holy Land.
We do our best to ensure that all sites listed in this itinerary will be seen. However, due to scheduling conflicts, or other circumstances beyond our control, sites may be visited on a different day than listed. Since we have several different trip configurations touring at the same time, it is possible that different tours will be combined when their itineraries overlap in certain areas.