Holy Week in the city where it happened. Ten days from Lazarus Saturday to the Resurrection, or six for those who cannot be away as long.
Once a year the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is sealed, the lamps are put out, and the Orthodox world waits in the dark. What follows on Holy Saturday in Jerusalem is the oldest continuously recorded Paschal observance in Christendom, and there is no substitute for standing inside it.
Mystakidis Tours has been bringing Orthodox pilgrims to the Holy Land from Athens since 1959. For 2027 we are operating our largest Paschal programme to date, built for parishes and for individual pilgrims from the United States and Canada, with a single, unhurried base in Jerusalem for the whole of Holy Week.
Entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Saturday is controlled by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem together with the Israeli police, who set the numbers admitted and operate checkpoints throughout the Christian Quarter. In recent years those numbers have been reduced substantially.
Mystakidis Tours applies to the Patriarchate on behalf of every pilgrim on this programme. No tour operator anywhere can guarantee entry, and we will not pretend otherwise. What we do guarantee is this: your application is made, you are led by staff who have worked this day in Jerusalem for decades, you are positioned as early as the police lines allow, and if the church itself is closed to our group we have secured fallback positions in the Christian Quarter where the Holy Fire is brought out and shared. Every pilgrim receives the Paschal candle and returns with the flame.
Both programmes share the same Jerusalem hotel, the same guides and the same departure day, so a parish may send pilgrims on either and still travel home together. International flights are not included. Pilgrims arrange their own flights into Tel Aviv (TLV) and meet the group at the hotel; we send the arrival window to book against, and we are glad to help with flight options on request.
Holy Week services in Jerusalem are set by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and their times are published only in the weeks beforehand. The order of days above will not change. The hour of any individual service may, and your guide will confirm each evening for the day following. Bethany, Bethlehem and Jericho lie in the West Bank; travel there is by arrangement with our Palestinian partners and is subject to conditions on the day. Holy Week Essentials joins on the afternoon of Holy Wednesday and follows days 5 to 10, sharing the same hotel, guides, coaches and departure day. It does not include Palm Sunday, Bethlehem, Mar Saba or the Jordan River.
Download the full programme ›International airfare. Travel insurance, which is a condition of booking on this programme and is not optional. Lunches, and drinks at any meal. Gratuities to the guide, driver and hotel staff, budget approximately $110 per pilgrim for the full week. The single room supplement, $1,138 on the full programme and $638 on the Essentials. Any visa or electronic travel authorisation required for entry to Israel, and the cost of obtaining it. Personal expenses, laundry, and anything not named above.
Per person, holds your place. We send a secure payment link once your request is confirmed. No payment is taken on the booking form.
Per person, due Friday 16 October 2026.
Due Friday 22 January 2027, ninety days before departure.
Final travel pack and service times, Friday 9 April 2027.
Prices are per person in US dollars for the land programme, sharing a twin or double room, and are held until Friday 16 October 2026. Places are assigned in the order deposits are received. Full booking conditions, including the cancellation scale, are sent with your confirmation and are available beforehand on request.
No, and anyone who promises you otherwise is not being straight with you. The numbers admitted are set by the Patriarchate and the Israeli police. We apply for every pilgrim, we position the group hours in advance, and if the church is closed to us we take our people to where the Fire is brought out. Every pilgrim receives the flame and carries it home in a lantern. That much we guarantee.
Yes. Holy Saturday means rising before dawn, standing for many hours, moving through police checkpoints and dense crowds, and walking on stone and steps with no vehicle access. Holy Friday is close behind it. The Old City is not level and is not adapted. If you cannot stand for three hours, if you use a walking frame or a wheelchair, or if you have a heart or respiratory condition, please telephone us before registering. We will tell you plainly which days will and will not be possible and arrange an alternative for those days. We would far rather have that conversation in September than in Jerusalem.
The United States Department of State currently places Israel and the West Bank at Level 3, Reconsider Travel, and Gaza at Level 4, Do Not Travel. The situation changes. We have had people in Jerusalem for over sixty years and we watch it daily; we will tell you what we are seeing rather than what is comfortable, and if we judge that the programme cannot be operated safely we will say so and refund what our suppliers release to us. Travel insurance is compulsory on this programme. Every pilgrim should register with their government's traveller programme before departure.
Not necessarily. We match solo pilgrims with a roommate of the same sex at no extra charge. If we cannot find you a match we will tell you by 26 February 2027, well before the balance is due, and you will not be charged the supplement without agreeing to it.
A passport valid until at least 3 November 2027. Citizens of the United States and Canada do not need a visa for Israel but do need an electronic travel authorisation before departure; we send the current instructions with your confirmation. Please send a clear scan of the photograph page within fourteen days of registering, as the room list and the Patriarchate application are both built from it.
The $400 deposit is not refundable, because Jerusalem hotels at Holy Week take our money a year ahead and do not return it. After that there is a sliding scale that firms up as we approach, set out in full in the booking conditions. This is precisely why we require travel insurance rather than merely recommending it.
No. Flights are not included. You arrange your own flights into Tel Aviv and meet us at the hotel; we send you the arrival window to book against, and we are glad to look into flight options for you on request.
Yes, and it is how most people travel with us. Where ten pilgrims come from one parish, the priest travels with them as our guest on the land programme; at twenty, a second place. We handle every registration, payment and telephone call, and we provide the inserts, the announcement slide and an information evening. Please telephone or write and ask for the parish coordinator.
On Holy Saturday the Fire is received inside the Tomb. The Patriarch brings it out for the people. You will not forget the moment your candle is lit.