Masada and Dead Sea Full-Day Tour from Jerusalem with Hotel Pickup

The listing price is $115 per person, and the fee covers more than the bus seat. Masada entry, the round-trip cable car and the Dead Sea beach entry are all inside the ticket, along with the professional guide and transport by air-conditioned coach. Pickup from your Jerusalem hotel and drop-off at the end of the day are included too.

Free cancellation applies up to 24 hours before the start, and the listing offers reserve now, pay later.

The rating on the listing is 4.4 from 834 reviews. The group is big, so the day moves on the guide's schedule rather than yours.

What is not included

Three things sit outside the price. Food and drinks are not included, so plan for lunch either as a packed meal or bought on the road. Tips for the guide and driver are recommended and not covered.

And the optional camel ride at the desert photo stop carries an extra fee if you want the 20 minutes in the saddle.

• Masada entry fee
• Round-trip cable car
• Dead Sea beach entry at Dead Sea Mineral Beach
• Professional guide
• Transport by air-conditioned coach
• Pickup and drop-off in Jerusalem
• Not included: food and drinks, tips, the camel ride (extra fee)

Jerusalem sits high in the hills, and the road to the Dead Sea drops fast. From pickup the coach runs about 1 hour to a photo stop in the Judaean Desert, where the optional camel ride of 20 minutes is offered for an extra fee. From there it is another 45 minutes to Masada, so Jerusalem to Masada works out at roughly 1 hour 45 minutes of driving in total.

The route itself does some of the sightseeing. You get a roadside view of the Good Samaritan site, the symbol of the parable of Jesus and the Good Samaritan, and the coach passes the Qumran caves on the northwestern shore, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Panoramic views of the Dead Sea and the Rift Valley open up as the road descends toward the lowest land on Earth.

Pickup logistics

Pickup depends on the option you select at booking, and the drop-off list names ten points: Agripas Boutique, Leonardo Plaza, Aroma, David Citadel, Ramada, Grand Court, Dan Boutique and Dan Panorama among them. Your exact pickup time shows at checkout, and the day ends back at a listed hotel after about 10 hours.

Masada is a mountain-top fortress on a plateau rising about 1,300 feet above the desert floor, above the western shore of the Dead Sea. The cable car takes 15 minutes to reach the top, which makes the site workable for anyone who does not fancy the Snake Path hiking trail. This is an easy day physically, because the cable car does the climb.

Once up, the guide walks the group through the ruins for about 1.5 hours. King Herod built the fortress in around 37 BC, and the remains include palaces, mosaic floors and Roman baths. The site also holds what the listing describes as the oldest synagogue in Israel, and a water system of 12 cisterns, each with a capacity of 140,000 cubic feet.

From the plateau the views run over the Dead Sea and the Judaean Desert.

History note for context: the fortress later became the last holdout of Jewish rebels against Rome, an episode that ended in 73 AD. Masada is now a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and this tour covers both the entry fee and the cable car, so there is nothing to pay at the gate.

For the history of the site, see the UNESCO page on Masada.

From Masada the coach runs 45 minutes to Dead Sea Mineral Beach, down in the Jordan Rift Valley at the lowest point on Earth. You get about 1.5 hours there, enough for a float, a mud bath on the shore and a browse in the shops. The water is about 9.6 times saltier than the ocean, so you lie back on the surface rather than swim.

Walk in, lean back and keep your face out of the water. The salt stings cuts and freshly shaved skin, so skip shaving that morning and do not dive.

The mineral mud on the shore is a fixture of the day. Coat yourself, let it dry, rinse it off in the sea or under the beach showers. Short sessions of 15 to 20 minutes in the water followed by a fresh-water rinse is the usual advice, and the showers are at the beach.

Salt crystals on the bottom are sharp, so sandals or water shoes help. The entry fee for the beach is in the tour price.

Bring swimwear, a towel, a sun hat, sunglasses and comfortable shoes, and carry your passport, which the listing asks all travellers to bring. Wear a dark swimsuit you do not mind marking, since the mud and salt can leave traces. Leave jewellery at the hotel.

This listing fits travellers staying in Jerusalem who want the fortress and the sea in a single day with a guide, and who are happy in a large coach group. If you cannot face a pre-dawn start, this is the gentler Masada option in the catalog, because the cable car replaces the sunrise Snake Path climb. Physically it is rated easy.

The limits are clearly stated. Children under 4 cannot join, and wheelchair users are not accommodated. The half-day beach trip from Jerusalem has the same wheelchair rule, and the only listing here marked wheelchair accessible is the private half day from Amman.

When a different day fits better

If you only care about floating, the Dead Sea Half-Day Beach Trip from Jerusalem halves the day and the price. If you want a proper hike plus a nature reserve, the Masada Sunrise Hike, Ein Gedi and Dead Sea Tour from Jerusalem climbs in the dark and adds Ein Gedi's springs and waterfalls. If churches and the sea sound better, the Bethlehem and Dead Sea Day Tour from Jerusalem pairs the Church of the Nativity with about 2 hours at the water.

Jerusalem has two Masada days in this catalog, and on paper the sunrise hike looks cheaper. Add the park fees it leaves out and the gap closes. The sunrise trip costs $106, plus $11.92 (37 ILS) for Masada and $9.99 (31 ILS) for Ein Gedi on the day, so about $127.91 before lunch.

This tour costs $115 with Masada entry, the cable car and the beach fee already paid.

How to choose

Pick the cable car day if you want the history explained and an easy pace, or if anyone in the group is pregnant, since the Masada Sunrise Hike, Ein Gedi and Dead Sea Tour from Jerusalem rules that out. Pick the hike if you want the sunrise and the Ein Gedi springs and are happy to read up on the ruins yourself.

This is one of several ways to reach the sea from Jerusalem, and the right pick depends on how much structure, hiking and beach time you want. The table below sets this listing against the closest alternatives in the catalog. Figures current for Q4 2026.

From Amman, the Madaba, Mount Nebo, Baptism Site and Dead Sea Tour from Amman shows from $18 for transport and the Full-Day Dead Sea Trip from Amman with Optional Resort Entry and Lunch gives about 6 hours at a hotel beach from $59. Those are Jordan-side days with no Masada.