Ramallah – an administrative, political and cultural hub – bustles with energy, and is an essential center of resources. Between the craggy hills and the mountainous desert that plunges to the east toward the Jordan Valley, Ramallah offers picturesque landscapes of terraced farmland and a bracing rural heritage.

Places to see: Al Manara square • Yasser Arafat mausoleum • Yasser Arafat Museum • Mahmoud Darwish Museum • Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center • tell al Nasbeh • Qalandya refugee camp • Birzeit • Taybeh • Church of Saint Georges • Wadi Natuf • Abbud • Deir Ghassaneh Gedi • Masada