The short answer
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, in the region John's Gospel calls Bethany Beyond the Jordan (John 1:28). The scholarly consensus places this at what is today Al-Maghtas on the Jordanian side of the river, an archaeological site the Vatican and UNESCO both recognize as the location of the event. Directly opposite, on the Israeli and Palestinian side, is Qasr al-Yahud, the traditional Christian pilgrimage site that has drawn visitors from Jerusalem for centuries.
Both are visited by Christians today. Both host baptisms in the river's waters. Neither claims to be the exact spot to the meter, because the Jordan is a narrow river and the Gospels do not describe an X on a map. What both sites do preserve is unbroken Christian memory: fourth-century pilgrim accounts, Byzantine churches, monastic ruins, and centuries of feet in the same shallow water.
If you are here because you're planning a family baptism at the river yourself, or because you want the story straight before you visit, this page walks the whole thing carefully. And if you'd like a private, custom website for that family day, whether it happens in your home parish or on the banks of the Jordan itself, our baptism website studio is built for exactly that.
The biblical narrative
All four Gospels place the baptism in the Jordan, and all four treat it as a turning point rather than an incidental detail. Matthew 3 and Mark 1 tell the scene most fully: John baptizing crowds in the river, Jesus arriving from Galilee, the heavens opening, a voice, a dove. Luke 3 adds a dated frame, "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar," which is why historians place the event in a narrow window around AD 28 to 30. John 1 tells the story from the Baptist's point of view and, uniquely, names a place: "This took place in Bethany Beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing" (John 1:28).
That short verse does most of the geographic work. The name distinguishes this Bethany from the more famous Bethany near Jerusalem, the village of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. This second Bethany was a settlement on the eastern bank of the river, in what is now the Kingdom of Jordan. Early Christian pilgrims, Byzantine builders, and modern archaeologists have all worked outward from that verse.
The Synoptic Gospels leave the location vaguer, "in the wilderness" or simply "at the Jordan." That vagueness is part of why the tradition eventually gathered around two sites, one on each bank, rather than settling on a single spot.
Al-Maghtas: the site scholars name
Al-Maghtas sits on the eastern (Jordanian) bank of the river, a few kilometers north of the Dead Sea. The name means "the immersion" in Arabic, and the place has borne that name, in one language or another, for at least fifteen hundred years. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site in 2015, under the formal title "Baptism Site 'Bethany Beyond the Jordan' (Al-Maghtas)." That inscription reflects a scholarly consensus that had been building for decades.
Archaeological excavations, begun in earnest after the 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel opened access to the demilitarized river zone, have uncovered a remarkable layered site: a fourth-century Byzantine church, several later monastic buildings, cisterns and water channels for baptism, pilgrim shelters, and, closer to the river itself, the traditional site of the baptism marked by successive generations of chapels. The earliest of these structures date to the reign of the emperor Anastasius in the late fifth century; the tradition they enshrine is older still.
Fourth-century pilgrim writings independently confirm the site. The Bordeaux Pilgrim (AD 333) and the Spanish nun Egeria (writing in the 380s) both describe visiting the place of Jesus's baptism on the far side of the river from Jericho. Their descriptions match the topography of Al-Maghtas closely. Popes have visited three times in recent decades: John Paul II in 2000, Benedict XVI in 2009, and Francis in 2014, each affirming the site as authentic. Today the Jordanian government maintains it as a national park, with shuttle transport from the visitor center, a small archaeological museum, and modern churches built by several Christian denominations along the approach.
Qasr al-Yahud: the site tradition names
Qasr al-Yahud sits on the western (Israeli and Palestinian) bank, directly across from Al-Maghtas. The two sites are so close that on any given day pilgrims on one bank can see pilgrims on the other, standing in the same river only meters apart. The name means "castle of the Jews" in Arabic, a reference to a nearby monastery, though the site's Christian associations are what draw visitors.
Qasr al-Yahud has been the traditional pilgrimage destination for Christians travelling from Jerusalem for as long as we have records. The hills behind it hold the ruins of at least a dozen Byzantine and later monasteries: Saint John's, Saint Gerasimus's, Saint George Choziba's, and others, a whole sacred landscape built up around the memory of the baptism. Medieval and early modern pilgrims from Europe, from Russia, from Ethiopia, all approached the river here.
For most of the twentieth century, the site was closed to the public. The Six-Day War in 1967 turned this stretch of the Jordan into a heavily fortified border, and landmines were laid across the surrounding fields. Pilgrimage was reduced to a single day each January, for the Feast of the Baptism, under military supervision. Full public access resumed only in 2011, after a long humanitarian de-mining project. Since then Qasr al-Yahud has grown quickly as a pilgrimage destination, hosting tens of thousands of visitors a year. Many step into the river themselves, in white baptismal robes sold at the visitor center, and are baptized or renew their baptismal promises in the same waters.
Why two sites?
Two sites exist because the Jordan is a narrow river and Christian memory is old. The stream at Al-Maghtas and Qasr al-Yahud is only a few meters wide in most seasons; you can throw a stone from one bank to the other. Locating "the" exact spot of Jesus's baptism, on either bank, is not really the point. What the two sites preserve, together, is a continuous liturgical geography that runs down both banks of a single crossing.
The practical differences are real but small. Al-Maghtas holds the deeper archaeological record: the Byzantine church, the monastic complex, the traditional baptism pool itself. Its inscription by UNESCO in 2015 formalized what specialists had come to accept. Qasr al-Yahud holds the longer continuous pilgrimage tradition from Jerusalem; medieval Latin, Greek, Slavonic, and Ethiopian pilgrims almost all approached the river from the western side, because that was the side connected by road to the Holy City.
Most visitors today choose whichever bank is more accessible from where they're staying. Pilgrims based in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, or Tel Aviv usually go to Qasr al-Yahud. Pilgrims based in Amman or Madaba go to Al-Maghtas. Both are welcoming; both are quiet in a way the rest of the region often isn't.
The Jordan River's biblical importance
The Jordan was already sacred long before John the Baptist waded into it. In the Book of Joshua, the Israelites cross the Jordan on dry ground to enter the Promised Land (Joshua 3), the river's waters parting for the ark of the covenant just as the Red Sea had parted for Moses. Centuries later, the prophet Elijah strikes the water with his cloak and crosses back the same way; Elisha crosses too, receiving the double portion of his master's spirit (2 Kings 2). Naaman the Aramean, a foreign general, bathes seven times in the Jordan on Elisha's word and is healed of his skin disease (2 Kings 5).
Every one of these episodes reads as a baptism in miniature: passage through water, a border crossed, an identity changed. When Jesus stepped into the same river to be baptized by John, first-century Jewish listeners heard all of those echoes at once. The Gospel writers wrote for readers who could hear them. That layered resonance is why the Jordan, not any other river, became the sacred water of Christian baptism.
For families planning a pilgrimage baptism
Baptisms in the Jordan are offered at both sites year-round, with an increasing number of families travelling specifically for them. Practical arrangements differ by bank. On the Israeli side at Qasr al-Yahud, families typically bring their own priest or coordinate through a Jerusalem parish; the site itself is free to enter and provides changing rooms and white robes for purchase. On the Jordanian side at Al-Maghtas, the site is run through a national visitor authority, and Jordanian Christian churches on the approach host formal baptism liturgies for pilgrim families with advance notice.
The best time of year is spring or autumn: the water is comfortable, the air is warm without being punishing, and the surrounding wadis are green rather than parched. Summer temperatures at the river can exceed 40C; winter mornings can be surprisingly cold in the water.
If a Jordan pilgrimage is on your family's calendar, our companion piece walks through it in detail: planning a baptism in the Jordan River, from permits and priests to what to pack. And if the timing of your child's baptism might align with the two-thousand-year anniversary of the event itself, read 2,000 years since the baptism of Jesus for the context and the 2028 to 2030 window many churches are already preparing for.
A private, custom website for a day worth remembering
Whether the baptism is at your parish font or in the Jordan itself, the memory deserves more than a template. Tell us the day; we'll design around it.
Questions readers ask
Where exactly was Jesus baptized?+
In the Jordan River, in the region John's Gospel calls 'Bethany Beyond the Jordan' (John 1:28). Scholars and UNESCO identify this with Al-Maghtas on the Jordanian side of the river. The traditional Christian pilgrimage site is Qasr al-Yahud on the Israeli side, directly across. Both preserve ancient Christian memory of the event; the river's narrowness makes the exact spot impossible to pinpoint.
Can you visit the site where Jesus was baptized?+
Yes. Al-Maghtas is a UNESCO World Heritage site on the Jordanian side, open to pilgrims and visitors. Qasr al-Yahud on the Israeli side is also open and hosts thousands of pilgrims annually, many undergoing baptism in the river themselves. Both sites offer baptism ceremonies with appropriate arrangements.
What's the difference between Al-Maghtas and Qasr al-Yahud?+
They're two sites on opposite banks of the same river, both preserving Christian memory of Jesus's baptism. Al-Maghtas is on the Jordanian side, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, and hosts the traditional archaeological center including Byzantine churches. Qasr al-Yahud is on the Israeli/Palestinian side, the traditional pilgrimage destination from Jerusalem, reopened to pilgrims in 2011 after decades of military restriction.
Why was Jesus baptized in the Jordan and not elsewhere?+
The Jordan River is the geographic and spiritual boundary of the Promised Land, the place the Israelites crossed to enter it in the Book of Joshua. John the Baptist chose it deliberately, calling people to a baptism of repentance in the same waters. When Jesus stepped into the Jordan, first-century Jewish readers heard echoes of Joshua, Elijah, and Naaman. The river was already sacred; the baptism made it central to Christian memory.
We design celebration websites for families across the English-speaking world: baptisms, first communions, weddings, and the milestones between. Updated July 2026.