NAZARETH, Israel - We ducked under barbed wire, waded through spiky milk thistle, and slid down a hillside that was too steep to walk. I couldn't help wondering: Is this what Jesus did?

My colleague, Samuel Sockol, and I were walking the Jesus Trail, a 40-mile trek that wanders from Nazareth in northern Israel through Arab villages, kibbutz farmland, and some stunning landscape to the Sea of Galilee.

Inspired by Peru's Inca Trail and the Camino de Santiago in Spain, both popular spots for global hikers, the Jesus Trail is being developed by Israeli entrepreneur Maoz Inon and his American partner, David Landis, as a way to draw tourists out of the buses and into the countryside.

The hope, they say, is to help smaller businesses in more out-of-the-way places make money - and in the process make a bit themselves by coordinating guides, renting handheld GPS equipment to do-it-yourselfers, and offering other services. Inon is also involved in a Nazareth guesthouse that provides a convenient base for travelers.

There's a larger purpose as well, they say. Inon, who is Jewish, has focused on projects with Arab partners in Israeli Arab towns as a sort of peacemaking gesture. Landis, a Mennonite, also hopes the project will encourage understanding among faiths and cultures.

Though the venture is called the Jesus Trail, the appeal is meant to be broad. Nazareth and the Galilee are important to Christians, who regard the area as the setting of Jesus' boyhood, adult ministry, and initial miracles. However, the route is a layer cake of "narratives" covering Christian holy sites, small Arab towns typical of northern Israel, the remnants of Palestinian villages empty since Israel's 1948 war of independence, ancient Jewish sites, modern kibbutzim, Crusader battlefields, and Muslim shrines.

It is a captivating idea for the less formal traveler with good footwear (and a full water bottle). Given the ongoing conflict in the area, the idea of hiking in Israel might seem unwise. But this trail runs through a region of the country that has been stable and safe.

The other, much longer "Christian walk," from Nazareth to Bethlehem, cuts through the occupied West Bank and various Israeli military checkpoints. West Bank security has improved markedly in recent months, and some companies offer guided walks along that route as well.

The Jesus Trail is still in its infancy. In parts, the path is well blazed, and in places it overlaps with Israel's national and regional trail system.

In others, like the life of Jesus and other religious figures, it remains a matter of faith, at least when Sami and I made the trip in mid-April. Blazes painted on rocks were lost behind springtime weeds, signposts had disappeared, and fresh barbed wire (meant to control cattle, not people, we were assured) had to be navigated. But now, I've been told, the blazing has been completed, and all's right with the trail.

As Landis said, "Walking makes the trail." Improved marking is being coordinated with Israeli trail groups, he said, and increased traffic will help make the way clear.

And rough spots aside, it is a fascinating walk - from the steep stairs that climb out of Nazareth's Old City, by the old Roman town of Zippori, into villages such as Mashhad that are off the beaten path, through the valley of Arbel (and down a cliff, if you are vertigo-free) and on to the Sea of Galilee, known in Israel as Lake Kinneret.

The trail will take you to the highlights of the region, such as the Mount of Beatitudes, the presumed site of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, but will get well beyond them. The first day of the four-day hike, for example, ends with an overnight stay in Kfar Kana, the town regarded by Christians as the place where Jesus turned water into wine, at the wedding at Cana.

This has been a place where tourists pause, rather than linger, but after 12 miles of walking, you are ready for a shower, a meal, and a bit of downtime. Locals are starting to open their homes to visitors, and for about $25 you'll get a place to sleep and get breakfast on the way out - exactly the type of small endeavor the trail's founders hope will accumulate along it.

The walk is designed to begin in Nazareth, where, five years ago, Inon partnered with an Arab family that owns a 200-year-old Ottoman building to create the Fauzi Azar Inn. It is named after the family's patriarch, who weathered the 1948 war and held onto the homestead. The family is proud of the fact and, given the tension in the country over land and ownership, was suspicious when Inon suggested a joint venture.

"We did not even know how to pronounce his name," said Suraida Nasser, one of Fauzi Azar's granddaughters and the manager of the inn. "I said to my mother, 'He's a Jew. I don't know what he wants to do. But this is a totally Arab place. They'll kill him. It's dead.' "

Five years later, Inon's company manages the property, still owned by the Azar family. Revenue has paid to renovate a gem of a building, from the hobbit-size metal door - an old Ottoman security measure that forces entrants to stoop - to the elaborate frescoed ceilings, a Nazareth trademark.

Some similar projects are under way in old Nazareth, and restaurants have opened in their wake: Sudfeh, with a bit of Arab-fusion flair that includes shrimp wrapped in Kunafa pastry, and the more traditional Tishreen are good choices.

There are other places to stay, such as the more upscale Golden Crown, where the tour buses stop. Old City sets a nice mood for the start of the walk.