MORE PLACES IN ISRAEL
Plopped on a small peninsula across the bay from Haifa, Akko simply oozes character—as long as you ignore the rather drab modern area in the north. The city’s jewel is its Arab Old City, tucked...
Everyone wants a piece of Ashkelon. For the last 3000 years, between Israelites trying to steal it from the Philistines and Alexander the Great taking a piece out of Persia, Ashkelon has been at the...
Tel Avivian students complain that Be’er Sheva has all the problems of the desert—unremitting heat, little grass, plenty of isolation—without any of the perks. The beauty of the landscape is obscured...
Tel Aviv is loud, busy, and proud of it—then there’s Beit Guvrin. Consisting of a remote kibbutz and national park south of the city, it’s a quick getaway that provides the most substantial fix of...
A roadside town with few attractions, Beit She’an is not a place that people flock to. In fact, its proximity to Jordan means that most people don’t even talk about Beit She’an. And even the people...
Being the birthplace of the lord and savior of the world’s most popular religion sort of gives you all-time bragging rights. If nothing else, it at least allows the vendors to utter a fervent and...
There’s no doubting Israel’s a beautiful country, but in Caesarea, the milk’s especially creamy and the honey’s just a tad sweeter. Ask an Israeli where to find the most gorgeous beaches in the...
Lick your finger and hold it to the wind: what’s that strange thickness in the air? Is it humidity? Sweat? Vaporized arak? After about a day in Eilat, you’ll realize that it’s some combination of the...
You came for the salty, but you’ll be staying for the sweet. At the geographical center of Israel’s Dead Sea coast, Ein Gedi is probably the most famous resort on the lake, with a sprawling oasis...
There are artists’ colonies in quite a few Israeli cities, but Ein Hod takes it a step further: an artists’ town. Every resident of this picturesque Mediterranean village had to undergo a stringent...
You might come away from Haifa struggling to describe the place, though not because it’s so overwhelming that you’re at a loss for words. It’s just hard to figure out what, exactly, distinguishes...
The most populated and industrial city in the West Bank, Hebron is also the most tensely fought over; it has been divided into two parts since 1997. H1, 80% of the city, is under the control of the...
Named after Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, Herzliya goes some way toward fulfilling its namesake’s idyllic dream—that is, if you think LA and Utopia have a lot in common. A definite contender...
A Palestinian port city before Tel Aviv’s founding, and the old Arab Quarter after, Jaffa—or Yafo—remains a place where Jews and Arabs live together largely in peace. To the fumbling backpacker...
Jericho is one of those places where you excitedly arrive to see what the fuss is about and leave thinking,“Well, everything has really gone downhill since the second millennium BCE.” The local...
This is a tough town. Steely eyed nuns can melt nosy tourists with a facial expression. Orthodox Jews have been known to beat up the “immodestly dressed” who mistakenly wander into their...
Perched on the northern tip of the Dead Sea, Kalya (sometimes spelled “Qalia”) is the closest the Dead Sea gets to life—or, at least, to civilization. Throw in the fact that it’s less than an hour...
For tourists, Mitzpe Ramon is less notable as a town and more as a crater—more specifically, Ramon Crater (Makhtesh Ramon), the largest crater in the world. It is 40km long, 9km wide, and 400m deep...
Nablus is known throughout history for fighting off invaders. Heavily affected by shifting balances of power from the Byzantines to the Brits, Nablus was committed to each major intifada but today is...
“The Place for Fun Lovers” reads the gaudy turquoise and yellow sign that greets you as you drive in. But don’t get too excited, Romeo—we have a sneaking suspicion that someone just forgot to put the...
Even though this is the childhood home of the possible Son of God and his adoptive family, don’t expect a Christmas-card picture of pastoral churches and rolling fields dotted with grazing livestock...
Netanya is famous for two things. The first is immediately obvious—a glorious 14km stretch of pristine Mediterranean beaches. These beaches actually brought about its second claim to fame—it’s also...
Every aspect of Palestinian life is on display in Ramallah, the cultural and political capital of Palestine. Students discuss current events in the cafes of Birzeit University, working-class...
The only town in modern Israel both founded and still populated by Arabs, Ramla (pronounced RAM-leh and not to be confused with Ramallah) is not simply a place of yarmulkes morphed into keffiyehs and...
If religion has found a home in Jerusalem, her mortal enemy—science—has conquered Rehovot. The brainchild of Israel’s first chemist president, Chaim Weizmann, the eponymous Weizmann Institute of...
Established by the Baron de Rothschild in 1882, Rishon Le-Tziyon literally means “first into Zion,” and it was, in fact, the first modern Jewish settlement in the Holy Land. However, the local vibe...
Skateboarding tweens, dreadlocked 20-somethings, outdoorsy tour guides, and bikers approaching middle age are the most conspicuous residents of this hiking hub. The small town of Sde Boker is defined...
If you’ve spent your life looking for a place with serene beaches, scenic trails, and sacred sights all in a neat circumference of 55km, you’ve come to the right place. Ok, so the Sea of Galilee isn’...
Congratulations, you’ve made it to the most populated and un-Israeli part of the country: unabashedly liberal, modern, and—every now and then—utterly insane, Tel Aviv is a bastion of the West in the...
If you know Venice Beach, you know Tiberias—just trade the weed for an excess of Jews. The main part of Tiberias, centered on the midrakhov, is loud and touristy, so embrace the kitsch. Befriend the...
Easy, breezy, beautiful—Tzfat. Also known as Safed (and Tzfas and Zefas), this is a town of deep peace and tranquility and an easy place to fall in love with. Located on top of Mt. Canaan, it’s the...