Trek Golan Heights — central Golan, south of Katzrin, Israel

Gamla: The Fallen City, the Vultures and the Waterfall

One full day in the central Golan linking three separate trails — a besieged Roman-era city on a camel-hump ridge, a cliff lookout over Israel's largest griffon vulture colony, and the country's highest waterfall.

Duration: 1 days
Distance: 9 km
Ascent: 400 m
Difficulty: Moderate
Best season: Winter to spring, December–April (the waterfall runs; vultures nest February–June). Avoid midsummer — no shade and the falls dry up

Gamla is not one walk but three, radiating from a single car park on a basalt plateau in the central Golan. Done together they make a full and unusually varied day: archaeology, raptors and a canyon rim, with almost no shade anywhere.

The name comes from the landform. A steep ridge rises out of the surrounding ravines shaped like a camel’s hump — gamal in Hebrew — and the ancient town was built down its spine. It began as a Seleucid fort, came under Hasmonean control in 81 BCE and grew into a Jewish town whose synagogue, dated to the late 1st century BCE, is among the earliest known anywhere in the world.

In 67 CE the ridge that protected Gamla trapped it. Vespasian brought three legions — X Fretensis, XV Apollinaris and V Macedonica — and besieged the town from October. The first assault broke through the wall and then collapsed under the weight of its own success, when houses gave way and buried Roman soldiers in the alleys. The second assault took the town. Josephus, who rode with the Roman army, wrote that thousands died on the ridge and in the ravine below; scholars read his figures as inflated, and estimate the pre-siege population at around 3,000–4,000. What is not in dispute is the archaeology: excavators recovered roughly 1,600 arrowheads, some 2,000 basalt ballista stones and about 100 catapult bolts — a concentration of siege ordnance unmatched anywhere in the Roman Empire.

Getting there. Private car only; there is no useful public transport. The reserve is about 20 km south of Katzrin, signposted off Route 869. Everything starts from the visitor centre car park.

Good to know:

The three trails are separate out-and-back walks from the same car park. Do the vulture lookout first, the falls next and the city last, when the light on the ridge is best.
The descent to the ancient city is steep and rocky, and every metre you go down you climb back — this is the part that earns the ‘moderate’ rating.
The waterfall is seasonal. It runs after winter rain and dries out through summer and autumn; in August you get a 51-metre dry cliff.
Basalt, no shade, strong sun. Carry far more water than feels necessary and start early.
An Israel Nature and Parks Authority site with an entrance fee and closing hours — check the last-entry time before you plan the long loop.

Day 1

Vultures, dolmens, waterfall and the ruined city

Gamla visitor centre car park → Gamla visitor centre car park 9 km ↑ 400 m

Navigate this day

Three out-and-back walks stacked into one day, with the steep descent to the ancient city saved for last.

Segments

The vulture lookout 1 km ↑ 20 m 📍 Map

Visitor centre → Cliff-edge observation post

Level basalt path

A short, near-level path runs out to an observation post set right on the lip of the canyon, looking across at the nesting ledges of the largest griffon vulture colony in Israel. Come early — the birds ride the thermals up off the cliff face as the rock warms. The colony was devastated by a poisoning incident in 2007 and has been rebuilt since, with eggs taken for incubation as part of the recovery programme. About 40 minutes there and back with time to watch.

About this place

The Eurasian griffon vulture is a large Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. It is also known as the Eurasian griffon or griffon vulture, although the latter term is sometimes used for the genus Gyps as a whole.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Pierre Dalous · CC BY-SA 3.0
Across the dolmen field 2 km ↑ 60 m 📍 Map

Visitor centre → Bronze Age dolmen field

Open plateau, loose basalt

The trail to the falls crosses an open plateau scattered with dolmens — table-shaped burial monuments of two upright slabs under a capstone, raised in the Bronze Age. The field here holds 716 of them, one of the densest concentrations in the country, standing in the grass with nothing built around them.

About this place

A dolmen, or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. Small pad-stones may be wedged between the cap and supporting stones to achieve a level appearance. In many instances, the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone "skeleton".
Read more on Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Frank Chandler · CC BY-SA 4.0
Gamla waterfall 2 km ↑ 40 m 📍 Map

Dolmen field → Waterfall lookout

Plateau path to canyon rim

The path ends at a lookout facing the head of the Gamla stream, where the water drops 51 metres in a single fall — the highest in Israel. You view it from across the canyon rather than from below. Roughly 45 minutes each way from the car park, and worth timing for a day after winter rain, when it is actually flowing.
Descent to the ancient city 2 km ↑ 0 m 📍 Map

Ridge lookout → The synagogue and the breach

Steep rocky descent

A steep, rough path drops off the plateau onto the camel-hump ridge itself. You walk down the spine past the 350-metre defensive wall — improvised in 66 CE by blocking the gaps between existing houses — to the breach the Romans forced, and on to the synagogue: a 22 by 17 metre hall with a Doric colonnade and a ritual bath beside it. Ballista stones still lie where they landed.

About this place

Gamla, also Gamala, was an ancient Jewish town on the Golan Heights. Believed to have been founded as a Seleucid fort during the Syrian Wars, it transitioned into a predominantly Jewish settlement that came under Hasmonean rule in 81 BCE. The town's name reflects its location on a high, elongated ridge with steep slopes resembling a camel's hump.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗
Photo: EdoM · Public domain
The climb back out 2 km ↑ 280 m 📍 Map

Ancient city → Visitor centre car park

Steep switchbacks on basalt

The only way back is the way you came in, and it is the hardest 40 minutes of the day: a sustained climb up the ridge in full sun. Keep water for it. From the top, the view back down the hump explains the whole siege better than any sign does.

About this place

Gamla, also Gamala, was an ancient Jewish town on the Golan Heights. Believed to have been founded as a Seleucid fort during the Syrian Wars, it transitioned into a predominantly Jewish settlement that came under Hasmonean rule in 81 BCE. The town's name reflects its location on a high, elongated ridge with steep slopes resembling a camel's hump.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗
Photo: EdoM · Public domain