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Trek From the Galilee to the Red Sea, Israel

Israel National Trail: Five-Day Highlights

The most beautiful five days of the 1,100 km Israel National Trail — the Galilee ridges, Mount Carmel, the Wilderness of Zin, the Ramon Crater and the Eilat Mountains down to the Red Sea.

Israel National Trail: Five-Day Highlights
Photo: אורן פלס · CC BY 2.5
Duration
5 days
Distance
92 km
Ascent
3000 m
Difficulty
Hard
Best season
Autumn (October–November) and spring (March–April)

The Israel National Trail (Shvil Yisrael) runs the whole length of the country, roughly 1,100 km marked with white-blue-orange stripes, from Tel Dan in the north to the Red Sea at Eilat. End to end it takes most hikers 45–60 days. This route distills it to five hand-picked days that carry you through the trail’s finest landscapes, moving north to south — from green Galilee forest to the desert and the sea.

These five days are not continuous on the ground: they are the trail’s greatest hits, linked here by short drives so you experience its full range in a single trip. Each is a serious day out; the desert sections in particular demand water, sun protection and an early start.

Getting there. Fly to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. The northern days are reached from Tzfat and the Carmel coast; the desert days from Mitzpe Ramon and Sde Boker; the final day from Eilat. A rental car or local buses link the sections.

Permits & tickets. The trail itself is free and needs no permit, but several sections pass through nature reserves and national parks (Ein Avdat, Nahal Me’arot, the Ramon Crater) that charge a small entry fee and close before dusk.

Good to know:

Tips & Insights for this route Planning this route? Read our practical tips before you go — 7 tips. Read the tips
Day 1

Upper Galilee: Nahal Amud to Mount Meron

Tzfat → Mount Meron 18 km 700 m
Navigate this day

The northern trail at its greenest: spring-fed streams, oak and terebinth woodland and the long ridge of Mount Meron with views to Mount Hermon and the sea.

Segments

  1. Up Nahal Amud 9 km 300 m Map

    Tzfat → Ein Koved (Nahal Amud)

    Shaded stream gorge

    Drop from the artists' town of Tzfat into Nahal Amud, a deep, spring-fed canyon named for the freestanding rock pillar at its heart. Follow the water past mills and pools beneath oak and fig. About 3.5 hours.

  2. Onto the Meron ridge 9 km 400 m Map

    Ein Koved → Mount Meron

    Forest climb to open ridge

    Climb steadily out of the gorge onto Mount Meron, at 1,208 m the highest peak in the Galilee, ringed by a nature reserve of wild peonies and cyclamen with a summit-ridge panorama across the whole north. About 3.5 hours.

Day 2

Mount Carmel to the sea

Nir Etzion → Nahal Me'arot 20 km 600 m
Navigate this day

The Carmel range at its best — pine and oak woodland, small streams and the UNESCO-listed prehistoric caves of Nahal Me’arot, ending where the mountain meets the Mediterranean.

Segments

  1. Carmel woodland 11 km 450 m Map

    Nir Etzion → Little Switzerland

    Mountain forest paths

    Wind through the wooded heart of the Carmel — Aleppo pine, Mediterranean scrub and the leafy valley nicknamed 'Little Switzerland' — with viewpoints out over the coastal plain. About 3.5 hours.

  2. Descent to the prehistoric caves 9 km 150 m Map

    Little Switzerland → Nahal Me'arot

    Descending ridge to coastal plain

    Descend the western Carmel to Nahal Me'arot, a chain of caves where humans and Neanderthals lived for hundreds of thousands of years, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site above the sea. About 2.5 hours.

Day 3

The Wilderness of Zin: Ein Avdat

Sde Boker → Avdat 16 km 400 m
Navigate this day

Into the Negev proper, through the white-cliffed canyon of Ein Avdat with its cold spring pools, then up onto the desert plateau toward the ancient Nabataean city of Avdat.

Segments

  1. Ein Avdat canyon 8 km 200 m Map

    Sde Boker → Ein Avdat upper falls

    Desert canyon, ladders and steps

    Walk the gorge of Nahal Zin to Ein Avdat, where a permanent spring feeds pools and a waterfall between sheer chalk walls, past the tomb-side viewpoint over Ben-Gurion's desert home. Iron ladders and steps carry you up the cliff. About 3 hours.

  2. Up to Avdat 8 km 200 m Map

    Ein Avdat upper falls → Avdat

    Open desert plateau

    Climb out onto the exposed Negev highland and cross to Avdat, a ruined Nabataean caravan city on the ancient Incense Route, another UNESCO site commanding the desert. About 3 hours.

Day 4

Across the Ramon Crater

Mitzpe Ramon → Nahal Nekarot 22 km 500 m
Navigate this day

A long, spectacular day crossing Makhtesh Ramon, the largest of the world’s erosion craters (a makhtesh), where 200-million-year-old rock is laid bare in bands of colour and strange geological formations.

Segments

  1. Descent from the rim 4 km 0 m Map

    Mitzpe Ramon → Crater floor

    Steep rim descent

    Leave the rim-top town of Mitzpe Ramon and switchback down the crater wall on the old Ma'ale Ramon, dropping some 400 m into a vast bowl 40 km long and up to 500 m deep. About 1.5 hours.

  2. The Carpentry and the crater floor 10 km 200 m Map

    Crater floor → Ammonite Wall area

    Open crater floor

    Cross the multicoloured floor past 'the Carpentry' (HaMinsara), a hill of prism-shaped rock formed by ancient volcanic heat, amid black and ochre hills and exposed fossil beds. About 3.5 hours.

  3. Out toward Nahal Nekarot 8 km 300 m Map

    Ammonite Wall area → Nahal Nekarot

    Desert wadi

    Follow the dry riverbed of Nahal Nekarot toward the southern edge of the crater, where a spring and campsite mark a classic trail night under the desert stars. About 3 hours.

Day 5

The Eilat Mountains to the Red Sea

Red Canyon → Eilat 16 km 800 m
Navigate this day

The trail’s final act: the granite and sandstone Eilat Mountains, the vivid Red Canyon and a long descent past Mount Yoash to the Red Sea where the whole route ends.

Segments

  1. The Red Canyon 6 km 300 m Map

    Red Canyon car park → Mount Yehoram ridge

    Narrow sandstone canyon

    Thread the Red Canyon, a slot of wind-smoothed red Nubian sandstone with fixed handholds and short ladders, then climb onto the ridge for a first sight of the Gulf of Aqaba. About 2.5 hours.

  2. Down to the sea at Eilat 10 km 500 m Map

    Mount Yehoram ridge → Eilat

    Mountain ridges and steep descent

    Cross the bare, sculpted Eilat Mountains past Mount Yoash and its four-country viewpoint, then descend the long final slopes to the Red Sea and the trail's southern end at Eilat. About 4.5 hours.

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