Rosh HaNikra: The Grottoes at the End of the Country

The cable car drops about 70 meters at roughly a 60-degree gradient — steep enough that it’s marketed as the steepest cable car in the world. It was built in the early 1970s so any visitor could reach the caves that, before then, were mostly accessible only from the sea.

The 400-meter visitor tunnel was cut through the chalk in 1968. A different, older tunnel was carved in 1942 by the British to carry a railway between Mandatory Palestine and Lebanon; it was sealed after Haganah fighters blew up its bridge in March 1948 to stop weapons being smuggled in. Nothing of that old railway is visible on today’s walk — it’s a separate piece of the headland’s history, not part of the grotto route.

The cable car’s lower station sits right at sea level, so rough seas can force it to close for safety. The upside: a stormy day when it is open is exactly when the waves boom loudest through the grottoes — worth checking conditions ahead rather than ruling out winter altogether.