The Galilee
Things to do in The Galilee
Every site here that is worth building time around, each one with a page of its own covering what it is, what survives, when it opens and what it costs.
Sites covered
11
each with its own page
Ticketed
11
0 free to walk into
Sourced figures
88
each with its year and source
Citations
136
opened and checked
The Galilee is not one attraction. It is 11 of them, and they do not reward the same amount of time or the same time of day. This page is the index: what each one is in a sentence, how long it takes, and what it costs, so that the choosing happens here and the reading happens on the page for whichever you pick.
Every site below has been checked against its operator's own published information. Where a site charges admission, the price on its page is the operator's published price with the year it was taken. Where it sits inside a larger park, its page says which ticket covers it.
3 sites
The ruins and excavations
שלמה רודד / CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Archaeological site
Beit She'arim Necropolis
About thirty catacombs cut into the soft chalk of Sheikh Abreik hill, holding more than three hundred funerary inscriptions in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Palmyrene, around the tomb attributed to Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi.
- Time:
- about 90 minutes for the upper and lower trails and the main caves, or nearer three hours if the Menorah Caves tour and the menorah presentation are added
- Entry:
- ₪24
Archaeological site
Montfort Castle
The Teutonic Order bought this spur above Nahal Kziv from the de Milly family in 1220 and moved its archive and treasury here in 1229, out of reach of the Templars and Hospitallers in Acre.
- Time:
- about 90 minutes on the spur itself, and half a day for the round trip on foot from Goren Park: KKL-JNF publishes no distance or time for the descent and climb, only that the climb is taxing
- Entry:
- Free. KKL-JNF publishes no admission price in shekels or otherwise for the park, its car parks, its picnic ground or the Montfort observation point
Yair Haklai / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Archaeological site
Zippori National Park
The Roman capital of the Galilee, where the dining room of a third-century mansion holds the face known as the Mona Lisa of the Galilee and a rock-cut reservoir 260 metres long runs under the hill to the east.
- Time:
- about 3 to 4 hours on the operator's own touring route, which starts at the water system east of the ruins; about 2 hours if the plan is the Dionysus House, the Nile House, the synagogue and the fortress and nothing else
- Entry:
- ₪31
2 sites
Churches, synagogues and holy places
כובש המלפפונים / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Religious site
Basilica of the Annunciation
The Custody of the Holy Land dropped Antonio Barluzzi's design for this church and built Giovanni Muzio's instead: two churches stacked over one rock-cut cave, with the excavated village of Nazareth left open in the floor between them.
- Time:
- about 75 minutes for both churches, the grotto and the courtyard panels, or about two hours if the museum has been arranged and the platform over the excavated village is walked properly
- Entry:
- No charge. The Custody publishes opening times and no ticket price of any kind, and it does publish a 10 shekel entrance fee for its site at Capernaum in the same list, so the omission is not an oversight
עמוס גל / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Religious site
Mount Tabor
Antonio Barluzzi's first church in the Holy Land stands on this dome of a hill above the Jezreel Valley, built between 1921 and 1924 over a Byzantine apse and the ruins of a Benedictine abbey that Baibars levelled in 1263.
- Time:
- about 90 minutes on the summit for the basilica, the crypt, the Benedictine ruins and the terraces, or half a day if the five-kilometre green trail is walked up from Shibli
- Entry:
- Free. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority states that entry to the place is free of charge and that there is a car park
1 site
Museums and collections
Museum
Nazareth Village
The hillside was quarried and farmed in the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman periods, and the wine press cut into its bedrock sits about 500 metres from the centre of the village Nazareth grew out of.
- Time:
- about 90 minutes, of which the standard guided tour is 1 hour 15 minutes
- Entry:
- Adults 55 shekels; seniors and university students with valid ID 47 shekels; children aged 5 to 12, 32 shekels; under 5 free; groups of 15 or more, 47 shekels per person
4.7 on Google, 2,206 ratings
2 sites
Quarters and streets worth walking
ארז אשכנזי / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Neighbourhood
Akko Old City
The Ottoman port town inside the walls stands roughly eight metres above the Crusader city it was built on, and one ticket of ₪55 opens six of the sites inside, including the Hospitaller Fortress and the Templars Tunnel.
- Time:
- about 3 to 4 hours for the six ticketed sites at an unhurried pace, or about 90 minutes if only the Hospitaller Fortress and the Templars Tunnel are on the list
- Entry:
- ₪55
זולטן קלוגר - לעמ / Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Neighbourhood
Safed Old City and Artists' Quarter
The synagogue quarter and the artists' quarter sit on one slope, divided by a broad flight of stairs the British Mandate authorities cut through the town to keep two populations apart.
- Time:
- about three hours for the synagogue quarter and the galleries, or half a day with the citadel hill and the cemetery
- Entry:
- No charge. Both quarters are public streets and no operator sells a ticket to them.
3 sites
Parks, reserves and the landscape
זאב שטיין / CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Nature reserve
Agamon Hula
A one square kilometre lake that KKL-JNF put back forty years after draining the valley, ringed by an 8.5 kilometre flat circuit and stocked every winter with 2 to 3 tonnes of maize a day to keep the cranes off the farmers' fields.
- Time:
- About 90 minutes for the loop in a hired electric cart, which is exactly what the hire covers. Two to three hours on a bicycle or on foot with stops at the viewpoints, and half a day if a sunrise wagon tour is booked as well.
- Entry:
- ₪35
Natalinasser / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Nature reserve
Rosh Hanikra Grottoes
The sea cut these caves out of soft chalk at the top of Israel's coast, and until a 400 metre tunnel was driven through the ridge in 1968 the only way into them was to swim.
- Time:
- About 60 to 90 minutes for the descent, the grottoes, the railway tunnel and the film. The walk itself is short; the queue for the cable car, not the caves, is what sets the pace on a busy day.
- Entry:
- ₪90 per person, sold by the Old Akko and Nazareth Development Company alongside its ₪55 Akko-only ticket
שלמה רודד / CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Nature reserve
Tel Dan Nature Reserve
The largest of the Jordan River's three headwaters rises inside this 48 hectare reserve, and the trail that follows it ends at a mudbrick city gate of about 1750 BCE that still stands seven metres high.
- Time:
- About 90 minutes for the stream trail and the wading pool. Two to three hours if the tel, the Israelite gate, the cult compound and the Canaanite gate are all walked.
- Entry:
- ₪31.00
Planning the rest of it
Seeing the sites is one part of a day here. These cover the others.
Sources and further reading
Every link below was opened and checked when this page was written. Official statements are marked as such: they are the subject's own account, not an independent one.
- OfficialAgamon Hula (KKL-JNF), site operatoragamon-hula.co.ilAgamon Hula, visitor information in English
Operating hours in English, the full entrance price list from ₪35 adult to ₪10 for an Eastern Galilee resident, the ban on private vehicles and pets, the notice that the Water Fowl and Crane lookouts are closed for security reasons, and the reopening rate of ₪10 that expired on 31 March 2025
- OfficialAgamon Hula (KKL-JNF), site operatoragamon-hula.co.ilPrice list (מחירון)
The Hebrew tariff and its opening hours: entrance categories, annual memberships at ₪60 to ₪400, bicycle hire for three hours, electric carts for ninety minutes, wagon tour prices, binoculars and guiding
- OfficialAgamon Hula (KKL-JNF), site operatoragamon-hula.co.ilHiding wagon tours (עגלות מסתור)
What the covered tractor-drawn wagon does, the closed ecological areas it enters, the length of the sunrise, daytime, sunset, photographers' and summer night tours, and the requirement to book
- OfficialAgamon Hula (KKL-JNF), site operatoragamon-hula.co.ilThe botanical garden (גן בוטני)
Laid out in 2009 by KKL-JNF over about 30 dunams with roughly 100 species of marsh and water plants, to record the vegetation of the old lake and shelter rare wetland species
- OfficialAgamon Hula (KKL-JNF), site operatoragamon-hula.co.ilAccessibility statement (הצהרת נגישות)
What is accessible at the visitor centre, the Crane and Cormorant observatories, the botanical garden and the Pergola viewpoint, and the explicit gaps at the Water Bird Observatory and the ringing station, plus the ban on electric mobility devices
- OfficialAgamon Hula (KKL-JNF), site operatoragamon-hula.co.ilBicycle hire (השכרת אופניים)
Three hour hire as the intended visit length, compulsory helmets, the flat terrain, and the outright ban on personal electric bicycles, scooters and other electric devices
- OfficialKKL-JNF (Jewish National Fund), site operatorkkl-jnf.orgHula Lake Park
The operator's English account of the site: the 1951 drainage as the state's first national engineering project, two tonnes of maize scattered daily in winter, the visitor centre, bicycle and cart hire and the camouflaged wagon
- OfficialKKL-JNF (Jewish National Fund)kkl.org.ilAgamon Hula trail (אגמון החולה)
The circuit round the lake given as 8.5 kilometres and described as easy and flat, running beside the water and through orchards, walked or cycled or driven by electric cart
- OfficialKKL-JNF (Jewish National Fund)kkl.org.ilAgamon Hula visitor centre project
About 3,000 square metres over two levels, built with JNF Canada, construction begun in January 2009, with a live camera wall, an auditorium and cinema, a gallery floor, shop, cafe and observation deck, and no final cost published
- OfficialOld Akko and Nazareth Development Companyakko.org.ilOld Akko: home and attractions
The All Inclusive ticket at ₪55 per person, the Akko and Rosh Hanikra combination at ₪90, the notice that the lift at the Templars Tunnel is out of service, and the list of routes including the free Walls Route and Jewish Route
- OfficialOld Akko and Nazareth Development Companyakko.org.ilOpening Hours
The summer and winter tables, 09:00 to 17:00 Sunday to Thursday and Saturday and 09:00 to 16:00 Friday and holiday eves, the Ramchal Synagogue closed on Saturdays and holidays, the ticket office closing 60 minutes before the sites, and the recommendation to arrive two hours before closing
- OfficialOld Akko and Nazareth Development Companyakko.org.ilFAQ
What the combined ticket includes and excludes, the free Enchanted Garden and Visitors Center with a fortress ticket, the address at Weizmann St 1, the parking options including the free moat car park, and the self-guided audio devices in about ten languages
- OfficialOld Akko and Nazareth Development Companyakko.org.ilThe Knights Halls
The Hospitallers' property of 1110, the move after 1135, the centre documented in 1149, Theodoric's account of 1169, the 1,200 m² court, the northern hall with 3.5 m walls, the Columns Hall excavated by the Nature and Parks Authority in the 1960s, the Pillars Hall at about 1,300 m², the latrine block and municipal sewer, the Sugar Bowl Hall, the unexcavated western wing, and about 5,000 m² excavated to date
- OfficialOld Akko and Nazareth Development Companyakko.org.ilThe Templars Tunnel
The tunnel given as about 150 metres, the route from the Templar fortress to the port across the Pisan quarter, the rock-cut lower half and vaulted upper half, the discovery in 1994, the western section opened in August 1999 and the full length in 2007, and the eyewitness description of the Templar fortress at the 1291 siege
- OfficialOld Akko and Nazareth Development Companyakko.org.ilThe Turkish Bath House
Hammam al-Basha built by Jazzar Pasha at the end of the eighteenth century as the New Hammam, in use for about 150 years, and the multimedia presentation told by the last bath attendant through the dressing room, four intermediate rooms and the hot room
- OfficialOld Akko and Nazareth Development Companyakko.org.ilThe Ethnographic Museum, Treasures in the Wall
The museum inside the Burj al-Commander in the north-eastern wall, the claim that al-Jazzar built the walls after Napoleon's attempt of 1799, and the museum's own opening hours of 09:30 to 17:30 in summer and 09:00 to 17:00 in winter
- OfficialOld Akko and Nazareth Development Companyakko.org.ilAccessibility
Accessible parking by the Visitors Center and fortress, lifts, ramps and handrails, accessible lavatories in the Enchanted Garden and at the Ramchal centre, tactile maps and vocal signage, the statement that the Templars Tunnel is temporarily not accessible to disabled visitors, and the request to telephone ahead while the accessibility survey runs
- OfficialOld Akko and Nazareth Development Companyakko.org.ilThe Akko Citadel Conservation Project
The compound at about 8,300 m², the cracking of the Pillars Hall vaults in the early 1990s, state funding in 1993, the Israel Antiquities Authority excavation of 1992 to 1999 financed by the Ministry of Tourism, and conservation ranging from minimal intervention to full reconstruction using fibreglass pins and reinforced concrete
- OfficialOld Akko and Nazareth Development Companyakko.org.ilTrip Tips
Roughly hourly trains from central Israel and Ben Gurion Airport, about an hour and twenty minutes from Tel Aviv, the station about fifteen minutes' walk from the old city, the Egged bus lines, and the seasonal advice on when to come
- ReportingThe Times of Israel (21 March 2023)timesofisrael.comNumber of overwintering cranes in Hula Valley drops as authorities reduce feeding
The wintering count falling from about 40,000 to between 18,000 and 25,000, feeding started later and ended earlier with quantity cut by a tenth, an estimated 8,000 cranes lost to avian influenza, the five-year phase-out agreed with farmers, and comment from the Parks Authority's avian ecologist Ohad Hazofe and the ecologist Yifat Artzi
- ReferenceEncyclopaedia Britannicabritannica.comHula Valley
The valley at about 25 by 6 kilometres and 177 square kilometres, the former lake of about 14 square kilometres with 31 of swamp, drainage from 1951 to 1958 with more than 40 kilometres of canals, and farmland made unusable by sinking groundwater by the early 1990s
- ReferenceWikipediaen.wikipedia.orgLake Hula
The pre-drainage lake at 5.3 by 4.4 kilometres, the peat fires and fertiliser run-off into the Sea of Galilee, the reflooding of the early 1990s, and the resulting park of about one square kilometre with islands used as protected nesting sites
- ReferenceHebrew Wikipediahe.wikipedia.orgAgamon HaHula (אגמון החולה)
The 62,000 dunams drained in the 1950s, the 80 million shekels and two years of controlled flooding, the 2019 visitor centre named for Stephen Harper, the wildlife acclimation centre opened in 2020 with Tel-Hai Academic College under Yaron Cherka and Rona Nadler Valency, the late 2021 avian influenza outbreak reported by Haaretz, and the closure in 2023 with reopening in December 2024
- ReferenceHebrew Wikipediahe.wikipedia.orgThe crane project at Agamon Hula (פרויקט העגורים באגמון החולה)
The 1999 decision to create alternative feeding grounds, 2 to 3 tonnes of maize scattered daily from early December to mid-March by farm vehicles rather than feeders, the partners including two government ministries and the valley's farmers, research funded by the United States Forest Service, about 15,000 wintering cranes in 1999 against 50,000 and 5 million shekels a year by 2019, and the December 2019 dispute between the farmers, KKL-JNF and the Parks Authority
Things to do in The Galilee: common questions
How many days do you need in The Galilee?+
There are 11 sites here with a page of their own, and giving each the time its own page suggests comes to more than one day. Most visitors pick three or four and treat the rest as a return trip. The per-site pages each carry a "how long to give it" figure, which is the number to add up.
What does it cost to see The Galilee?+
11 of the 11 sites listed here charge admission and 0 do not. Every ticketed one has its published price on its own page, with the operator's page linked beside it. Israel's national parks also sell a multi-site pass, which pays for itself at roughly the third park.
Are these sites open on Shabbat and holidays?+
Most national parks and museums keep shortened Friday hours and either close on Saturday or open late. Each page carries the hours as the operator publishes them, and the operator's own page is linked, which is the only version that will be current on the day you go.
Where do the opening hours and prices on these pages come from?+
From the operator: the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, the museum, the municipality or the site's own management, whichever publishes them. Each figure links the page it was taken from. Ratings and review counts, where a page shows them, come from a dated snapshot of Google Maps and are labelled as such rather than presented as current.
Which one is worth it if you only see one thing in The Galilee?+
Agamon Hula is the one this guide would keep. A one square kilometre lake that KKL-JNF put back forty years after draining the valley, ringed by an 8.5 kilometre flat circuit and stocked every winter with 2 to 3 tonnes of maize a day to keep the cranes off the farmers' fields.
Is there anything worth seeing that is not on this list?+
Plenty, and that is deliberate. A site earns a page here when a visitor could reasonably spend half an hour there, when there is enough documented substance to write a real page about it, and when the operator publishes something a visitor can plan against. Things that fail those tests are covered on the The Galilee overview instead of padded out into pages of their own.