The Negev · Best time to visit
The best time to visit the Negev
Between June and September the ten-year normals at 854 metres on the Negev highlands record no rain at all, and that single fact splits the desert year cleanly in two.
Walking season
October to April
The seven months whose mean daily high on the Negev highlands sits between 13.1°C and 25.4°C, over the decade to 2024
Rain in a year
67 mm
The twelve monthly normals added together, across about 15 days with a millimetre or more, and none of it between June and September
Hottest month
31.7°C
Mean daily high in July at 854 metres; the Israel Meteorological Service record for Mitzpe Ramon is 40.9°C, set in June
Coldest nights
4.8°C
Mean daily low in January on the crater rim, where the meteorological service's record low is minus 4.0°C
The Negev is high desert, not hot desert, and the difference decides the calendar. The climate normals on this page were computed at 854 metres, on the plateau around Mitzpe Ramon, and they describe a place that is fifteen degrees cooler at night than the Dead Sea an hour and a half to the east. What makes the Negev summer hard is not the number on the thermometer. It is that there is no shade, no drinking water on the trails, no cloud to speak of, and nowhere to retreat to once a walk has started.
Two things then complicate the choice. The first is the Jewish festival calendar, which does not track the weather at all: Passover and Sukkot fall in the two best months of the year, fill every national park in the country, and roughly double the price of a room on the crater rim. The second is water. The Negev's rain arrives in a handful of violent hours rather than in weeks of drizzle, and it arrives in the canyons rather than where it fell, which is why the desert's most serious hazard belongs to the same months as its best walking.
The short answer is that the season runs from October to April, that February, March and November are the best of it, and that June to September is a period to plan around rather than through. What follows is the detail underneath that, month by month.
The year
What the weather actually does in The Negev
Monthly normals computed from daily reanalysis at this destination's own coordinates, 2015 to 2024. Not a forecast and not an impression.
Month by month
When to go to The Negev
January
Good13.1°C by day, 4.8°C at night, 2.9 wet days
Superb walking and a difficult clock. Mean highs of 13.1°C make midday in a canyon comfortable for once, but the parks authority's winter timetable closes Ein Avdat and Avdat at 16:00, entry to Ein Avdat shuts an hour and a half before that, and the last admission to the long trail falls an hour earlier than its daylight-saving time. Nights on the rim average 4.8°C against a recorded minimum of minus 4.0°C at Mitzpe Ramon, so a crater campsite in January is a cold-weather proposition. There is no festival between Hanukkah and Purim, and the desert is close to empty.
February
Best14.9°C by day, 5.9°C at night, 3.3 wet days
The wettest month in the ten-year normals at 18 mm across about three days, which in a place receiving 67 mm in a year means a few dramatic days rather than a soaked fortnight, and it is the rain that puts water in the Ein Avdat pools and green in the wadis. Walking conditions are as good as they get and prices are at their annual low. The flood rule applies at full strength: check the forecast for the catchment upstream, not for the car park. Sharav lows can start as early as February, so a February heat spike is unusual but not unheard of.
March
Best18.6°C by day, 7.7°C at night, 2.4 wet days
If one month has to be chosen for the Negev without knowing anything else about the trip, this is it. Highs of 18.6°C, rain down to 14 mm, the wadi flora still going and the light long enough for a full canyon day. Purim falls on 22 and 23 March in 2027, which crowds the parks midweek without closing anything. March is also when the sharav lows begin in earnest, so one day in the month can be ten degrees above the rest of it.
April
Good23.7°C by day, 11.2°C at night, 1.7 wet days
Excellent up to a point and then dominated by Passover, which in 2027 runs from the evening of 21 April to the 28th and fills every national park in the country while doubling rim hotel prices. Highs of 23.7°C mean the canyons are a morning proposition rather than an all-day one. April is also the month of the Tzafit disaster in 2018 and of the 27 April 2026 event in which storms over Yeruham drove a record discharge down the Ze'elim Stream, which is worth remembering before entering any wadi on a day with rain forecast anywhere upstream.
May
Mixed27.9°C by day, 14.7°C at night, effectively no rain
Highs of 27.9°C and effectively the end of the walking season as a whole-day activity: the canyons work before nine in the morning and not after. Rain has dropped to 3 mm across under one day, so the wadi green is browning off. Sharav lows run to mid-June and May is their most reliable month, which means a handful of days above 35°C should be expected rather than feared. Lag BaOmer (25 May in 2027) and Yom HaAtzmaut are single days that crowd campgrounds rather than close anything.
June
Hard going30.1°C by day, 17°C at night, effectively no rain
The month the desert shuts its doors: 30.1°C by day, no rain at all in the normals, and the meteorological service's record high for Mitzpe Ramon, 40.9°C, belongs to June. Shavuot falls on the evening of 10 June into the 11th in 2027, with holiday-eve hours of 08:00 to 13:00 across the parks authority's Negev sites. Israeli middle and high schools break up on 20 June and primary schools on the 30th, so the last ten days are the beginning of the domestic season. Walking is a dawn activity and nothing else.
July
Hard going31.7°C by day, 18.8°C at night, effectively no rain
The hardest month here and this page will not call it warm: the highest mean daily high of the year at 31.7°C, no rain across no days, no cloud and no shade on the plateau. The whole country is on school holiday, so Mitzpe Ramon is simultaneously at its least usable and at its most booked. If July is the only option, plan the day around a walk finished by eight in the morning, the Ramon Visitor Center in the middle of it and a rim viewpoint at dusk, and carry far more water than seems reasonable.
August
Hard going31.6°C by day, 19°C at night, effectively no rain
Indistinguishable from July in practice, 31.6°C by day and the warmest nights of the year at 19.0°C, with the school holidays running to the end of the month. Avdat has in the past published extended Thursday and Friday hours to 18:00 through late July and August, which is the one concession to the season, and worth confirming on the day. The compensation is the sky: August nights are dry, clear and warm enough to sit out on the rim for hours, which is not true in January.
September
Mixed29.6°C by day, 17.8°C at night, effectively no rain
The first fortnight is August under another name at 29.6°C, and then the festival calendar takes the month over completely. In 2026 Rosh Hashanah begins on the evening of 11 September, Yom Kippur on the evening of the 20th, and Sukkot on the evening of the 25th; Yom Kippur closes the country for roughly 28 to 30 hours, the airport included, and the parks authority's Negev sites run 08:00 to 13:00 on holiday eves. Book the Ramon Visitor Center before travelling in any case, since it requires a reservation all year.
October
Good25.4°C by day, 15.2°C at night, 1.4 wet days
A month of two halves in 2026. Sukkot runs to Hoshana Raba on 2 October with Shmini Atzeret on the 3rd, and until then every park in the country is at capacity and the rim hotels are at holiday rates. From about the 5th the desert empties, and what is left is one of the two best stretches of the year: 25.4°C by day, the first 7 mm of rain returning, and full-length canyon days. Flood season has begun with that rain, so the forecast goes back on the morning checklist.
November
Best20°C by day, 11.2°C at night, 1 wet days
The quietest good month in the Negev calendar. Highs of 20.0°C and lows of 11.2°C, 4 mm of rain across about a day, no festival in the month at all and the whole itinerary available: the crater, Ein Avdat, Avdat, Shivta, Mamshit and Sde Boker in whatever order suits. The adjustment is the winter timetable, which closes the parks at 16:00 with entry shutting before that, so an afternoon that felt generous in October no longer is. Nights are cold enough for the stars and not yet cold enough to be unpleasant.
December
Good15.3°C by day, 7.1°C at night, 1.3 wet days
Cold, quiet, short and cheap. Highs of 15.3°C and 6 mm of rain make for fine walking, but the winter closing time and the daylight together compress the day, and arriving at Ein Avdat after lunch in December means not walking the long trail at all. Hanukkah runs from 4 to 12 December in 2026, a school holiday that fills sites midweek without closing anything. The long nights are the best of the year for the sky, provided the trip is timed near a new moon and the clothing is genuinely warm.
The table
Every month in figures
| Month | Average high | Average low | Rain | Wet days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 13.1°C | 4.8°C | 9 mm | 2.9 |
| February | 14.9°C | 5.9°C | 18 mm | 3.3 |
| March | 18.6°C | 7.7°C | 14 mm | 2.4 |
| April | 23.7°C | 11.2°C | 6 mm | 1.7 |
| May | 27.9°C | 14.7°C | 3 mm | 0.8 |
| June | 30.1°C | 17°C | 0 mm | 0 |
| July | 31.7°C | 18.8°C | 0 mm | 0 |
| August | 31.6°C | 19°C | 0 mm | 0 |
| September | 29.6°C | 17.8°C | 0 mm | 0.1 |
| October | 25.4°C | 15.2°C | 7 mm | 1.4 |
| November | 20°C | 11.2°C | 4 mm | 1 |
| December | 15.3°C | 7.1°C | 6 mm | 1.3 |
Computed from Open-Meteo's ERA5 reanalysis archive at 30.6097, 34.8014, elevation 854 m. Averages over 2015 to 2024. A wet day is one with 1 mm of rain or more, which is the threshold meteorological services use.
A reanalysis is a model on a grid rather than a weather station, and the grid smooths terrain. Temperatures come through it well. Rainfall totals are understated wherever hills do the lifting, so on the ridges treat the wet-day counts as the shape of the season rather than as a measured depth.
The season
One long window, with the two festival weeks cut out of it
October to April is the walking season, and inside it there are two stretches that are better than the rest. The first is late October to early December, once Sukkot has emptied out: mean daily highs fall from 25.4°C to 15.3°C, the first rain of the year has usually laid the dust, and there is no festival between Sukkot and Hanukkah to compete with. The second is February to March, when highs of 14.9°C and 18.6°C make midday walking comfortable rather than merely possible, the wadis are green from whatever winter has delivered, and the desert is at its least crowded before Passover.
January and December are excellent for walking and awkward for everything else. The daylight is short, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority runs its winter timetable, and the arithmetic at Ein Avdat is unforgiving: the park closes at 16:00 in winter, the entrance shuts an hour and a half before that, and the last entry to the long trail is one hour earlier again than the 14:30 that applies under daylight saving. A canyon walk begun after lunch in January is a canyon walk that does not happen.
April and May are the shoulder going the wrong way. April averages 23.7°C by day and is perfectly walkable if the walking is done early; May reaches 27.9°C and turns the canyons into a dawn activity. Both are sharav season, so either can produce a day ten degrees above its own average at about a day's notice.
The sky ignores all of this. Clear nights are best when the air is coldest and driest, which is exactly the winter weeks when the walking day is shortest, so a trip built around the stars and one built around the canyons want slightly different halves of the season.
The calendar
Two festival weeks fill every park, and one day closes the country
Passover and Sukkot are the two dates that most often wreck a desert itinerary, because both land in the best weather of the year and both send the whole country outdoors at once. In 2026 Sukkot runs from the evening of 25 September to Hoshana Raba on 2 October, with Shmini Atzeret on the 3rd; in 2027 Passover runs from the evening of 21 April to the 28th, and Sukkot from the evening of 15 October to the 23rd. The parks authority's own advice is to book ahead for Saturdays, public holidays and vacation periods, and the Ramon Visitor Center at Mitzpe Ramon requires an advance reservation all year round in any case.
The festivals also change what is open rather than only how full it is. Holiday eves across the parks authority's Negev sites run 08:00 to 13:00, at Ein Avdat, Avdat, Mamshit and the Ramon Visitor Center alike, so a holiday eve is a morning and nothing more. Yom Kippur, which falls on 20 and 21 September in 2026 and on 10 and 11 October in 2027, closes the country outright: businesses shut around midday on the eve, and services that normally run on holidays, airports and border crossings among them, suspend for something like 28 to 30 hours.
One festival effect works in the visitor's favour. At Mamshit the parks authority holds a market on and around the reconstructed Nabataean street at Sukkot and Passover, which is the one time of year that particular ruin is used for something other than looking at. If the trip is going to collide with a festival anyway, that is worth building a morning around.
Outside the two big weeks the calendar is gentler than people expect. Purim (22 and 23 March in 2027) and Hanukkah (4 to 12 December in 2026) are school holidays that crowd sites midweek without closing anything, and Israeli school holidays are the other half of the crowd calendar: the school year begins on 1 September, middle and high schools break up on 20 June and primary schools on 30 June, which is when the domestic summer season begins in earnest.
The hazard
The flood arrives from a storm nobody at the trailhead can see
A Negev flash flood is not a wet-weather inconvenience. It is the desert's characteristic danger, and it kills people who were standing in sunshine. Rain that falls on the highlands drains into narrow dry beds that concentrate it, and the wall of water arrives in a canyon that may be tens of kilometres from where the cloud burst. In April 2018 ten teenagers on an academy hiking trip were killed by a flood in the Tzafit riverbed; in 2025 two of their educators were sentenced to seven years each for negligent manslaughter, the court finding they had disregarded multiple weather warnings.
The scale these events can reach is easy to underestimate. On 27 April 2026 the Israel Meteorological Service recorded convective storms that began over Yeruham around midday and then produced rain for more than two hours over the eastern Negev and the Judaean Desert slopes. Radar put the peak accumulation at roughly 50 mm or more across tens of square kilometres, an intensity the service assessed as having a return period of a century or more, and the Ze'elim Stream recorded a peak discharge above 500 cubic metres per second, a record for the stream since measurements began.
The practical consequence is a rule rather than a season. Any month with rain in the normals, which here means October to May, can produce a flood, and the forecast that matters is the one for the catchment upstream rather than for the trailhead. Check the meteorological service's warnings on the morning of the walk, telephone the parks authority on *3639 if a canyon is on the plan, and treat a flood warning as cancelling the walk rather than as advice to hurry. The same storms are what put water in the Ein Avdat pools and green in the streambeds, which is why a wet winter is also the better one.
The heat
Summer is not warm here, and a sharav can put summer into March
The Negev summer should be described honestly. July averages 31.7°C by day at 854 metres and August 31.6°C, which sounds survivable and is not the problem; the problem is that from June to September the ten-year normals record no rain at all, cloud is close to absent, and the plateau offers no shade between one road and the next. The crater floor lies well below the rim figures quoted here and runs hotter still. Midday walking in the central Negev in July is a genuine hazard rather than an uncomfortable choice, and the sensible summer plan is a dawn walk, a long indoor middle of the day and a viewpoint at dusk.
Heat also arrives outside summer, and this is the trap in the spring shoulder. The Israel Meteorological Service defines a sharav, the weather most visitors call a hamsin, as a day when the maximum temperature exceeds the perennial average by 5°C or more and passes 27°C, with relative humidity under 20 per cent inland; more than 10°C above average and it is classed as a heavy one. The word khamsin is Egyptian Arabic for fifty, after the roughly fifty spring days in which the hot southerly winds blow, and it reached Hebrew through British soldiers who had served in Egypt.
The mechanism explains the timing. Sharav lows form over north-west Africa from March to mid-June, and sometimes as early as February, driven by the temperature gap between a heating Sahara and a still-cold Mediterranean; they track east, drag hot dry air and Saharan haze over Israel, then break as the wind swings westerly. The meteorological service puts the whole cycle at a day to a day and a half. That is short enough to sit out and sharp enough to ruin a walk that was planned on a monthly average.
At the other end, winter nights on the rim are genuinely cold, which visitors expecting a desert routinely get wrong. January averages a low of 4.8°C, and the meteorological service's record for Mitzpe Ramon is minus 4.0°C. Anyone camping, stargazing or sleeping in a tent structure in the crater between December and February needs winter clothing, not a fleece.
After dark
For the sky, the moon matters more than the month
The Negev's darkness is available all year, and the variable that decides whether a given night is worth it is the lunar cycle rather than the season. A full moon over the crater washes out the Milky Way as effectively as a city would; the week either side of a new moon is the whole game. Check the lunar calendar before booking a crater stay, and if the dates are fixed, accept that the stars may simply not be the reason for that particular trip.
Season tips the odds only slightly. Winter air over the highlands is the driest and clearest of the year and the sky is dark by late afternoon, which suits anyone travelling with children, but winter is also when cloud exists here at all, and the rim after midnight is cold enough to cut a session short. Late autumn is the compromise most people end up making.
Practical
What to know before you go
- Count backwards from closing time, not forwards from opening. Ein Avdat's entrance shuts an hour and a half before the park closes, and the last entry to the long trail is 14:30 under daylight saving, 13:30 on Fridays, and one hour earlier than both in winter.
- Book the Ramon Visitor Center before travelling. The parks authority lists it among the handful of sites where advance booking is required all year round, alongside Masada and Ein Gedi.
- Treat holiday eves as half days. Ein Avdat, Avdat, Mamshit and the Ramon Visitor Center all run 08:00 to 13:00 on holiday eves and on the eve of Yom Kippur, and everything is shut on Yom Kippur itself.
- Check the Israel Meteorological Service forecast for the ground upstream of the canyon, not for the canyon. October to May is flood season here, and the water that killed ten people at Tzafit in 2018 fell where they were not standing.
- If the trip runs from May to September, finish the walking by eight in the morning. There is no shade on the plateau and no drinking water on the trails, and a midday canyon in July is a genuine hazard rather than a hot afternoon.
- Check Avdat's hours again if the trip falls in high summer. The park has published extended Thursday and Friday opening to 18:00 through late July and August, which is the only late-afternoon window the Negev's ticketed sites offer in the hardest months.
- Pack for a cold night whatever the month says. The January mean low on the rim is 4.8°C and the meteorological service's record for Mitzpe Ramon is minus 4.0°C, and even an August night on an exposed viewpoint runs cooler than the day suggests.
- Fix the dates around the moon rather than the season if the sky is the point. A full moon over the crater removes the Milky Way as completely as a city would, and no month compensates for it.
The figures
Numbers behind this page
Each figure carries the year it belongs to and links the source it came from.
| Measure | Figure | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily high on the Negev highlands, July | 31.7°C, the hottest month | 2015-2024 | open-meteo.com |
| Mean daily high on the Negev highlands, January | 13.1°C, the coolest month | 2015-2024 | open-meteo.com |
| Mean daily low on the Negev highlands, January | 4.8°C | 2015-2024 | open-meteo.com |
| Rainfall, June to September inclusive | 0 mm, across effectively no wet days | 2015-2024 | open-meteo.com |
| Annual rainfall, the twelve monthly normals summed | 67 mm across about 15 days of a millimetre or more | 2015-2024 | open-meteo.com |
| Record high and low at Mitzpe Ramon, Israel Meteorological Service station data | 40.9°C in June and minus 4.0°C in January | 1987-2010 | en.wikipedia.org |
| Israel Meteorological Service threshold for a sharav inland | 5°C above the perennial average and above 27°C, with relative humidity under 20 per cent | 1994 | ims.gov.il |
| Peak discharge in the Ze'elim Stream, 27 April 2026 | Over 500 cubic metres per second, a record since measurements began | 2026 | ims.gov.il |
The rest of the The Negev guide
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.
- OfficialIsrael Nature and Parks Authorityen.parks.org.ilEn Avdat National Park
Summer and winter hours, the entrance closing an hour and a half before the stated time, the 14:30 and 15:30 last entries to the long and short trails under daylight saving with Fridays an hour earlier and winter an hour earlier again, and the 08:00 to 13:00 holiday eve and Yom Kippur eve
- OfficialIsrael Nature and Parks Authorityen.parks.org.ilAvdat National Park
Summer and winter hours, the half-hour gate closing, the holiday eve and Yom Kippur eve hours, and the extended Thursday and Friday opening to 18:00 published for late July and August
- OfficialIsrael Nature and Parks Authorityen.parks.org.ilMakhtesh Ramon: Nature Reserve and Visitors Center
Entrance by reservation only, the museum closing an hour before the stated time, seasonal and holiday eve hours, and the Khan Be'erot tent camp rates
- OfficialIsrael Nature and Parks Authorityen.parks.org.ilMamshit National Park
Seasonal and holiday eve hours, and the market held on and around the reconstructed Nabataean street at Sukkot and Passover
- OfficialIsrael Nature and Parks Authorityen.parks.org.ilBooking Visits to Nature and Parks Authority Sites
The Ramon Visitor Center listed among the sites where advance booking is required throughout the year, and the recommendation to book elsewhere for Saturdays, public holidays and vacation periods
- OfficialIsrael Meteorological Serviceims.gov.ilFloods and Hail Event Summary of 27 April 2026
Convective cells developing over Yeruham around midday, roughly 50 mm or more of rain over tens of square kilometres, a return period assessed at a century or more, and the record peak discharge above 500 cubic metres per second in the Ze'elim Stream
- OfficialIsrael Meteorological Serviceims.gov.ilBetween Khamsin and Sharav
The 1994 forecasting definition of a sharav, the 20 per cent inland humidity threshold, the heavy sharav at more than 10°C above average, and the Egyptian Arabic origin of the word khamsin
- OfficialIsrael Meteorological Serviceims.gov.ilAbout the Sharav low
Sharav lows forming over north-west Africa from March to mid-June and sometimes February, the Saharan haze they carry, and the day to a day and a half each episode lasts before it breaks
- ReportingThe Times of Israeltimesofisrael.comEducators sentenced to 7 years over deaths of 10 students in flash flood disaster
The ten teenagers killed in the Tzafit riverbed in April 2018, and the 2025 sentencing of two educators to seven years each for negligent manslaughter after the court found they had disregarded weather warnings
- DataOpen-Meteoopen-meteo.comHistorical weather API and ERA5 reanalysis
The monthly normals on this page, computed at the destination's own coordinates over 2015 to 2024
- ReferenceWikipedia, citing Israel Meteorological Service station dataen.wikipedia.orgMitzpe Ramon
The station record high of 40.9°C in June and record low of minus 4.0°C in January, on temperature data for 1987 to 2010
- ReferenceHebcalhebcal.comJewish holidays 2026-2027
Israel-calendar dates for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukkah, Purim, Passover, Lag BaOmer and Shavuot across the 2026 and 2027 seasons
- ReferenceWikipediaen.wikipedia.orgPublic holidays in Israel
Businesses closing around midday on the eve of Yom Kippur and airports, border crossings and broadcasting suspending for about 28 to 30 hours
- ReferenceWikipediaen.wikipedia.orgEducation in Israel
The school year beginning on 1 September and ending on 20 June for middle and high schools and 30 June for primary schools, which sets the domestic holiday season
The best time to visit the Negev: common questions
What is the best month to visit the Negev?+
March, with February and November close behind. March averages a daily high of 18.6°C on the highlands, keeps enough winter rain behind it for the wadis to still be green, and gives long enough daylight for a full canyon day. Its only complications are the sharav lows, which begin in earnest in March, and Purim, which crowds the parks midweek without closing them.
Is the Negev too hot to visit in summer?+
For walking, largely yes. July and August average 31.7°C and 31.6°C by day on the highlands, the normals record no rain at all from June to September, and there is no shade on the plateau and no drinking water on the trails. A summer trip works only if the walking is finished by about eight in the morning and the middle of the day is spent indoors.
Does it rain in the Negev, and does that matter?+
Very little, and it matters enormously. The twelve monthly normals add to 67 mm across about 15 days with a millimetre or more, all of it between October and May, but it falls in short violent bursts that concentrate into the dry riverbeds. On 27 April 2026 storms that began over Yeruham drove a peak discharge above 500 cubic metres per second down the Ze'elim Stream, a record for that stream.
When is flash flood season, and how do you avoid one?+
October to May, which is the same period as the good walking. Check the Israel Meteorological Service forecast for the catchment upstream rather than for the trailhead, telephone the parks authority on *3639 before a canyon walk, and cancel rather than hurry if a warning is out. Ten teenagers died in the Tzafit riverbed in April 2018 after weather warnings were disregarded, and two of their educators were sentenced to seven years each in 2025.
How cold does it get at night in the Negev?+
Cold enough to need winter clothing between December and February. The mean daily low on the crater rim in January is 4.8°C, and the Israel Meteorological Service record for Mitzpe Ramon is minus 4.0°C. The site sits at 854 metres, which is why the nights here bear no resemblance to the Dead Sea an hour and a half away.
What is a hamsin, and when does it happen?+
Hamsin, or sharav in Hebrew, is a burst of unusually hot dry weather that the Israel Meteorological Service defines as a day exceeding the perennial average by 5°C or more and passing 27°C, with inland humidity under 20 per cent. The lows that cause it form over north-west Africa from March to mid-June and occasionally from February. Each episode lasts a day to a day and a half before the wind swings westerly and the weather breaks.
Should I avoid Passover and Sukkot?+
For the Negev, yes, unless the trip cannot move. Both fall in the best weather of the year and both fill every national park in the country while pushing rim hotel prices up sharply. In 2026 Sukkot runs from the evening of 25 September to 3 October; in 2027 Passover runs from the evening of 21 April to the 28th and Sukkot from the evening of 15 October to the 23rd.
What actually closes on Yom Kippur?+
Effectively everything, including the airport. Businesses shut around midday on the eve, and services that normally operate on holidays, airports and border crossings among them, suspend for roughly 28 to 30 hours. The parks authority's Negev sites run 08:00 to 13:00 on the eve and do not open on the day. Yom Kippur falls on 20 and 21 September in 2026 and on 10 and 11 October in 2027.
Do I need to book national parks in advance?+
For the Ramon Visitor Center at Mitzpe Ramon, yes, all year round: the parks authority lists it among the small group of sites where advance booking is required rather than recommended. For Ein Avdat, Avdat, Shivta and Mamshit, book for Saturdays, public holidays and school holiday periods, and turn up when you like the rest of the time.
When is the best time for stargazing at Makhtesh Ramon?+
Whichever month contains the week around a new moon. A full moon over the crater erases the Milky Way as thoroughly as light pollution would, so the lunar calendar governs the choice and the season only tilts it. Winter gives the driest, clearest air and the longest nights but is cold enough on the rim to cut a session short; late autumn is the usual compromise.