The Sea of Galilee
Things to do in The Sea of 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
10
each with its own page
Ticketed
10
0 free to walk into
Sourced figures
80
each with its year and source
Citations
119
opened and checked
The Sea of Galilee is not one attraction. It is 10 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.
5 sites
The ruins and excavations
Tracy Hunter from Spokane, USA / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Archaeological site
Capernaum
Two thirds of the ruined village belongs to the Franciscans, who finally got the title deeds on 19 September 1894 after eight years of Ottoman paperwork and have dug it in twenty-three seasons since 1968.
- Time:
- about 60 to 90 minutes, and closer to two hours if you sit at the lakeside afterwards
- Entry:
- 10 ILS
Archaeological site
Hamat Tiberias
Seventeen springs come out of the ground here at about 60 degrees Celsius, and the synagogue beside them has a mosaic floor that puts a zodiac wheel around the sun god Helios.
- Time:
- about 90 minutes for the synagogue, the hammam museum and the spring, and two to three hours if you use the pools and the reflexology path
- Entry:
- 16 ILS
4.3 on Google, 5,794 ratings
זאב שטיין / CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Archaeological site
Korazim
A Talmudic-era town built entirely out of the black basalt it stands on, remembered in the Babylonian Talmud for its wheat and in the Gospels for refusing to listen.
- Time:
- about 90 minutes, or two hours with the olive press path, the loop trail and both viewpoints
- Entry:
- 24 ILS
4.6 on Google, 1,488 ratings
זאב שטיין / CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Archaeological site
Kursi
A bulldozer cutting a new road to the Golan hit its wall in 1970, and what came out was a walled Byzantine monastery of 145 by 123 metres that the parks authority calls the largest known in the Holy Land.
- Time:
- about 60 minutes for the compound, or 90 with the climb to the hillside chapel and a stop at the service centre
- Entry:
- 16 ILS
Ovedc / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Archaeological site
Magdala
A guest house for pilgrims was going up here until the required salvage dig hit a synagogue from the time of the Second Temple in September 2009, and the buildings were redrawn around it.
- Time:
- about 90 minutes, or an hour if the chapel is the only reason for coming
- Entry:
- Not published online. The Magdala Center posts hours but no prices, and asks visitors wanting ticket, group or tour information to email visit@magdala.org or ring +972 4 620 9900
2 sites
Churches, synagogues and holy places
Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet / Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Religious site
Mount of Beatitudes
Antonio Barluzzi gave the church eight sides for the eight beatitudes and set it on a hill about 25 metres below sea level, which makes the summit one of the lowest in the world.
- Time:
- about 45 minutes to an hour for the church, the arcade and the garden
- Entry:
- no admission charge is listed
יוסי רון / CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Religious site
Tabgha
The mosaic in front of the altar shows a basket of four loaves, not the five of the Gospel account, and the usual reading is that the fifth is the one consecrated on the altar above it.
- Time:
- about 60 minutes for both churches, or about 30 minutes if you only stop at the Multiplication church
- Entry:
- No entrance fee published. The Custody's list, in its edition of 7 August 2026, prints a fee against Capernaum (10 ILS) and none against either Tabgha church
4.6 on Google, 3,178 ratings
1 site
Museums and collections
Gerd Eichmann / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Museum
The Jesus Boat at Ginosar
An eight-metre fishing hull that lay in the lakebed clay for two thousand years, was dug out in eleven days and nights in February 1986, and then sat in a pool of synthetic wax until 2000 before it could be shown.
- Time:
- about 60 to 90 minutes, of which the boat itself takes ten
- Entry:
- ₪40
4.6 on Google, 1,094 ratings
1 site
Viewpoints
Yinonk / CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Viewpoint
Mount Arbel
A limestone and dolomite cliff standing 181 metres above sea level and about 390 metres above the Sea of Galilee, with several hundred caves cut into its face and a seventeenth-century fortress built across them.
- Time:
- about 90 minutes for the lookouts circuit and the synagogue, or about four hours if the cliff descent to the cave fortress is added to them
- Entry:
- ₪31
1 site
Things to do rather than see
Activity
Hamat Gader
The water reaches the surface here at 42 degrees all year, and the Roman bath complex excavated beside the modern pools was begun in the second century by the Tenth Legion, garrisoned at Gadara on the ridge that is now in Jordan.
- Time:
- About three hours for the water alone, four to five with the ruins, the crocodile farm and lunch
- Entry:
- ₪127
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.
- OfficialCustody of the Holy Landcustodia.orgCapernaum
The operator's own account: the acquisition of the site concluded on 19 September 1894 after eight years of negotiation, the excavation history from Robinson in 1838 and Wilson in 1866 through Kohl and Watzinger in 1905, Orfali in 1921 and 1926, Corbo's nineteen campaigns from 16 April 1968 to 1986 and Loffreda's four from 2000 to 2003, more than 20,000 coins beneath the synagogue floor and completion in the last quarter of the fifth century, the 23 by 17.28 m prayer hall, the basalt walls and the Corbo and Loffreda disagreement about them, the chiselled figurative carvings, the reassembly of the arch and tympanum on the ground, the four phases of the insula sacra, and the memorial designed by Ildo Avetta with Cesare Pocci and the Technion, built by Solel Boneh and consecrated on 29 June 1990
- OfficialCustody of the Holy Landcustodia.orgCapernaum: Monastery
Contact details for the friary that runs the site: telephone 04 672 1059, capernaum@custodia.org, and the list of what the community is responsible for, including the memorial of Saint Peter's house and the synagogue ruins
- OfficialChristian Information Centre, Custody of the Holy Landcicts.orgOpening Hours of Holy Places and Tourist Sites in the Holy Land
The Custody's own current list, in the edition dated 7 August 2026: Capernaum, House of Peter and the Eucharistic Promise, open 8:00 to 12:00 with last entry at 11:45 and 14:00 to 17:00 with last entry at 16:30, entrance fee 10 ILS, telephone 04 672 1059, closed on Yom Kippur, 25 December and 1 January, mornings only during the Triduum of Holy Week and on 24 and 31 December
- OfficialChristian Information Centre, Custody of the Holy Landcicts.orgOpening hours outside Jerusalem, 7 August 2026
The dated document behind the page above, downloaded and read for this page; it is the source of the hours, the last entry times and the 10 ILS fee quoted here
- OfficialIsrael Nature and Parks Authorityen.parks.org.ilKfar Nahum (Capernaum) National Park
The separate state-run park beside the antiquities: a main area of about 80 dunams (20 acres) northeast of the ruins, a floating dock built to rise and fall with the lake for boats from Tiberias and Ein Gev, an information booth, souvenir shop, toilets and snack bar being established, hours running to 16:00 with entry closing an hour earlier, the telephone number 04-6793865, and directions via Route 90 to Capernaum junction and 4 km east on Route 87. Also the authority's note that 173 inscribed plaster fragments were found in the venerated room and that scholars differ over whether the earlier synagogue is third or fourth century
- OfficialCapernaum Monastery of the Holy Apostles (Greek Orthodox)capernaum.infoOpening Hours and Contacts
The Greek Orthodox monastery's own page: visits by prior telephone arrangement with the superior, Monk Irinarchos, rather than fixed opening hours, with a postal address at Tiberias and no admission fee stated
- OfficialHamat Gaderhamat-gader.comHamat Gader price list 2026
the three 2026 admission tiers, the concession rates and the free entry for children under a metre
- OfficialHamat Gaderhamat-gader.comImportant information and questions and answers
current opening hours by day, water temperature, bathing restrictions, free parking and the line 24 bus times
- OfficialHamat Gaderhamat-gader.comHamat Gader, a holiday park for the whole family
the English-language description, restaurant hours and the older March 2024 opening timetable
- OfficialHamat Gaderhamat-gader.comThermo-mineral springs in the north
the 42 degree figure, the 4.7 per cent sulphur concentration, the count of five springs and the health claims
- OfficialHamat Gaderhamat-gader.comThe crocodile farm at Hamat Gader
the farm's founding in 1981, the species brought in, the counts for 2007 and today, and its own opening hours
- OfficialHamat Gaderhamat-gader.comSplash, the cold pool
the cold fresh-water pool, the ten-metre spiral slide and its age limit
- OfficialHamat Gaderhamat-gader.comAccessibility statement
the pool hoist, accessible parking, adapted rooms and the named accessibility officer
- OfficialHamat Gaderhamat-gader.comPricing (English)
the English package list, headed 2023, including the Spa Village day rates and the age-16 line that the Hebrew page gives as 18
- ReportingVatican Newsvaticannews.vaFollowing in Jesus's Footsteps: Capernaum, the Town of Jesus
Published 7 August 2026 and written by Fr Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land, drawing on Loffreda's guide: ruins of about seven hectares, two thirds Franciscan and the eastern part Greek Orthodox, 16 km from Tiberias and three from Tabgha, limestone blocks up to four tonnes brought from quarries kilometres away, more than 30,000 coins of 383 to 395 under the synagogue pavement and a late fourth-century date, the Hadrian milestone found in 1975 about 100 m northwest of the synagogue, Tzaferis's excavations of 1978 to 1987 with a 200 m seawall, two piers and 282 gold dinars, the Semekiyeh families remaining until 1948, and Loffreda's dates, 1932 to 2025
- ReportingBiblical Archaeology Societybiblicalarchaeology.orgThe House of Peter: The Home of Jesus in Capernaum?
An independent assessment of the identification: the first-century house plastered floor to ceiling with its pottery changing from domestic ware to storage jars and lamps, over a hundred graffiti in Greek, Syriac and Hebrew, the fifth-century octagonal martyrium above it, and the judgement that there is no definitive proof, only layer upon layer of circumstantial evidence, with many scholars now disputing the readings that find Peter's name
- ReferenceEncyclopaedia Britannicabritannica.comCapernaum
The older dating still carried by a standard reference work: a rectangular synagogue of the 2nd to 3rd century CE with an older synagogue from the time of Christ possibly buried beneath its foundation, and the excavation begun in 1905 by Kohl and Watzinger and completed by Franciscan archaeologists
- ReferenceJewish Virtual Libraryjewishvirtuallibrary.orgArchaeology in Israel: The Synagogue at Capernaum
Imported white limestone on basalt foundations, Corinthian capitals and carved reliefs, the Aramaic donor inscription naming Halfu son of Zebida, and the argument that the coins and pottery under the floor may have arrived during repairs after the earthquake of 363 rather than at construction
- ReferenceWikipediaen.wikipedia.orgCapernaum
Used for the division of the site between the Franciscans and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Holy Apostles and its church built in 1931, and the abandonment date of the eleventh century, which differs from the Custody's thirteenth and is flagged as disputed on this page
- ReferenceJewish Virtual Library, from the Israeli Foreign Ministryjewishvirtuallibrary.orgArchaeology in Israel: Hamat Gader
the plan of the bath complex, the 32 marble fountains, the inscriptions naming Eudocia, Anastasius and Mu'awiya, and the synagogue
- ReferenceHadashot Arkheologiyot, Israel Antiquities Authorityhadashot.iaa.org.ilHammat Gader, 'Ein el-Jarab: final report
Moshe Hartal's 2001 excavation and its four strata, from the fourth century to the earthquake of 1033
- ReferenceWikipediahe.wikipedia.orgHamat Gader (Hebrew)
the five named springs with temperatures and flows, the 1979 excavation seasons, the 1969 attack, the 1977 opening and the 2005 water quality case
- ReferenceWikipediaen.wikipedia.orgHamat Gader
the Tenth Legion's construction, the theatre, Sukenik's 1932 dig and the crocodilian count flagged there as unsourced
- ReferenceWikipediaen.wikipedia.orgAelia Eudocia
the text of the Hamat Gader poem in translation and the sixteen parts of the bath complex it names
Things to do in The Sea of Galilee: common questions
How many days do you need in The Sea of Galilee?+
There are 10 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 Sea of Galilee?+
10 of the 10 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 Sea of Galilee?+
Capernaum is the one this guide would keep. Two thirds of the ruined village belongs to the Franciscans, who finally got the title deeds on 19 September 1894 after eight years of Ottoman paperwork and have dug it in twenty-three seasons since 1968.
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 Sea of Galilee overview instead of padded out into pages of their own.