Site of a well-to-do village from the 1st to the 7th centuries AD, Bar’am National Park is best known for its impressive Talmudic-period synagogue, solidly built of finely hewn limestone around 400 CE. At the top of the hill, surrounded by fields and a grove of cypress trees, stands a Maronite church that’s still used by the former residents of the Christian-Arab village of Bir’am, evacuated by the Israeli army ‘for two weeks’ during the 1948 war.
Bar’am National Park
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
29.71 MILES
These formal gardens flowing down 19 steep terraces to a resplendent domed shrine – the final resting place of the prophet-herald of the Baha’i faith –…
24.54 MILES
Dominating the Old City’s skyline is the lantern-topped cupola of this Franciscan-run Roman Catholic basilica, an audacious modernist structure that’s…
13.88 MILES
Since at least the 4th century, this landscaped hillside is believed to be where Jesus delivered his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), whose opening…
15.12 MILES
In 1986, when the level of the Sea of Galilee was particularly low, a local fisherman made an extraordinary discovery: the remains of a wooden boat later…
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Upper Galilee Museum of Prehistory
17.45 MILES
Israel is home to some of the world's most important prehistoric sites, several of them in the Hula Valley. This gem of a museum, which draws…
11.82 MILES
These restored wetlands are one of the best places in Israel to see cranes, pelicans, storks and an incredible 400 other bird species. To cover the 8.5km…
28.71 MILES
Nestled between Mt Carmel and Lower Galilee, spellbinding Beit She’arim is pitted with ancient catacombs, many of which you can enter. In the 2nd century…
18.21 MILES
Bone-white limestone cliffs seem to burst from the deep blue sea at this geological beauty spot straddling the Israel–Lebanon border. A cable car descends…
Nearby attractions
3.67 MILES
Adir has built a reputation for producing outstanding wines and equally good goat cheeses and for serving great dairy meals. Sampling three wines, four…
3.72 MILES
Dalton produces some excellent, award-winning wines. Three or four of them can be sampled for 20NIS in a log-cabin-style tasting centre (the modern…
4.57 MILES
Authorship of the Zohar, the most important work of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), is traditionally credited to the 2nd-century-CE Jewish sage Rabbi Shimon…
6.76 MILES
If you’ve ever wondered how Shabbat, Havdalah and Hanukkah candles are dipped, decorated and braided, drop by to watch an expert candlemaker at work – she…
6.77 MILES
Founded in the 16th century by Sephardic Jews from Greece, this venerable synagogue looks much as it did 150 years ago. It stands on the site where,…
6.77 MILES
The graves of many of Tsfat’s greatest sages and Kabbalists are about one-third of the way down the slope of the Ancient Jewish Cemetery, just below a…
6.78 MILES
Denver-born David Friedman uses the mysteries of the Hebrew alphabet, Kabbalistic symbols such as the Tree of Life, and the universal language of colour…
6.78 MILES
Set around a centenarian fig tree and a 9m-deep cistern (visible through a glass floor panel), this collection of four galleries is one of Tsfat’s…