![]() The starting point is on the road that leads between Hadassah Medical Center-Ein Kerem and Moshav Even Sapir. It’s not a loop, but at only an hour or so in each direction, you won’t regret returning on the same path. You can’t go wrong on the Israel Trail, and Shvil HaMa’ayanot is both breathtaking and brief (just 3 kilometers). You may park in a dirt lot immediately to your left.Ĥ. At the beginning of the hike, when you’re driving out of Jerusalem toward Sataf, turn right toward the Ein Kerem Agricultural School. Nahal Sorek eventually meets up with Road 395. (If you miss the turn, you’ll end up near Ein Hendek, also a pretty route, and the start of our next hike, but not where you parked your second car!) The nahal route splits from the Israel Trail. The Israel Trail affords some spectacular views on the way to Nahal Sorek, a wide flat valley ( nahal is Hebrew for “dry riverbed”) that gently winds toward the Jerusalem village of Ein Kerem. ![]() This is a two-car hike park one car at Sataf and follow the signs downhill to Jerusalem. Our last hike from Sataf is also on the Israel Trail, going in the other direction. At the OSG factory junction, go straight toward the mountain instead of making the right. If archaeology is your thing, the 12 th century Crusader fortress known as Belmont is nearby. Look for the blue trail a few meters along the road that winds back to Jerusalem. The trail eventually returns you to Road 395, where you can walk back to your car by way of the Sataf area grounds. There is a grove of trees with picnic benches and lots of grass, with the vineyards just outside. Be careful not to miss the spring (the signage points from the opposite direction), a charming oasis built around the source of underground water that gives the area its name. At the large OSG factory building, turn right and follow the red path (slightly left) into the vineyards of the Tzuba Winery before eventually meeting up with the green trail. Once inside, pass the park and follow the signs to Ein (Spring) Tzuba. Leave the Israel Trail to enter the kibbutz. Cross the two-lane highway and head into Kibbutz Tzuba (also called Tzova), home of the famous kiddie amusement park Kiftzuba. At the turn, the trail descends steeply and the loose dirt and rocks can be tricky to navigate, but soon you’ll be on a flat jeep trail that veers to the left before climbing up to Road 395. Inaugurated in 1995, the 620-mile Israel Trail was stitched together from the best of Israel’s existing trails. Our second Sataf-area hike starts on the Har Eitan trail, but takes a quick turn to the right at the sign for the Israel Trail. If it’s late in the afternoon, go the other direction to catch the setting sun. You can’t get lost – just keep going in a circle until you come back to the parking lot (the final stretch is a climb through a wooded picnic area). Leave your car in the Sataf parking lot and walk slightly back down the road on which you entered to find the start of the hike. The trail is not particularly shady, but the payoff is the views – a 360-degree panorama, from the hills and small moshavim toward Modi’in and Tel Aviv to the west, to the hulking Hadassah Medical Center-Ein Kerem to the east. Run it in under an hour, or walk it in two and a half. ![]() At the cooling end of a hot summer day, this wide dirt road is often packed with hikers, bikers and joggers. The first – and easiest – is the extremely popular 7-kilometer loop that circles Har (Mount) Eitan. We’ve picked three outstanding trails in this area. Perhaps the richest area with the most number of hikes close by Jerusalem is the Sataf Forest. Don’t forget to take an Israel Trails map – every tiyul (Hebrew for “hike”) on this list is on map #9. Trails of all sorts – from easy walks to challenging rock scrambles – are just a short drive from the center of town.įor your next trip to Israel’s capital, lace up your hiking boots and head to the forests as ISRAEL21c presents the top 10 hikes in the Jerusalem area. The Jerusalem area is a hiker’s paradise. Photo by Abigail Klein LeichmanĪ visit to Jerusalem can – and should – include more than just the major tourist attractions like the Old City, Israel Museum and Yad Vashem. ![]()
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