This four-day trip included Beit She’an (an archological site), a hike through Mount Arbel (with an ancient fortress), an afternoon visit to Sefad, and visits to Tel Dan, Banias Nature Reserve, and Nimrod Fortress. We used Tiberias as our base.
Day 1. We rented a car in Tel Aviv and drove via the Mount Gilboa Scenic Drive (Route 667) to Beit She’an National Park (about a 2-hour drive) in the Lower Galilee. There were a number of stops and lookout points along the drive, but since we got a bit of a late start, we pretty much kept to the road except for one stop at a lookout point. (The drive is worth it even if you don’t stop along the way). We spent most of the afternoon at Beit She’an (See Beit She’an Post) following the recommended trail (with a few deviations).
From there, we drove to Tiberias (about a 45-60 minute drive), had dinner and drinks on the promenade along the Sea of Galilee, and then went to bed.
Day 2. The next day we hiked Mount Arbel (See Mount Arbel Hike). It took most of the day, but it was a great hike and I hghly recommend it.
After the hike, we drove to Sefad and walked through the old city and grabbed a quick dinner at a Yemenite restaurant. Sefad was a bit cold (it’s pretty high elevation) and it was off-season, so a lot of the shops weren’t open. We walked around for a bit and then drove back to Tiberias.
Day 3. We got up early and drove north to the Golan. We started at Banias Nature Reserve (Hermon Stream Nature Reserve) and walked the three main trails (See Banias Nature Reserve). The trails were pretty easy and took less time than what the trail map said (it took us around 3 hours to complete all of them). They went through and around ancient ruins and then to and from the waterfall along the Hermon Stream.
From Banias, we drove a short distance (about 15 minutes) to Nimrod Fortress National Park (See Nimrod Fortress National Park) and walked around the giant complex for a bit. It was definitely impressive!
From there, we drove another short distance (about 15 minutes) to Tel Dan Nature Reserve. It was a few hours before the park closed but we managed to walk pretty much all of the trails (they are all very easy), again in a lot less time than the trail map indicated.
Day 4. We first attempted to visit the Magrase Nature Reserve, but since it was high rainy season, the dirt path leading to the trail we wanted to take was super muddy and parts of it were underwater. A posted sign warned about going into the water and, since the trail required wading through the water, we opted to skip the park and, instead, headed to the Nahal Amud Nature Reserve (about 45 minutes from Tiberias) for a relatively short but fun and pretty hike (See Nahal Amud Hike).
It was mid-afternoon when we finished the hike (it would have been earlier had we not first tried to go to the Magrase Nature Reserve) and we were hungry, so we decided to drive to Haifa and grab a late lunch at Fatoosh (the amazing hummus and middle eastern place). It was a bit out of the way, but it was worth it. Then, on our way back from Haifa, we stopped at the Karta Ruins (since we rushed through it the first time on our Haifa trip) and walked the Blue Trail (about 30 minutes) and watched the sunset.
