Rosh HaNikra

At the very northern end of the coastline, a headland of soft white chalk drops straight into the Mediterranean, and over millennia the waves have eaten into it to form a network of grottoes and tunnels where the sea surges in, booms and drains back out in a green swirl. A cable car, one of the steepest anywhere, drops down the cliff face in a minute or so, and from the bottom a walkway threads through the caverns just above the water, with the light shifting from turquoise to deep blue as the swell moves. Alongside the natural tunnels run man-made ones, cut through the headland in the 1940s for a railway that was never used for long, now walkable and lit. Above, the clifftop looks north along a chalk coast and south down the bay towards Akko and Haifa.

History

The Book of Joshua names Misraphot Mayim, south of Rosh HaNikra, as a border of the Israelite tribes, and the First Book of the Maccabees calls the headland the "Ladder of Tyre"; the grottoes, hollowed by the sea in soft chalk, run for about 200 metres in all (Wikipedia, Rosh HaNikra grottoes).

Highlights

• The sea grottoes - the wave-carved caverns with the sea surging through them.
• The cable car - the very steep descent down the white chalk cliff face.
• The railway tunnels - the cut tunnels through the headland, now open to walk.
• The clifftop view - the outlook along the chalk coast and down the bay.

When to go

April to October has the calmest sea and best light in the grottoes; in rough winter weather the caverns are dramatic but the cable car and walkway may close. Mornings are quietest, before coach parties. The visit is short, an hour or two, so pair it with Akko or the Galilee coast.

Things to know

It is a brief visit, essentially a cable car ride and a walkway loop, so expectations should be modest and it is best combined with something else. The site closes when the sea is too rough, which is unpredictable in winter. It sits right on the northern border, which means a security presence and checks, and the crossing itself is not open to tourists.

Nearby

Akko's old city is half an hour south; the Galilee hills and Nahariya's beaches are close.

Key facts