Inaugurated in 1995, the Israel National Trail (INT) is a 680 mile (1,100 km) trail that crosses the entire country of Israel from North to South, passing a variety of natural and human landscapes, exposing hikers to Israel’s many eco-systems and habitats.
In 2012, National Geographic named the INT one of the “holy grails of hikes.” Its place among the top 20 epic hikes in the world has earned the INT great notoriety in the international community.
The trail is marked with three stripes (white, blue, and orange) – The white stands for the snowy Hermon Mountain in the north and the orange symbolizes the desert in the south. So usually, when you are walking south to north, the white strip is on top, and vice versa – and takes an average of 50 days to complete. It does not enter the Golan Heights or the West Bank.
According to statistics, only 4 out of 10 hikers complete the entire trail in one go, therfore the planners divided the trail into smaller sections that can be hiked separately. Some sections can be completed in day trips or over the weekend.
The southern section of the trail passes through many isolated desert areas, in which there are no cities or infrastructure. Hikers can plant supplies of food and water at designated points on the trail before beginning the hike or order for the supplies to be delivered at a nominal cost.
Also, hikers can seek help from Trail Angels – people that live on the trail or next to it and offer hikers a place to stay. For example, at Kibbutz Yagur, a soldier leaves the key to her room for hikers who need a place to sleep and a farmer in Hadera forest offers sleeping quarters in exchange for a day’s work. Read more about that below.
When to hike the Israel National Trail
The recommended time to start is either March or October, when the temperatures are mild. Hikers planning to embark on the entire journey should prepare for a two-month hike, depending on their fitness level. One can choose whether to carry several days of supplies or to stock up in villages along the trail every day or two.
The best hiking seasons in Israel are in the spring between March and May, and in the autumn between October and December. It is possible to walk some parts of the trail during the mild winters of Israel, but be careful. The mountain regions of Israel (up north) get cold and even snowy. In the southern Negev deserts, floods caused by winter rains are unpredictable and dangerous.
During the fall, most hikers begin in the north to avoid the wet season in the mountains. In the spring, you may prefer to walk from south to north to avoid the extreme heat of the desert as the days get longer.
Trail Angels
Trail angels are good people along the Israel National Trail who open their homes (and hearts!) for hikers on the trail, free of charge. You can stay at private homes, rooms in Kibutzim, or sleep on the lawn in your sleeping bag or tent. Most places offer a shower, use the rest rooms, internet and occasionally will allow you to cook your dinner inside the house.
Before listing the angels, it is important for you as a traveller to follow the common sense rules:
- Please contact the trail angel at least 24 hours prior to arrival and not after 21:00.
- If you need to cancel your arrival please call the trail angel as soon as possible.
- Please pay attantion if your angel is “Shomer Shabat: Some Israelis observe the Shabbat (Saturday) and Jewish Holidays. In such cases you will need to arrive on Friday at least 1 hour before sunset and to stay until after sunset on Saturday.
Israel National Trail Angels – Resources:
The Israeli nature preservation organization is keeping an English list of trail angels (PDF File).
Please respect the specific notes regarding each angel (hours to call, special “rules” etc.)
* as this list is not managed by us we cannot guarantee that all info in it is fully up to date, please take this into account.
Shvilist (Hebrew for “Hiker”) is one of the best israeli sites regarding the INT, and keeps an updated list of all the trail’s angels specifically per segment of the trail. in case you have some understanding of Hebrew you should use this site.
There is a long English list of angels that update on a regular base on Wiki-Trail. In this list the segmentation is a little less visible so you will need to understand the geographical location of each place in order to plan you trip. Nevertheless, this list is quite helpful and currently is the best source in English.
Best Maps to use on the Israel National Trail
In preperation for the hike of the Israel National Trail, we need some maps. in the following segment we will present all the avilable resurces (in English) that can help you best plan your trip.
Google Street View
A few years ago Google decided to add the israel national trail to it’s Google Street View feature. Volunteers had walked the trail with special gear (can be seen in the big header picture) and now you can take a “virtual hike” before you take the actual one!
we know it is not that helpful in order to plan the trip, but it’s just really cool!
Google Maps
Using several sources we have created this simple map, with the Israel National trail marked in green and the Golan trail marked in blue. It can be quite helpful for getting to know the trail and it’s routh.
Please feel free to copy this map to your own google drive and mark your progress / planning.
Topographical Maps
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) create and sell high quality topographical maps of the entire country of Israel, with marks of all hiking trails. Unfortunately, there is no English version of the maps, meaning you must know some Hebrew in order to use it. Also, keep in mind that in order to cover the entire INT you will need to purchase around 17 maps, costing 89 ILS each.
You can order the maps directly from SPNI‘s website. If you are currently in Israel, each month the trails committee do a briefing on hiking the Israel National Trail. The maps are also available at a discount at these briefings.
In case you need some further explanation on How to read a topographic map, please check out this guide.
Unfortunately, There are not a lot of resurces that offer maps of the trail in English, so the following book is pretty much the only option avilable. Having said that, the Hebrew version of this book is one of the most appreciated and best-selling travel book in Israel, so we can confirm that it can answer all of your planning and hiking needs:
“The Red Book”
Israel National Trail – Third Edition (2016) (Hike the Land of Israel)
If you are planning to hike the INT, we recommend that you look at this book. The guide includes 55 topographical maps (1:50,000), 7 road maps (1:250,000), and description and maps (1:15,000) of the Jerusalem Trail – All you need in order to plan & walk the trail.
All the maps are in English. It contains also a description of the hike in both southbound and northbound directions (northbound from Eilat to Tel Aviv.)
Saar’s guide book is a must-have if you are planning to hike the trail. Besides excellent planning and logistics information, you will use the book on a daily basis as you walk the trail!
For every day’s hike, the book provides clear instructions with additional historical & geographical background.
It includes all the English maps you need, so there is no need to purchase separate maps. You will aso find camping and lodging tips for each section of the trail.
Israel National Trail Travel Guide
Israel National Trail Travel Guide – Hiking the Holy Land
In this comprehensive and trusted trail guide, you will find all the information you will need to navigate all 44 parts of the trail, from Kibbutz Dan in the north and all to way to Eilat in the south, whether you’re a seasoned hiker seeking out a new adventure or a someone looking for a family-friendly outing.
With elevation gain and mileage, detailed descriptions of each trail suggested places for breaks, and opportunities to take it a bit further for a hidden gem that is not on the trail’s route – this guide includes all the information you need to plan and execute your INT adventure!
Whether you are planning a close-to-home day hike for a single section or a backpacking excursion on the full length of the Israel National Trail, this essential guide should be in your backpack!
That’s it for now. If you have any questions, please comment below and we will do our best to reply!
In case you are interested in other hiking opportunities in Israel, check out our post on The Golan Trail.