Judean Foothills

A nature reserve in the Judean Foothills with ancient caves, Byzantine winepresses, and the landscape where David hid from Saul.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site with over 3,500 underground caves, including columbaria, olive presses, cisterns, and burial chambers carved into the soft chalk.

Underground chambers carved with thousands of niches for raising doves, an industry that supplied the Temple in Jerusalem with sacrificial birds.

A cave with ancient Hebrew inscriptions, a Byzantine church with stunning mosaics, and an unexpected connection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Participate in a real archaeological excavation at Beit Guvrin, sifting through soil and discovering pottery from 2,000 years ago.

A fortified city overlooking the Ella Valley that may be the earliest evidence of a centralized Judahite kingdom in the 10th century BCE.

A Trappist monastery, a tank museum, and the story of the desperate road that saved Jerusalem in 1948.

An ancient Hellenistic city with thousands of underground caves, painted burial tombs, and the Dig for a Day archaeological experience.

The narrow pass where convoys to Jerusalem were ambushed in 1948, with the burned-out trucks that still line the road as memorials.

The tel overlooking the Ella Valley where Joshua defeated the Amorite kings and God sent hailstones from heaven.

Israelite city where the Ark of the Covenant arrived when the Philistines sent it back on an unmanned ox cart.

One of three cities fortified by King Solomon, with a famous Canaanite high place and a water system carved through rock.

The second most important city in the Kingdom of Judah, besieged by Sennacherib and depicted in the famous reliefs now in the British Museum.

The hill where the Philistines camped when Goliath challenged the Israelites across the Ella Valley.

The archaeological site identified as Gath, the Philistine city where Goliath came from and where David sought refuge from Saul.

The valley where Joshua commanded the sun and moon to stand still, and where battles have been fought from the Bronze Age to 1948.

The valley where David faced Goliath, with the brook where he picked his five smooth stones still flowing through the landscape.

The rolling hills between the coast and the mountains, where David fought Goliath, Samson chased the Philistines, and Joshua conquered the land.

The valley where Samson fell in love with Delilah and where the Ark of the Covenant was returned by the Philistines.

The ruin of a Jewish village in the Adulam Grove, violently destroyed during the Bar Kokhba revolt. A synagogue, hiding tunnels, and a mass grave tell the story of a community that fought and fell.

A hilltop site with two thousand years of layers: a Jewish village with hiding tunnels from the revolts against Rome, a Byzantine monastery, and a Georgian hermitage hidden in a cistern.