Haifa and the Northern Coast
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Haifa and the Northern Coast - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Caesarea Maritima National Park
By turns an ancient Roman port city, Byzantine capital, and Crusader stronghold, Caesarea is one of the country's major archaeological sites and a delightful place to spend a day of leisurely sightseeing among the fascinating ruins. You can also browse in souvenir shops and art galleries, take a dip at the beach, snorkel or dive around a submerged port, and enjoy a seaside meal. Caesarea is an easy day trip from Haifa, Tel Aviv, or even Jerusalem. A good strategy is to start at the Roman Theater, at the southern entrance. After exploring, you can then leave through the northern entrance. If you're short on time, enter from the north for a quicker tour of the site. At either of the two entrances to this intriguing site, pick up the free brochure and map. Entry to the Roman Theater is through one of the vomitoria (arched tunnels that served as entrances for the public). Herod's theaters—here as elsewhere in Israel—were the first of their kind in the ancient Near East. The theater today seats 3,600 and is a spectacular venue for summer concerts and performances. What you see is largely a reconstruction: only a few of the seats of the cavea (where the audience sat) near the orchestra are original, as are some of the stairs and the decorative wall at the front of the stage. The huge Herodian Amphitheater is a horseshoe-shape stadium with sloping sides filled with rows of stone seats. It's most likely the one mentioned by 1st-century AD historian Josephus Flavius in The Jewish War. A crowd of 10,000 watched horse and chariot races and various other sporting events here some 2,000 years ago. Up the wooden steps, you see the street's beautiful and imaginative mosaic floors in the bathhouse complex of the Roman-Byzantine administrative area. King Louis IX of France built the walls that surround the Crusader City. The bulk of it—the moat, escarpment, citadel, and walls, which once contained 16 towers—dates from 1251, when the French monarch spent a year pitching in with his own two hands to help restore the existing fortifications. As you enter the southern wall gate of the Crusader city, you see the remains of an unfinished cathedral with three graceful apses. At the observation point, you can gaze out over the remains of Herod's Port, once a magnificent sight that writers of the day compared to Athens' Port of Piraeus. An earthquake devastated the harbor in AD 130, which is why Crusaders utilized only a small section of it when they conquered the city in 1101. In the harbor area, don't miss the Time Trek. Inside, you meet 12 of Caesarea's fascinating historic personages—among them Herod the Great, Rabbi Akiva, and St. Paul. These realistic-looking, larger-than-life figures answer questions about their lives in Caesarea. If you climb the stairs of the nearby squarish stone tower of the re-created fortress on the pier, you can view three-dimensional animations on giant screens that explain the amazing construction of the port. East of the northern entrance to the site, a fenced-in area encloses Caesarea's Byzantine Street. During the Byzantine period and late Roman times, Caesarea thrived as a center of Christian scholarship. In the 7th century, Caesarea had a famous library of some 30,000 volumes that originated with the collection of the Christian philosopher Origen (185–254), who lived here for two decades. Towering over the street are two headless marble statues, probably carted here from nearby Roman temples. The provenance of the milky-white statue is unknown; Emperor Hadrian might have commissioned the reddish figure facing it when he visited Caesarea. A wonderful finale to your trip to Caesarea, especially at sunset, is the beachfront Roman Aqueduct. The chain of arches tumbling northward before disappearing beneath the sand is a captivating sight. During Roman times, the demand for a steady water supply was considerable, but the source was a spring about 13 km (8 miles) away in the foothills of Mount Carmel. Workers cut a channel approximately 6½ km (4 miles) long through solid rock before the water was piped into the aqueduct. In the 2nd century, Hadrian doubled its capacity by adding a new channel. Today you can walk along the aqueduct and see marble plaques dedicated to the troops of various legions who toiled here.
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2. Caesarea Beach Club
In a calm cove in Caesarea's ancient harbor, the Caesarea Beach Club has chairs and umbrellas. A lifeguard is on duty in season, and the restaurant sells sandwiches and other light fare. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; showers. Best for: sunset; swimming.
3060000, IsraelSight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
3. Caesarea Maritima Museum
In Kibbutz Sdot Yam just outside Caesarea, this excellent museum houses many of the remarkable artifacts found by kibbutz members as they plowed their fields in the 1940s. Archaeological excavations have uncovered more. The small museum has arguably the best collection of late-Roman sculpture and figurines in Israel, with impressive holdings of rare Roman and Byzantine gemstones; a large variety of coins minted in Caesarea over the ages; and oil lamps, jewelry, and urns discovered on the sea floor.
38805, Israel04-636–4367Sight Details
Rate Includes: NIS 30, Closed Fri. and Sat. -
4. Hof Shonit
The largest and most popular beach in the area is the exceptionally well-kept Hof Shonit (translated as "Reef Beach"), with a refreshment stand and a restaurant, as well as restrooms and cold showers. In addition to the beach there is a water park with extreme slides for the kids (open only on Saturdays in-season) and adult and toddler swimming pools. Parking is NIS 15. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: swimming.
3088500, Israel -
5. Ralli Museum
In Caesarea's villa area, you can't miss the two Spanish colonial–style buildings of the Ralli Museum, with their red-tile roofs and terraces. One of these dazzling white buildings houses an exhibit on the ancient city's history, and the second building, in a Moorish style, examines the golden age of Spanish Jewry in the Middle Ages. It's a pleasure to wander along the walls of the courtyard and gaze at the sculptures of various dignitaries such as Maimonides and Spinoza. Inside are paintings with biblical themes by European artists of the 16th to 18th centuries. Rotating exhibitions display contemporary Latin American art.
Rothschild Blvd., 38900, Israel04-626–1013Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Mar.–Dec.: closed Wed. and Sun. Jan. and Feb.: closed Sun.–Thurs. -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Roman Aqueduct
Caesarea's Roman aqueduct frames a spacious beach with the dramatic backdrop of arches disappearing into the sand. There is no entrance fee but few amenities—no restaurants or promenade. The beach and swimming areas have been cleared of rocks and debris, but swimming outside the designated area is prohibited. Never swim unless the seasonal lifeguard is on duty. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee) Best for: sunset; walking.
3088900, Israel
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