Ein Bokek: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

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The western shore of the Dead Sea holds the most dramatic chapters of Jewish history in the Second Temple period and after: the sect that hid its scrolls in the caves, David hiding from Saul, the Jews of Ein Gedi, and the rebels of Masada. This drive goes south from Qumran down the shore and ends on top of Masada and on the Roman ramp below it. About 110 kilometres and a full day; start at dawn, carry three litres of water each, and keep the hot hours for the air-conditioned museums.

A short history of Ein Bokek

Ein Bokek is named after a small spring at the mouth of Nahal Bokek, on the shore of the Dead Sea. Near the spring a building from the Second Temple period was uncovered that was probably used to process perfume and medicinal plants, and on the nearby hill stand the remains of a 4th-century Roman fort. For centuries no one lived here permanently. Only in the 1960s did hotels begin to go up on the shore for those who came to be healed by the Dead Sea's water and mud, and over the years a strip of hotels formed with no town around it. The level of the sea has been falling by about a metre a year, so the pools beside the hotels are now fed by the evaporation ponds of the Dead Sea Works.

The ten best sights in Ein Bokek

1
Ein Bokek Beach
Free public beach with showers and shade; float, don't swim, and keep the water out of your eyes
2
Nahal Bokek
A short walk up the wadi behind the hotels to a spring and reeds
3
Ein Bokek Lookout
Above the hotels on the road up to Arad; the whole shore at sunrise
4
Masada
Go up at first light: by the cable car, or the Snake Path on foot before the heat
5
Masada Cable Car
Three minutes to the top from the east side; the first car leaves early in the morning
6
Masada Ramp Path
The Roman siege ramp on the west side, reached by the road from Arad
7
Ein Gedi Nature Reserve
Waterfalls and ibex 35 minutes north; last entry in the afternoon
8
Ein Gedi Synagogue
A mosaic floor with a famous curse; between the two parts of the reserve
9
Ein Gedi Botanical Garden
The whole kibbutz is a garden of desert and tropical trees; guided walks
10
Qumran
Where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, an hour north; air-conditioned film first

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Tours in Ein Bokek →

A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Ein Bokek:

Free walking tours in Ein Bokek

The last stand

Qumran · In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd looking for a lost goat found jars with scrolls in a cave here; over the next decade some 900 manuscripts came out of the caves, among them the oldest known copies of books of the Hebrew Bible, written about a thousand years before any copy known until then.
Ein Feshkha · Next to the springs stands a farm of the Second Temple period that the people of Qumran probably worked, with pools and buildings that some think were used to tan leather or grow balsam.
Ein Gedi Synagogue · The mosaic floor of the synagogue carries an Aramaic inscription that curses anyone who reveals the secret of the town, most likely the way the people of Ein Gedi grew and processed balsam, the costly perfume of the ancient world.
Masada Cable Car · The first cable car up Masada opened in 1971; the present one runs from the visitor centre to just below the summit, more than 250 metres up, in about three minutes.
Masada · Herod built palaces and storerooms on this table mountain. In 73 or 74 CE, by Josephus' account, the last 960 rebels against Rome chose to die by their own hands rather than be taken; Yigael Yadin excavated the site in the 1960s, and it has been a World Heritage site since 2001.
Masada Ramp Path · To reach the rebels, the Roman Tenth Legion built a ramp of earth and timber up the western side, and it still stands; the outlines of their eight camps and the siege wall around the mountain can be seen from the top.

Salt and stone

The south of the Dead Sea is a landscape made by salt: a mountain of it, caves dissolved in it, and the shallow ponds where the industry dries it out of the water. This loop starts on the beach in front of the hotels and goes into the wadis and caves of Mount Sodom. About 40 kilometres and half a day; the caves are cooler than outside, but the walks to them are not, and no wadi is entered if there is rain anywhere in the hills.

Ein Bokek Beach · The water in front of the hotels is not the open Dead Sea but an evaporation pond of the Dead Sea Works; the southern basin of the sea dried up in the 1970s. Salt settles on the bottom of the pond every year, so the water level keeps rising toward the hotels, and harvesting the salt has become a national project.
Nahal Bokek · By the spring archaeologists found a workshop of Herod's time that made perfumes and medicines from desert plants, and a small Roman fort that guarded the water.
Ein Bokek Lookout · The shore here lies more than 430 metres below sea level, the lowest land on earth, and the level of the northern basin falls by more than a metre a year as the Jordan's water is taken upstream.
Flour Cave · The cave was cut by floodwater in soft white marl, the mud of the ancient lake that filled the whole Jordan valley, and the fine powder that covers the walls comes off on everything that touches it.
Mount Sodom · The whole mountain, about eleven kilometres long, is a block of rock salt pushed up from deep below by the weight of the rock around it. Even its summit lies below sea level.
Lot's Wife · In Genesis, Lot's wife looks back at burning Sodom and becomes a pillar of salt, and travellers have pointed to one pillar or another on this mountain ever since. The present one is a column of salt and rock on the cliff; rain dissolves such pillars and the mountain makes new ones.

Springs in the desert

Fresh water comes out of the cliffs along the shore in a handful of places, and each one is an oasis of reeds, palms and animals in the middle of the driest country in Israel. This drive goes north to the springs of Ein Gedi and Ein Feshkha, with a short walk in each. About 120 kilometres and a full day; the reserves close in the afternoon, the last entry an hour or two before, so leave early.

Nahal David · Ibex and rock hyraxes, which the Bible calls shafan, live along the stream and come close to the path; ibex in Ein Gedi have learned that people mean no harm, and they cross the road by the kibbutz.
David's Waterfall · The First Book of Samuel tells how David, hiding from Saul in the wilderness of Ein Gedi, crept up to the king in a cave and cut off the corner of his robe instead of killing him, and the stream and the fall carry his name.
Nahal Arugot · Arugot flows all year, and a walk of about an hour up the canyon leads to the Hidden Waterfall, a fall into a deep pool under the cliffs; the stream is longer and quieter than Nahal David.
Mitzpe Ein Gedi · Across the water rise the mountains of Moab, the land of Ruth in the Bible, now in Jordan; on most days you see their villages on the far shore, about fifteen kilometres away.
Ein Gedi Botanical Garden · The kibbutz was founded in 1953 as a Nahal outpost on the border, and its members planted the bare slope with trees from deserts and tropics around the world; the whole kibbutz is now a botanical garden of some nine hundred species.
Ein Feshkha · The largest oasis on the shore of the Dead Sea, fed by brackish springs, with pools where small fish live in water that is warm and salty; the closed part of the reserve is opened for guided visits only.

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Getting to Ein Bokek and getting around

Ein Bokek bus stop · Buses up the shore to Ein Gedi and Jerusalem stop on Route 90 by the hotels
Masada bus stop · The stop below the cable car, 15 minutes north; useful for a hike without the car
Bar Yehuda Airfield · A small airstrip by Masada for light planes; there are no airline flights

Cheap eats in Ein Bokek

Ein Bokek is a strip of hotels, and most people eat dinner in the hotel; the cheap meal is lunch at the cafés and chains of the small shopping centres between them. Prices are higher than in town, and there is nothing to eat on the road to Masada or Ein Gedi except the sites' own cafeterias, so carry food and much more water than you think.

Aroma · Sandwiches and iced coffee on the hotel strip, about 45 ₪
Café Café · Salads, pasta and breakfast, about 60 ₪
Aldo · Ice cream after the beach, about 20 ₪
Agadir · Burgers and beer, about 70 ₪
Taj Mahal · Tea, coffee and hookah in a tent on the strip, about 30 ₪
Tapuach Sdom · A restaurant and bar on the strip, about 70 ₪ a meal

Museums in Ein Bokek

Masada · The Northern Palace and the bathhouse; the museum at the foot explains the finds
Qumran · A film, the ruins of the settlement and the caves above; an hour
Ein Gedi Synagogue · The mosaic and its curse inscription; small and shaded
Tel Arad · An Israelite fortress with a temple and two incense altars; little shade
Mamshit · A Nabataean town on the Incense Route, on the way to the Negev

Nature and day trips near Ein Bokek

Ein Gedi Nature Reserve · Nahal David and its waterfalls; arrive at opening time
Nahal Arugot · The longer canyon with the Hidden Waterfall; earlier last entry
Ein Bokek Beach · Float for fifteen minutes at most, then a fresh shower
Mount Sodom · Lookouts and short trails on a mountain of salt
Ein Feshkha · Springs and pools at the north end; quiet on weekdays

Things to do in Ein Bokek with kids

Ein Bokek Beach · Floating is a surprise for every child; water shoes for the salt crystals
Flour Cave · A short dark cave of white powder; a torch and old clothes
Nahal David · Ibex, hyraxes and pools to dip feet in; an easy loop
Masada Cable Car · Three minutes up the cliff; children love the view down
Ein Gedi Botanical Garden · Baobabs and strange trees on a short guided walk

Where to eat in Ein Bokek

Ranch House · A steak house at the south end of the strip; book in season
Sato Bistro · A bistro in the middle of the hotel strip
Herods restaurant · In the hotel by the beach; open to guests of other hotels
Ein Bokek Restaurant · At the north end of the strip near the wadi
Tapuach Sdom · Dinner and a drink in the evening, when the heat drops

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Frequently asked questions about Ein Bokek

What is there to see in Ein Bokek?

The top sights in Ein Bokek are Ein Bokek Beach, Nahal Bokek and Ein Bokek Lookout. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Ein Bokek?

Three to four days are enough to see the best of Ein Bokek without rushing, including at least one walking tour.

Is there a free walking tour in Ein Bokek?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Ein Bokek, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The last stand.

How do you get to Ein Bokek and get around?

The main ways are Ein Bokek bus stop, Masada bus stop and Bar Yehuda Airfield. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Ein Bokek, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Ein Bokek that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.

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