Mitzpe Ramon: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

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Mitzpe Ramon was built on the very edge of the crater, and the best of it is a walk along the rim from the visitor centre, with the cliff dropping hundreds of metres a few steps from the path. This walk takes in the lookouts, the sculpture park and the quarter where the old workshops became bakeries and studios, and ends with the alpacas on the west side of town. About three hours with a short drive at the end; the rim is windy and cold on winter evenings, and at noon in summer there is no shade.

A short history of Mitzpe Ramon

Mitzpe Ramon began in 1951 as a camp for workers building the road from Beersheba to Eilat, on the edge of the Ramon Crater. The crater, about 40 kilometres long and up to about 500 metres deep, is the largest of the craters in the Negev, and its name comes from the Arabic name of the wadi, Wadi Ruman. In the 1950s and 1960s immigrants arrived, most of them from North Africa, and for years it was an isolated development town. After the road to Eilat was moved to the Arava, the town was left without the traffic that had sustained it, and it found a new path around the crater, astronomy and desert hiking.

The ten best sights in Mitzpe Ramon

1
Ramon Visitor Centre
On the rim: the geology of the crater and the story of Ilan Ramon; start here
2
Hanging Balcony
A steel platform out over the cliff, a short walk from the visitor centre
3
Camel Mountain
A ridge shaped like a lying camel on the rim; best at sunset
4
Desert Sculpture Park
Stone sculptures along the rim north of the visitor centre; free, always open
5
Alpaca Farm
Alpacas and llamas on the western edge of town; children can feed them
6
The Carpentry
Rock in prisms like stacked timber, in the crater; a boardwalk over it
7
Ammonite Wall
A cliff studded with fossil shells as wide as a plate; a short walk from the road
8
Avdat
The Nabataean city on its hill, 25 minutes north; go early or late, not at noon
9
Ein Avdat
A white canyon with springs and pools; the lower trail is easy
10
Ben-Gurion's Desert Home
His hut at Kibbutz Sde Boker, kept as he left it; 40 minutes north

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What is an audio walk?

Tours in Mitzpe Ramon →

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 Mitzpe Ramon:

Free walking tours in Mitzpe Ramon

On the rim

Ramon Visitor Centre · The centre tells the story of Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, killed with the crew of the space shuttle Columbia in February 2003, and of his son Assaf, an air force pilot killed in a training flight in 2009.
Hanging Balcony · The crater was not made by a meteor or a volcano but by erosion: water wore away soft sandstone under a hard limestone crust and carried it out through one gap. It is about forty kilometres long, and the Hebrew word makhtesh is now used in geology for this kind of landform.
Camel Mountain · At the foot of the cliff the oldest rocks in the crater come to the surface, laid down more than two hundred million years ago in the Triassic, when a shallow sea covered the Negev.
Desert Sculpture Park · The park grew from a gathering of sculptors on the rim in 1962, led by Kosso Eloul, who carved large works from the local stone and left them standing in the open, facing the crater.
Spice Route Quarter · Mitzpe Ramon began in 1951 as a camp for the workers building the road to Eilat, and this was its industrial zone. When the factories closed, the hangars were taken over by bakers, dancers, artists and hostels, and the quarter took its name from the Nabataean caravans that crossed the crater.
Alpaca Farm · Alpacas and llamas come from the high, dry Andes, and the town, at about 850 metres above sea level with cold nights, suits them better than most of Israel, and their wool is shorn and sold on the farm.

Into the crater

Route 40 drops off the rim in hairpins and crosses the floor of the crater, and side roads lead from it to the strangest rocks in the country and to a caravan station of the Incense Route. This drive starts on the eastern rim, goes down to the Carpentry, the wall of fossils and Saharonim, and comes back up for sunset on the western rim by the observatory. About 70 kilometres and half a day; ask at the visitor centre about the side roads, take a guide or a four-by-four for the dirt tracks, and never enter a dry riverbed if rain is forecast anywhere in the Negev.

Barak and Amichai Lookout · From the eastern rim you may see Asiatic wild asses on the floor below. They were bred at the Hai-Bar reserve in the Arava from a few animals and released here from the 1980s, and a few hundred now roam the Negev.
The Carpentry · Hot magma pushed into the sandstone here baked it into quartzite, and as the rock cooled it cracked into four- and six-sided prisms that look like a stack of planks in a carpenter's shop.
Ammonite Wall · The round shells in the cliff are ammonites, sea creatures related to the squid that lived in the shallow sea here about ninety million years ago and died out with the dinosaurs.
Saharonim · The Nabataean caravans that carried incense from Arabia to Gaza crossed the crater here, and by the spring stand the stone walls of their caravan station, Khan Saharonim, part of the Incense Route World Heritage site.
Asael Lookout · Ramon is the largest makhtesh in the world: about forty kilometres long, up to ten wide and some five hundred metres deep, and from the western rim you look down its whole length toward the east.
Wise Observatory · Tel Aviv University opened the observatory in 1971 on the rim west of town, far from city lights and in dry desert air; it is a research station, so you see its domes from the road at sunset, not the inside.

Ben-Gurion's Negev

Ben-Gurion believed that the future of Israel lay in the Negev, which makes up more than half the country, and he went to live in it himself. North of Mitzpe Ramon the road follows the Zin past the Nabataean city of Avdat, the spring canyon below it and the kibbutz where he settled, to the town and the crater that his generation built on the empty plateau. About 150 kilometres there and back and a full day; the canyon trail is one-way, so arrange to be picked up at the top or walk back the same way.

Avdat · The Nabataeans, who carried incense and spices from Arabia to the Mediterranean, built the town on this hill and named it after their king Obodas; with Mamshit, Haluza and Shivta it has been a World Heritage site since 2005.
Ein Avdat · The trail climbs the canyon from pool to pool and leaves it by iron ladders up the cliff; the springs here are among the few in the central Negev that flow all year.
Ben-Gurion's Tomb · David Ben-Gurion died in 1973 and was buried here beside his wife Paula, who had died in 1968, on the edge of the cliff over the Zin canyon that he had chosen himself.
Ben-Gurion's Desert Home · He saw the young kibbutz from the road on a trip south in 1952 and asked to join it, and moved here the next year. The hut is kept as he left it, with his books, his desk and his narrow bed.
Yeruham Lake · Yeruham was founded in 1951 as a transit camp for immigrants, first from Romania and then from North Africa, and the lake, made by a dam on a desert stream, became the town's park.
The Large Crater · Smaller than Ramon but carved the same way, it is about ten kilometres long and five wide; the road from Yeruham crosses it and leaves through the gorge of Nahal Hatira.

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Getting to Mitzpe Ramon and getting around

Mitzpe Ramon bus stop · Buses north to Be'er Sheva and south to Eilat stop at the shopping centre
Ramon Airport · Eilat's airport in the Arava, two hours south; flights to Tel Aviv and abroad

Cheap eats in Mitzpe Ramon

There is not much to choose from in Mitzpe Ramon, and that is part of its charm: a shopping centre with a few chains and grills, a pub, and the cafés and bakeries of the Spice Route Quarter. Fill the car with water and snacks here, because between Mitzpe Ramon and the Arava there is almost nothing for more than an hour.

HaHavit · The town's pub: burgers, a beer on the terrace, about 70 ₪
Chicken Grill-Bar · Grilled chicken in pita or on a plate, about 50 ₪
Aroma · Sandwiches and coffee at the shopping centre, about 45 ₪
Golda · Ice cream at the shopping centre, about 20 ₪
Rebar · Fresh fruit shakes, about 25 ₪; good before a hot drive
Droma Café · Coffee and a pastry near the rim, about 35 ₪

Museums in Mitzpe Ramon

Ramon Visitor Centre · A film on the crater and the Ramon family; an hour, and a view from the roof
Ben-Gurion's Desert Home · The hut, his library and a short film; an hour
Avdat · Nabataean temple, Byzantine churches and a wine press on the hill
Mamshit · The smallest and best preserved of the Nabataean towns
Desert Sculpture Park · Stone works on the rim; free

Nature and day trips near Mitzpe Ramon

The Carpentry · A boardwalk over the prisms; do not take stones
Ein Avdat · Pools and ibex in a white canyon; one-way trail with ladders at the top
Ammonite Wall · Fossils as wide as a plate; a short walk
Camel Mountain · Sunset over the crater from the rim
The Large Crater · Coloured sands and a single exit gorge

Things to do in Mitzpe Ramon with kids

Alpaca Farm · Feeding, short rides for small children and a shop of wool
Ramon Visitor Centre · The film and the roof view; air-conditioned in summer
Ammonite Wall · Hunting for fossil shells in the rock, by eye only
Hanging Balcony · Standing over the drop; hold small hands
Yeruham Lake · A lawn, shade and ducks on the way north

Where to eat in Mitzpe Ramon

Tzukim · On the rim by the visitor centre; the view at dinner
Pangea · In the Spice Route Quarter; check opening days
Inn Sense · In the Spice Route Quarter, among the studios
HaKatze · At the north end of the Spice Route Quarter
Japan Japan · Japanese food at the shopping centre
HaMexicani · Mexican food at the shopping centre

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Frequently asked questions about Mitzpe Ramon

What is there to see in Mitzpe Ramon?

The top sights in Mitzpe Ramon are Ramon Visitor Centre, Hanging Balcony and Camel Mountain. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Mitzpe Ramon?

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

Is there a free walking tour in Mitzpe Ramon?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Mitzpe Ramon, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: On the rim.

How do you get to Mitzpe Ramon and get around?

The main ways are Mitzpe Ramon bus stop and Ramon Airport. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Mitzpe Ramon, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Mitzpe Ramon 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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