Rosh Pina: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Rosh Pina is one of the first Jewish farming colonies of the modern era, and its old lane still looks much as the settlers left it, with stone houses climbing the mountain toward Safed. This short walk goes through the colony and its garden to the lookouts over the Hula, then drives ten minutes north to Hazor, the greatest city of Canaan. About three hours; the old colony is steep, and Hazor has no shade, so do it before noon.
A short history of Rosh Pina
In 1878 Jews from Safed tried to establish a farming village here called Gei Oni, but drought and debt led to its abandonment within a short time. In 1882 immigrants from Romania, pioneers of the First Aliyah, arrived and named the colony Rosh Pina, after the verse 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone' (rosh pina). As early as 1883 Baron Edmond de Rothschild stepped in to support the colony, and with his help the stone houses, the administration building and the synagogue were built, and an attempt was made to raise silkworms and produce silk. In the first half of the 20th century Rosh Pina served as a regional centre for the Upper Galilee. The old street, with its restored stone houses, has been preserved to this day.
The ten best sights in Rosh Pina
1Baron's GardenThe garden of the old colony; start the morning here, before it heats up
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2Old Rosh Pina
Stone houses of the 1880s on a steep lane; park at the top and walk down
3Shlomo Ben-Yosef LookoutOver the Hula valley to the Golan; best at sunset
4Tel HazorThe great Canaanite city, ten minutes north; go early, there is little shade
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5Safed Old City
Twenty minutes up the mountain; shoes for stone steps, and not on Shabbat if you want shops
6Ari Ashkenazi SynagogueModest dress; a small donation at the door is customary
7Abuhav SynagoguePainted dome and old Torah arks; closed to visitors at prayer times
8Safed Artists' QuarterGalleries and studios down the slope below the synagogues
9Agamon HulaA flat loop round the lake by bike or golf cart; cranes from November to March
10Hula Nature ReserveBoardwalk over the papyrus and a hide over the water; quieter than the Agamon
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Rosh Pina →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 Rosh Pina:
Free walking tours in Rosh Pina
The cornerstone
Rosh Pina is one of the first Jewish farming colonies of the modern era, and its old lane still looks much as the settlers left it, with stone houses climbing the mountain toward Safed. This short walk goes through the colony and its garden to the lookouts over the Hula, then drives ten minutes north to Hazor, the greatest city of Canaan. About three hours; the old colony is steep, and Hazor has no shade, so do it before noon.
- Old Rosh Pina · Jews of Safed founded a farm here in 1878 and called it Gei Oni; it failed, and in 1882 immigrants from Romania refounded it under a name from Psalm 118: the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- Baron's Garden · When the colony was near collapse in 1883, Baron Edmond de Rothschild took it under his wing. His officials laid out this garden and planted mulberry trees, hoping to raise silkworms; the silk industry never took off, but the trees and the terraces are still here.
- Mitzpe Nimrod · From the top of the old colony the whole Hula valley lies below you, with the Golan Heights on the far side and the snow of the Hermon to the north for much of the winter.
- Shlomo Ben-Yosef Lookout · Shlomo Ben-Yosef, a young Betar member from the Rosh Pina group, fired on an Arab bus in 1938 after Jews had been killed on the roads; no one was hurt, but the British hanged him in Akko prison, the first Jew they executed in the Land of Israel.
- Tel Hazor · The Book of Joshua calls Hazor the head of all those kingdoms, and it was the largest city of Canaan, burned in the thirteenth century BCE. Yigael Yadin dug here in the 1950s; with Megiddo and Beersheba it is a World Heritage site.
- Hazor Museum · At the gate of Kibbutz Ayelet HaShahar, the small museum keeps finds from the tel, among them Canaanite and Israelite pottery and a model of the city; the large statues and stelae went to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
City of the Kabbalists
After the expulsion from Spain in 1492, Safed became the centre of Jewish learning in the world, and in a few decades of the sixteenth century its rabbis wrote the code of Jewish law that is still in use and the Kabbalah that shaped Jewish prayer. This walk goes down the stepped lanes of the old city from the citadel through the synagogues to the old cemetery. About two and a half hours; many steps, modest dress, and on Shabbat the synagogues are for prayer, not visits.
- Davidka · The Davidka was a home-made mortar of 1948, more noise than damage. It was fired in the battle for Safed in May 1948, when Palmach fighters and the Jewish residents took the town, and one stands on a stone base in the street.
- Beit HaMeiri Museum · An old stone house in the Jewish quarter tells the life of the Safed community over the last two centuries, from the earthquake of 1837, which killed thousands in the town, to the siege of 1948.
- Yosef Karo Synagogue · Rabbi Yosef Karo, an exile from the Iberian Peninsula, wrote the Shulchan Aruch in Safed; printed in 1565, it is still the standard code of Jewish law.
- Abuhav Synagogue · It carries the name of Rabbi Yitzhak Abuhav, a sage of fifteenth-century Spain, and a Torah scroll here is said to have been written by him. By local tradition the southern wall, facing Jerusalem, stood when the earthquake of 1837 brought down most of the town.
- Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue · Rabbi Isaac Luria, the Ari, lived in Safed only two years before his death in 1572, yet his Kabbalah changed Jewish prayer everywhere. He and his students went out to the fields to welcome the Shabbat, and Lecha Dodi, sung in every synagogue on Friday night, was written in Safed by Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz.
- Old Cemetery of Safed · On the slope below the old city lie the Ari, Rabbi Yosef Karo and Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, and many of the graves are painted sky blue, a colour Safed links with heaven.
The sources of the Jordan
The Jordan begins in three springs at the foot of the Hermon, and the valley it runs through, the Hula, was a swamp until the 1950s. This loop by car goes up the valley past the lake, to the courtyard where Trumpeldor fell, and on to Dan and Banias, two of the three springs, ending at the Crusader-era castle above them. About 110 kilometres and a full day; carry water, and check before you go that the sites by the Lebanese border are open.
- Agamon Hula · The Hula lake and swamps were drained in the 1950s for farmland, but the peat soil burned and blew away, and in the 1990s part of the valley was flooded again. Now about half a billion birds pass over the valley on migration each year, and tens of thousands of cranes spend the winter.
- Tel Hai Courtyard · On 1 March 1920 Joseph Trumpeldor and seven others fell defending this farmyard; Kiryat Shmona, the town below, means the town of the eight. The words attributed to him, it is good to die for our country, were taught to generations of Israeli schoolchildren.
- Roaring Lion · On the hill of the Kfar Giladi cemetery, where the eight of Tel Hai are buried, stands the stone lion carved by Avraham Melnikov and unveiled in 1934.
- Tel Dan · The Dan spring is the largest of the Jordan's sources. On the tel stand a mud-brick gate of about 1750 BCE with its arch intact, and the platform where Jeroboam set up a golden calf; a stone found here in 1993 bears the words house of David, the first mention of David outside the Bible.
- Banias · The Greeks dedicated the spring to the god Pan, and the niches of his sanctuary are still cut in the cliff; the Arabic name Banias comes from Paneas. Herod's son Philip built a city here, Caesarea Philippi, which the Gospels mention.
- Nimrod Fortress · Despite the legend of Nimrod the hunter, the castle was built in the 1220s by al-Aziz Uthman, a nephew of Saladin, to guard the road to Damascus against the Crusaders, and enlarged later in the century by the Mamluk sultan Baybars.
Getting to Rosh Pina and getting around
- Rosh Pina Airport · A small airfield in the valley with a few domestic flights; on this route you come by car
- Safed Central Bus Station · Buses to Rosh Pina, Tiberias and Haifa; on Shabbat nothing runs
Cheap eats in Rosh Pina
Up here the cheap meal is hummus, falafel and the Yemenite pastries of Safed, eaten at the strip of stands by the main road through the new part of Rosh Pina or in the lanes of Safed. Most of it closes on Friday afternoon and stays closed until Saturday night, so on Shabbat plan to eat in the hotel or in a Druze or Arab village nearby.
- Hummus Eliyahu · A plate of hummus with pita and pickles, about 35 ₪
- Hummus Sheshi · The hummus next door on the same strip; about 35 ₪
- Sabich Sameach · Sabich in pita, fried aubergine, egg and amba, about 30 ₪
- Shawarma Al-Amir · Shawarma in pita or laffa, about 45 ₪
- Café HaHalutzim · Coffee and cake in the old colony, about 40 ₪
- Hatifei Teiman, Safed · Malawach or jachnun, Yemenite pastry, about 30 ₪
- Falafel HaTzrif, Safed · Falafel in pita, about 20 ₪
Holy places in Rosh Pina
- Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue · Modest dress; a small donation at the door
- Abuhav Synagogue · Painted dome of the twelve tribes; closed at prayer times
- Yosef Karo Synagogue · Small and still in use; a short stop on the way down
- Old Cemetery of Safed · The graves of the Ari and Yosef Karo; men and women have separate paths at some graves
- Beit HaMeiri Museum · The story of Jewish Safed in one house; an hour
Nature and day trips near Rosh Pina
- Agamon Hula · Bikes and electric carts for hire; the cranes are fed in winter
- Tel Dan Nature Reserve · Shaded trails along the springs; the wading pool is cold all year
- Banias · The spring and the falls are two entrances; the hanging trail joins them
- Nahal Ayun · The Tanur fall is the tallest; best from December to May
- Hula Nature Reserve · Israel's first nature reserve; water buffalo and pelicans
Things to do in Rosh Pina with kids
- Kfar Blum Kayaks · An easy hour on the Jordan; life jackets for children
- Dubrovin Farm · Farm tools, a film and a courtyard to run around
- Tel Hai Courtyard · A short film and the watchtower; the story of the eight for older children
- Mount Hermon · Snow in winter, the chairlift and sledging; dress warm, it is cold at the top
- Agamon Hula · Golf carts round the lake; flat and easy for small legs
Where to eat in Rosh Pina
- Pina BaRosh · Dinner in an old house at the top of the colony; book at weekends
- La Terassa · A terrace in old Rosh Pina over the valley
- Doris Katzavim · A butcher's restaurant: you choose the cut at the counter
- Dag Al HaDan · Trout from their own ponds, at tables over the stream
- Ein Camonim · Goat cheeses, bread and wine on a hillside farm, 20 minutes west
- Yoshpe Winery, Safed · Wine tasting in the old city of Safed
Frequently asked questions about Rosh Pina
What is there to see in Rosh Pina?
The top sights in Rosh Pina are Baron's Garden, Old Rosh Pina and Shlomo Ben-Yosef 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 Rosh Pina?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Rosh Pina without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Rosh Pina?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Rosh Pina, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The cornerstone.
How do you get to Rosh Pina and get around?
The main ways are Rosh Pina Airport and Safed Central Bus Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Rosh Pina, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Rosh Pina 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.
Looking for a hotel in Rosh Pina for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.