The 7 Best Attractions in the Golan Heights (2026)

Updated July 2026 · 7 picks

The best attractions in the Golan Heights in 2026 are Nimrod Fortress, Mount Bental and the Golan Heights Winery. The Golan is a high volcanic plateau — wide, green and empty by Israeli standards — and it needs a car. Below are seven, spread from the Hermon in the north to Gamla in the south.

1. Nimrod Fortress — Northern Golan, below Mount Hermon

A vast thirteenth-century Ayyubid fortress on a ridge, and the best castle in Israel.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Families · Couples · Groups

Nimrod Fortress runs along a narrow ridge below Mount Hermon, a thirteenth-century Ayyubid fortification built to control the route from Damascus to the coast, and it is the largest and most impressive castle in the country.

It is enormous — towers, halls, a keep, a secret staircase and a cistern — and almost entirely open to explore, with the Hula Valley spread out hundreds of metres below.

Allow a couple of hours and wear proper shoes. There is very little shade.

Good to know: Find the spiral staircase in the south-western tower — it is the best-preserved thing on the site and easy to miss.

Google Maps Website

2. Mount Bental — Central Golan, near Merom Golan

A dormant volcano with trenches and bunkers, looking straight into Syria.

₪ BudgetBest for Families · Couples · Groups

Mount Bental is a dormant volcanic cone in the central Golan, topped with the preserved trenches, bunkers and observation posts of an Israeli position from the 1973 war.

The view is the reason to come: north to Mount Hermon, east across the Quneitra crossing into Syria, and west over the whole plateau. The old positions are open to walk through.

There is a café at the summit, inevitably named Coffee Anan. The site is free and takes about an hour.

Good to know: The Valley of Tears battlefield is a short drive away — the two together make the 1973 fighting legible.

Google Maps Website

3. Golan Heights Winery — Katzrin

The winery that proved Israel could make serious wine, with a proper visitor centre.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Couples · Groups

Founded in 1983 in Katzrin, Golan Heights Winery changed international perceptions of Israeli wine, combining traditional methods with modern technology in a region nobody expected quality from.

It produces under several labels — Yarden at the top, alongside Gilgal and Mount Hermon — and the Yarden wines remain among the most acclaimed the country makes. The volcanic soil and altitude do the work.

The visitor centre runs tours and tastings and is properly set up for visitors, which is not true of every Israeli winery.

Good to know: Combine with the Katzrin ancient village and Talmudic-era synagogue a few minutes away.

Google Maps Website

4. Gamla Nature Reserve — Southern Golan

A Roman-era siege site, Israel's tallest waterfall and a griffon vulture colony.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Families · Couples · Groups

Gamla sits on a camel-backed ridge in the southern Golan, the site of a Jewish city besieged and destroyed by the Romans in 67 CE, and the remains and the Roman siege works are still legible on the slope.

The reserve also holds Israel's tallest waterfall at 51 metres and a griffon vulture colony, with a lookout where the birds ride the thermals below you at close range.

Three separate trails run from the car park — to the ancient city, the waterfall lookout and the vulture lookout — so allow half a day.

Good to know: The vulture lookout is the surprise here — go mid-morning when the thermals get going.

Google Maps Website

5. Mount Hermon — Far northern Golan

Israel's highest point and only ski resort, with lifts running year-round.

₪₪₪ UpmarketBest for Families · Groups

Mount Hermon is the highest point under Israeli control and the country's only ski resort, operating when snowfall allows, usually between January and March.

Outside the ski season the site runs as a summer attraction, with chairlifts to the upper station, walking routes and views across the Golan, the Galilee and into Syria and Lebanon.

The altitude means it is cold up there even when the plateau below is warm. Take a layer regardless of season.

Good to know: Take a jacket whatever the forecast says — the summit is a different climate from the plateau.

Google Maps Website

6. Katzrin ancient village and talmudic park — Katzrin

A reconstructed Talmudic-era village around a fourth-century synagogue.

₪₪ Mid-rangeBest for Families · Groups

The ancient village at Katzrin is built around the remains of a synagogue from the Talmudic period, with houses reconstructed and furnished as they would have been in the fourth to eighth centuries.

It is a genuine excavation rather than a theme park, and the reconstruction gives an unusually concrete sense of daily life in the Golan in late antiquity — olive presses, storage jars, sleeping arrangements.

It sits in modern Katzrin, so it combines easily with the winery a few minutes away.

Good to know: Best done with the Golan Heights Winery in the same trip — they are minutes apart.

Google Maps Website

7. The Valley of Tears — Northern Golan, near Kuneitra crossing

The 1973 tank battlefield, with the wrecks and the memorial still in place.

₪ BudgetBest for Couples · Groups

The Valley of Tears in the northern Golan was the site of one of the defining armoured battles of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, where a heavily outnumbered Israeli force held the northern approach.

The battlefield is preserved with a memorial and remains of tanks and positions, and the terrain makes the tactical situation immediately legible in a way no account does.

It sits close to Mount Bental and combines naturally with it into a morning.

Good to know: Do this with Mount Bental — the two together explain the 1973 fighting far better than either alone.

Google Maps Website

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a car for the Golan?

Effectively yes. Public transport across the plateau is sparse and the distances between sites are real. A car turns the Golan into a two-day trip covering wineries, reserves and lookouts; without one, you are limited to organised tours from Tiberias or the coast.

When is the best time to visit the Golan?

Spring, when the plateau is green and the wildflowers are out, and autumn for the wineries at harvest. Winter brings snow to the Hermon and occasionally to the plateau, which Israelis travel for. Summer is hot but far more bearable than the valleys below.

Is it safe to travel in the Golan?

The tourist areas are visited routinely by Israeli families and organised tours. There are military zones and marked minefields along parts of the border area — these are clearly fenced and signposted, and the rule is absolute: do not cross a fence, ever, under any circumstances.

Can you ski on Mount Hermon?

In season, yes — Mount Hermon is Israel's only ski resort, operating when snowfall allows, typically between January and March. It is modest by Alpine standards. Outside the ski season the site runs as a summer attraction with lifts to the summit for the views.

How long do you need in the Golan?

Two days does it justice: one for the north — Banias, Nimrod, the Hermon and the northern wineries — and one for the centre and south, taking in Katzrin, Gamla and the Yehudiya reserve. A single long day is possible but rushed.

1. Nimrod Fortress — Northern Golan, below Mount Hermon

2. Mount Bental — Central Golan, near Merom Golan

3. Golan Heights Winery — Katzrin

4. Gamla Nature Reserve — Southern Golan

5. Mount Hermon — Far northern Golan

6. Katzrin ancient village and talmudic park — Katzrin

7. The Valley of Tears — Northern Golan, near Kuneitra crossing

Frequently asked questions

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