Visitors to Israel looking for an outing slightly more adventurous than another museum, archaeological site or outdoor market can take advantage of the growing number of organised hiking groups.

There is no shortage of organisations to help you hoof it into nature, whether you’re looking for a self-guided one-day trek or a 65-day chauffeured hike on the 1,100-kilometer (683-mile) Israel Trail.

Israel by Foot, launched last year by Erez Speiser, is the latest go-to site for intrepid trekkers. The website offers free hiking resources as well as maps, GPS track files and Google Maps with coordinate links that you can download for $5 each, all in English.

Speiser, a mechanical engineer by day, has added paid “inn-to-inn hikes” that include nights in local bed and breakfast and, optionally, a live local expert as a guide.

The inn-to-inn trek idea has caught on in Europe, but hasn’t made it big in Israel yet, Speiser says. “It’s a great concept if you don’t want to carry everything on your back and you want to sleep in decent places but still get the feeling of a trek.”

Israel by Foot will initially offer a Trans-Galilee Trek that takes six days to meander from Safed to the Banyas River in the Golan Heights; an 80-mile hike along the Golan Trail; and the classic Israeli coming-of-age “Sea to Sea” hike starting at the Mediterranean and ending three days later at the Sea of Galilee.

Trail maps in English from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel are available free of charge.  https://natureisrael.org  Israel by Foot   https://hike-israel.com

By Malcolm Ginsberg
Editor in Chief
Business Travel News
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