Beit Guvrin – Maresha National Park – Full Visitors Guide
Beit Guvrin – Maresha National Park has numerous caves (southern area), an amphitheater, and a fortress in the northern region.
Map
Beit Guvrin National Park is near Kiryat Gat, roughly halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Beit Guvrin is about 55 km from Jerusalem and 80 km from Tel Aviv.
Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit
Interactive map of the area:
And here is the map from the official brochure.
Note: you can click on the map to enlarge it.
Note: you can click on the map to enlarge it.
There are two geographical parts to this national park, which is divided by road #35.
- The northern area presents the Beit Guvrin Amphitheater and Crusader Fortress.
- The southern part is the bigger one. You can see all the caves, including the Bell and Sidonian caves.
Both entrance points are shown on the left of the map. The “Entrance” string marks the entrance to points of interest #1-11. And the approach to places #12-14 is behind the gas station on the other side of road #35.
Tracks
Beit Guvrin is quite a big national park, and this post results from many visits. Because on many of the visits, we were with kids, such as easy-going half-day visits. If you want to cover the whole park, it will probably take you half to a full day. But you can also make shorter, several-hour highlight tours. Here are the trails that the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority offers:
- Highlights tour – this is a two-and-a-half-hour route starting at parking lot A. Then, walk to the agricultural complex and installations (#1) and the Columbarium Cave (#3). Next, take the car to park lot B to visit the Maze Cave (Cave System #7). Afterward, drive to parking lot C to see the Sidonian Cave (#8). Drive to parking lot D to visit the Bell Caves (#11). And lastly, go to parking lot E and visit the Roman Amphitheater (#12).
- See it all trail – this is a three to four-hour foot trail. It also starts at parking lot A. From there, walk about 1.5 km long. In that 1.5 km, you will visit the Columbarium Cave (#3) and the Sidonian Cave (#8). Either walk back to your vehicle or continue another 2 km on foot to the Church of St. Anne (#10) and the Bell Caves (#11). And about another one km to the Roman Amphitheater (#12).
- Using the Handicapped and Stroller Accessible trail, you can visit the agricultural installations complex (#1), the visitor service center (near the Sidonian Caves), the Bell Caves (#11), and the Roman Amphitheater (#12).
Directions
To reach the park, use the links above the interactive map.
Notice that this national park is close to the Green Line. If you miss the exit to Beit Guvrin and continue along road #35, you will reach Hebron.
My favorite way to get there, and also the fastest from the Israeli center, is to drive on toll highway #6 until Kiryat Gat and then take road #35. Another option, which is longer but does not include toll roads, is driving through Bet Shemesh.
You can reach this site by bus. You can either take bus #66 or a taxi from Kiryat Gat. Remember that this is a big park. Even if you get to the park entrance by public transport, you must get from point to point inside the park. Since the park is spread over a vast territory, there are several parking lots. Most people drive from one point to another within park limits. Thus, visiting by car is the preferred option.
Opening Hours
Sunday – Thursday and Saturday: 8:00 – 17:00 (16:00 in winter).
Friday: 8:00 – 16:00 (15:00 in winter).
On holiday eves, usually 8:00 – 13:00.
Note: Since the pandemic, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority has started limiting the number of people in each park. Thus, reservations are recommended through the official site (you can find the link below).
The last entrance to the park is allowed one hour before the closure.
Entrance Fee
Adult – 28 NIS, child – 14 NIS, and student – 24 NIS. Free for National Parks annual subscribers.
If you visit several National Parks, consider purchasing a combo ticket. For additional information, see National Parks and Nature Reserves.
Note: opening hours and ticket prices were updated in June 2024. In any case, recheck the official site before visiting.
Benefits of Beit Guvrin
Beit Guvrin National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site that offers a visit to human-made caves and an ancient city. It is also one of my favorite national parks in Israel, so I included it in National Parks And Nature Reserves‘ top ten list.
First, I find it fascinating that people build such complex underground systems. You can even call them cities. They constructed everything using only basic tools. Moreover, besides its uniqueness, here are the reasons why I love this park:
- During your visit, you will spend a lot of time underground. That means there is no sun, and it is colder inside the caves. In general, caves are better suited for a summer visit.
- Another reason is the kids. Children love this place. Giving them a flashlight and allowing them to explore makes them feel at the top of the world.
- Beit Guvrin is quite large. Thus, if you are visiting with small kids, you will most likely not see everything in one visit. That allows you to return on another day and choose what to see.
Southern Part of Beit Guvrin
In this section, we will explore the cave in the southern area.
After entering the southern part of Beit Guvrin, we usually start at parking lot A (and not only because there are restrooms there). You can either drive between parking lots (and then visit each nearby cave on foot) or leave your car and hike. Though the distances are not too considerable since we were with kids and some visits were on hot days, we usually chose the first option.
The “Polish Cave”
We walked to The “Polish Cave” (number #2) on the map from parking lot A.
Why is it called the “Polish Cave”?
This is a cistern hewn in the Hellenistic period. In the middle is a block of stone, part of a pillar that supports the ceiling. At some point, niches to raise doves were carved into the cistern walls. During World War II, Polish soldiers from the army of General Wladyslaw Anders – loyal to the Polish government in exile in London – visited this cave. They carved the figure 1943 (the year of their visit) into the pillar, along with an inscription: “Warsaw, Poland” and an eagle, the symbol of the Polish army.
Note: unless stated otherwise, all quotes were taken from the official site.
This cave has a columbarium. The birds were used for messaging (an ancient post office) and food.
The Columbarium Cave
From #2, we continued to #3, The Columbarium Cave. This underground structure with a columbarium is much bigger than the previous one.
A columbarium is an installation to raise doves. The word comes from the Latin Colomba, which means dovecote. The walls of this cave feature a high-quality design and are carefully carved with over 2,000 niches. The raising of doves was widespread in the Judean lowlands during the Hellenistic period. Doves were used intensively – their meat and eggs as food and their droppings as fertilizer. Doves were also sacrificed in rituals. After raising doves as a prosperous industry ceased in the 3rd century BCE, other purposes were found for this cave, like many others at Maresha. In Maresha alone, some 85 Columbarium caves have been discovered, with tens of thousands of niches.
The Oil Press Cave
From the Columbarium Cave, we continued to The Oil Press Cave (#5). We hiked there, but you can also take the car to Park Lot B and walk.
This is one of 22 underground oil presses discovered in Hellenistic Maresha. Most of them have one crushing installation; two or three feature press beams.
Olive growing was a significant source of income in Hellenistic Maresha (3rd-2nd centuries BCE). This olive press was built in a previously existing cistern.
They did olive pressing in the following manner:
- Crushing (the right part of the photo below): The olives were placed in a large, round, flat stone basin, and a lens-shaped crushing rock moved vertically around them.
- Squeezing (the photo above): After crushing, the olives were put into woven baskets and placed on each other. The baskets were placed under a broad beam (inside the niches in the back of the photo). Three weights (in the left part of the picture) were tied to the beam to increase the pressure.
- Collection – the oil and water were collected in hewn basins beneath the baskets.
Maresha
Maresha is an ancient city founded during the Israelite period. The town was located on a high hill, hence its name (Rosh means head in Hebrew).
Tel Maresha rises to 357 m above sea level, with the upper city, or acropolis, about 30 m above the lower city. The appearance of the steep, terraced-looking slopes of the upper city is due to the remains of walls surrounding the city for 800 years, from the Israelite period to the end of the Hellenistic period (9th–1st centuries BCE). Square corner towers were integrated into the city wall; one can be seen in the northwestern corner of the tell. The top of the tell affords an impressive view of the national park and its surroundings.
Beit Guvrin (translating from Hebrew, meaning “the house of strong men”) is an ancient city that became important after Maresha was destroyed. It continued from the late Hellenistic until the end of the Byzantine period.
Unfortunately, there is almost nothing to see at Tel Maresha currently. Thus, though it is mentioned, no number is next to it.
You can hike to it from parking lot B.
Dwelling (the Villa)
From parking lot B, we walked to Dwelling (#6), a Citstern complex under Maresha’s houses.
Excavations at the beginning of the ’90s revealed an urban section, including residential and shopping areas, dating to the 3rd- 2nd centuries BCE. Each residential house had a central yard surrounded by rooms and a second floor. The residents quarried cisterns under the homes of the lower city. These cisterns were used for different purposes: water halls, baths, columbariums, oil presses, storage, etc.
Each cistern or cistern complex had its staircase descending from the house above. Without ascending to ground level, the connection between different cisterns results from functional changes from later periods.
And this is how the urban section looks at ground level:
