Ein Avdat National Park – Visitors Guide with Map and Tracks

At Ein Avdat National Park, you can enjoy a stunning hike in the desert. The path goes along the Zin stream inside a deep canyon. The hike lets you appreciate the scenery and the wildlife.

Note: do not mix this place with Avdat National Park, located within a ten-minute drive. While Ein Avdat National Park offers marvelous nature, at Avdat National Park, you walk through the remains of a Nabatean city. And due to the closeness, combining them can make a lovely half-day trip.

Map

Avdat National Park is located near Sde Boker and Midreshet Ben-Gurion, also known as Midreshet Sde Boker.

Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit

Interactive map of the area:

Here is the map from the official brochure:

Note: you can click on the map to enlarge it.

Ein means spring in Hebrew, and as you can see from the map, most of the hike will be beside the spring inside the canyon.

Tracks

Here is an interactive map from israelhiking.osm.org.il with the one-directional track marked:

There are two options to hike inside Ein Avdat National Park.

#	Name	Description	Distance (km)	Total climb and descent (meters)	Approximate Duration (hours)	Notes
1	The loop route	It starts at the lower parking near Ein Mor. And then leads to the last pool and returns to the parking.	2.3	240	1.5
2	One-directional path	It begins at the lower parking and goes to the last pool. Instead of returning, climb up along the ladders until you reach the canyon’s top. The Ladder Route is a one-directional route (you cannot go down to the valley from that point).	1.3	201	1	Completing this trail requires two cars – one at each entrance to the park.

Directions

The preferred way to reach Ein Avdat National Park is by car. An even better option is to visit with friends so that you will have two vehicles (see the ladder track below). And if you drive there, enter “Ein Avdat National Park” into Waze, Google Maps, or another Navigation app.

Reaching this national park by public transport is inconvenient. For example, here are directions from Tel Aviv to Ein Avdat. As you can see, you will need at least three buses and an additional 45-minute hike (3.5 km) to reach the beginning of the track. You can hitchhike, but you cannot be sure you will find a ride. Thus, I would suggest driving there. If you do not have a car, then you can rent one. Here is a link to rentalcars.com, where you can check the prices.

You can click on this Moovit link and set the starting point to get updated public transport directions.

When to Visit Ein Avdat?

This National Park is located in the desert. Therefore I recommend against visiting it in the summer (temperatures can reach above 40 C). Moreover, seeing Ein Avdat and Avdat in one day will be hard. Winter and spring are the best seasons for a visit. And take plenty of water, hats, and sunscreen.

Moreover, do not visit the desert after rain. Floods in the Negev can be dangerous, and unfortunately, there were cases in Israel when people died in desert floods.

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).

Entrance Fee

Adult – 28 NIS, child – 14 NIS, and student – 24 NIS. And free for National Parks annual subscribers.

If you visit several National Parks, consider purchasing a combo ticket. You can find additional info at the National Parks And Nature Reserves post. Moreover, there is a unique combined ticket for the canyon and the ancient city at the Ein Avdat National Park entrance. Since the cashier offered to purchase it, I know it exists, but I did not find any reference on the official website.

Note: opening hours and ticket prices were updated in February 2022. In any case, recheck the official site before visiting.

Contact Information

Phone: ‎08-6555684, 08-6554418

Ben-Gurion’s Tomb National Park

Before entering Ein Avdat National Park, you will see parking to your left. I suggest making a short break here. At the end of the parking lot, you will see an entrance to Ben-Gurion’s Tomb National Park. There, you can find the burial place of David and Paula, a lovely park, and restrooms. Moreover, you can get great views of the Zin Canyon. Like the following one:

For additional info, see Ben-Gurion’s Tomb National Park.

After the break at Ben Gurion Memorial Site, you must return to the car and drive to the Ein Avdat National Park entrance. The entry is at the upper parking, but the trail starts inside the canyon. Thus, after entering, you will be driving down along the road (you can see part of it in the photo below) till you reach the bottom parking inside the canyon.

Ein Mor

In the lower parking, you can find restrooms, and there, the blue trail starts.

Note: according to the following sign, you cannot bring pets, food, or light fire in the park. Also, drones are forbidden as well.

Swimming in the pools is not allowed. Moreover, the water is not drinkable. Thus, as I mentioned above, bring plenty of water with you.

And now, let’s start hiking along the blue trail.

Ein Ovdat Canyon is cut into the Ovdat Heights and exposes the rocks of the heights, the main ones being: chalk, lime, and flint. These rocks were formed in the sea, which covered the region around 50 million years ago. The chalk was formed by the settling of skeletons of microscopic monocellular creatures. The rock is white and soft.

The limestone is formed by settling of lime skeletons of marine creatures. The parts of these creatures and their reconsolidation give the lime its rigidity. Fossils are frequently found in lime rocks. The lime has a white and hard appearance.

Flint – a dark and hard rock. During the prehistoric era, flint was used as a raw material to prepare tools and light fires. As a result of its sharpness, one of the uses of stone is mentioned in the Bible: “And Joshua wrought narrow swords and circumcised the Children of Israel on the Foreskin Hill (Joshua 4, 3).

Source: unless stated otherwise, all quotes were taken from boker.org.il

These are the Euphrates poplar trees, which grow next to Ein Mor, a small seasonal spring mostly used by the local vegetation and herds of ibexes.
The poplars which grow in the Negev are a remnant of a wetter climatic period than today. They have only survived near two springs – Ein Shaviv and the two groups in the Ein Ovdat Canyon.

The poplar is a tall tree that grows on riverbanks and can tolerate a certain amount of salinity in the ground. The Euphrates poplar has two foliage types: the younger long leaves and wider, more mature diamond-shaped leaves. That is a deciduous tree that loses its leaves in winter. The leaves have prominent gallnuts, shaped like a white half ball (gallnut means a swelling or growth in the leaf following penetration of a foreign body, such as laid eggs or an insect sting). The poplar gallnuts contain pests that secrete a sweet substance off which the ants inside the tree feed.

And hence we mentioned ibexes, here is an ibex busy eating at Ein Mor.