Mount Bental, Golan Heights – Visitors Guide

Mount Bental is located in Golan Heights. It is a great lookout, with bunkers, hiking tracks, and a coffee shop.

Map

Mount Bental is located in Golan Heights, near Merom Golan.

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

Interactive map of the area:

Parking

There is free parking on top of the mountain.

Opening Hours

According to the following sign, remaining in Mount Bental nature reserve after dark is forbidden. Thus visit only during the day.

The sign also states that lighting a fire in the nature reserve is forbidden.

Entrance Fee

Free.

When to Visit?

You can visit Mount Bental all year round. Due to its location and altitude, it is usually cooler than in other areas. Moreover, sometimes it snows on the mountain and its surroundings.

Snow on Mount Bental

The photos in this post are from our February visit. We, like many other Israeli, drove to Golan for the snow. But since I was afraid to get stuck in the traffic to Hermon, we decided to visit Bental.

However, you should know that the roadway to the top is a narrow two-lane (one in each direction) road. Of course, we got stuck in traffic when we headed up and down. Instead of a two-minute drive, it took us about 30 minutes to reach the top and 45 minutes to get off the mountain. If you want to decrease the traffic time, then arrive early.

Note: in some years, there is also Snow on Mount Meron.

Is there Snow Now?

The easiest way to see if there is snow is by checking this meteorological online video camera.

Track

The red track goes from the mountain to the Bental water reservoir (1.8 km and descends 200 meters). Once you get off the mountain, you can use other nearby paths. For example, the Golan trail passes on the north and east sides of the hill.

However, most people who hike take the red path down, and the driver walks or hitchhikes back to the top.

Why is it called Bental?

Mount Bental is 1165 meters above sea level. Nearby Mount Avital is higher at 1204 meters (entrance to Mount Avital is forbidden due to the military base). And since Bental is lower than Avital, it can be considered its son, hence the name. And Avital received its name due to large amounts of dew on the mountain.

Coffee Annan

On top of the mountain, you can find Coffee Annan restaurant. The name is wordplay. Kofi Annan is the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. But if you hear Kofi Annan in Hebrew, you can interpret it as coffee in the clouds.

Here is the link to Coffee Annan, and it is open daily from 09:00 (10:00 on Saturdays) till 16:00.

It is a self-service restaurant, and they serve mostly baked goods and pizzas. The food was tasty. But because we visited on a snowy day, it was overcrowded. And since you cannot reserve places to sit, you must wait for somebody to leave.

Bunkers

On the summit, you can find an IDF stronghold built on an older Syrian stronghold. It is an attraction point for visitors, and according to various sources, the bunkers are open to visitors. However, during our visit, they were locked.

Nonetheless, you can visit the trenches. Here are several photos:

On the peak of the mountain, there are very few explanatory signs. But there are several binoculars with audio guides. After throwing a coin, it will tell about this area and allow seeing through the binoculars.

Lookout

The mountaintop has a good view of the Syrian lands, Mount Hermon, and the Golan Heights. Here are several photos of the surroundings.