Line © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), drawn by Global Adventurer.
The walk
From the Ein Saharonim day car park (חניון יום עין סהרונים) walk to Khan Saharonim (מצד סהרונים), the ruins of a Nabataean inn on a low hill, and down to the spring of Ein Saharonim, hidden among reeds. Follow the canyon path south and then east towards the Ramon Gate, where the Ramon stream cuts through the wall of the crater, and round the horseshoe bend of Nahal Nekarot, whose narrow limestone canyon is the high point of the day. Just after the horseshoe a small cave opens in the right-hand wall. Take the green-marked trail north up a side wadi to the red jeep track, and follow that west to the car park.
It is 5.1 km round with 88 m of ascent; allow about 2 hours. The grade is Easy: desert paths and tracks over gravel and rock, with no steep climbs. INPA gives the circuit as 4.5 km and rates it medium.
The car park is reached by about 5 km of unsurfaced track from the Be'erot camp, which INPA's page treats as 4x4 ground. Do not enter the canyon if rain is forecast anywhere upstream. Carry at least 3 litres of water each; there is none on the way, and the spring is not for drinking. INPA's list of 5 November 2026 has other Makhtesh Ramon trails closed (the Ammonite Wall and Mount Ardon); these are not on it.
Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.
Good to know
- Khan Saharonim was a Nabataean inn and night stop for the camel caravans of the incense route, which carried myrrh and frankincense from Petra to the port of Gaza; the Antiquities Authority restored part of it
- Ein Saharonim is an underground spring named after the saharon plant that grows beside it
- At the Ramon Gate the Ramon stream breaks through the wall of the crater and pours into Nahal Nekarot, which winds in a horseshoe; its narrowest stretch is a canyon cut in limestone, and the pockets the floods have worn in the walls (nekarot) give the stream its name
- Just after the horseshoe a cave hides in the right-hand wall of the channel, formed by floods washing out the soft rock at the foot of the cliff
Getting there
Start: Ein Saharonim day car park, Makhtesh Ramon. 30.60607, 34.93813
Directions to the start
Google Maps Apple Maps Waze Moovit
Waze drives you to the car park; Moovit has the buses and trains to the start.
Paths change, and the weather decides the day. The line is drawn along OpenStreetMap paths and the figures are worked out from it; take a map, check the forecast, and turn back if it isn't right.
